Rosamond Purcell is a photographer of natural history collections and collector of ruined objects. The subject of the film An Art that Nature Makes: The Work of Rosamond Purcell, she collaborated with paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould on Illuminations: A Bestiary and Finders, Keepers (both W. W. Norton). Her other books include Egg & Nest (Harvard), Bookworm, Dice (with Ricky Jay), and Owls Head (all Quantuck Lane). Her artwork was featured on the cover of Conjunctions:48, Faces of Desire.