The first edition, "Urformen der Kunst. Photographische Planzenbilder von Professor Karl Blossfeldt", was printed in 1928 by Wasmuth in Berlin and later translated into several languages.
Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932), German photographer, sculptor and teacher, who was very attracted to the beauty of nature and became a forerunner for the new objectivity in photography. Karl Nierendorf, owner of an art gallery in Berlin, discovered his talent and initiated an exhibition of his photographs in 1926, and was also involved in the publishing of the book. Art critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin was one who highly praised his book and Blossfeldt was compared by others with August Sander and Albert Renger-Patzsch. (Fotografisk Tidskrift, nr 6, 2000.)