Henry Bradbury Art

Henry Bradbury (Born 1829 – Died 1860) was the son of William Bradbury. He was an English writer on printing. His father was a painter and influenced much of his work. He had a brother named William Hardwick Bradbury with whom he went into a publishing business. At the age of 27, he took an interest in the aspects of security in banknote printing, and went ahead to set up a business that he called Bradbury & Wilkinson. Bradbury committed suicide in 1860 by drinking prussic acid mixed with soda water for reasons not yet clear; various explanations have been offered one is that he became depressed after a friend, Alois Euer, an Austrian printer, accused him of being a liar and a drunkard. He may have also been affected by working with so much lead. Bradbury published a book in 1853 on The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland with Editor John Lindley and author Thomas Moore. In the book he used an innovative technique invented by Auer and Worring Andreas the technique involved pressing a specimen onto a soft and thin lead plate to leave an impression with a very fine detail. Bradbury had studied this discovery while in Vienna and went ahead to patent his own improved version in London without acknowledging that the original idea was from Auer. This brought a big controversy between the two artists and it is believed it is one of the causes of Bradbury’s depression and subsequent suicide. Even after his death, the reproductions of his art are still being produced and they are available as framed Henry Bradbury art among other finishing options.