The Pencil of Nature, written in six installments between 1844 and 1846, was the "first photographically illustrated book to be commercially published" or "the first commercially published book illustrated with photographs". It was wholly executed by the new art of Photogenic Drawing, without any aid whatever from the artist's pencil and regarded as an important and influential work in the history of photography.

This edition has been formatted for your reader, with an active table of contents.  This version has also been illustrated and annotated, with additional information about the story and its author, including an overview, photographs, text, editions, and biographical information.