The Birds of America, from Drawings Made in the United States and Their Territories.
New York: J.J. Audubon, Philadelphia: E.G. Dorsey for J.J. Audubon, New York and J.B. Chevalier, Philadelphia, [1839-]1840-1844.
7 volumes, 8vo, 500 hand-colored lithographic plates after Audubon by W.E. Hitchcock, R. Trembly and others, printed and colored by J. T. Bowen, wood-engraved anatomical diagrams in text. Three quarter brown morocco with marbled paper covered boards. Backstrips lightly and evenly sunned, a little light wear to marbled paper, occasional foxing as usual, plates bright and clean with tissue guards; a very handsome set.
§ First octavo edition, containing five hundred superb hand-colored plates. One of the most spectacular series of ornithological prints ever produced and a landmark attempt to document the birds of North America. The royal octavo edition, which Audubon referred to as the “petit edition,” contained new species of birds and plants not included in the folio edition, with the birds grouped in an orderly scientific manner. “His first objective was to observe birds in their native habitat, to see their behavior, their ways of standing, walking, flying, their feeding and nesting habits, seasonal plumage and all the rest. He travelled up and down the Mississippi and Ohio River areas, and up and down the Atlantic seaboard from Maine to Key West. He spent a winter near Charleston, South Carolina... travelled to Labrador, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia... and Texas” ( Gifts of Genius , 137). “The Birds of America exemplifies man’s ability to accomplish an almost impossible task through sacrifice and persistence. Audubon set out to paint and publish an example of every bird on the North American continent... He was the first artist-naturalist to illustrate American birds, life-size, in natural poses; the backgrounds, or habitats, are more natural looking than those of his predecessors” ( Handbook of Audubon Prints, 17-18). “ The most splendid book ever produced in relation to America, and certainly one of the finest ornithological works ever printed ... He insisted on drawing from life, never from stuffed specimens, and was much in advance of his time in portraying the birds (in many cases unrecorded species) in their natural surroundings... The courage and faith of the Audubon family is breathtaking... This immense undertaking, this unparalleled achievement, was not the production of a great and long-established publishing house, nor was it backed by a wealthy institution. It was the work of a man of relentless energy, with no private fortune, who supported himself by hack painting... It is a story without equal in the whole history of publishing” (Great Books and Book Collectors , 210-13). Grolier 45. Nissen IVB 52. Anker 19. Reese 34. Sabin 2364. A very good set of one of the most important and desirable of all American plate books.
Provenance: From the library of the eminent ornithologist Harry Swarth (1878-1935), Curator of the Department of Mammalogy and Ornithology at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco from 1927-1935, who published 220 papers and described 30 new birds (nine with Joseph Grinnell) and 11 new mammals. Item #127164
Price: $127,500.00