The Birds of America, from Drawings made in the United States and Their Territories

AUDUBON, John James (1785-1851)

Published by George R. Lockwood, New York, 1870

(10 5/16 x 6 3/4 inches). Half-titles. 500 hand-coloured lithographic plates. Publisher's full dark brown morocco, boards ornately blind stamped. Spines with raised bands forming six compartments, lettered gilt in second and fourth departments, the rest tooled blind. Gilt dentelles. Marble endpapers. All edges gilt The rare final octavo edition of Audubon's Birds of America: an important American colour plate book and one of the most desirable books produced in 19th-century America. Ron Tyler, in Audubon's Great National Work, quotes a letter by the publisher's son, Richard B. Lockwood, noting that some time after 1870 the lithographed octavo plates were destroyed when they fell through the floors in a Philadelphia building. The date of the disaster at the Lockwood firm suggests that this final octavo edition was produced in 1871. The octavo edition of Audubon's The Birds of America is certainly the most famous and accessible of American colour plate books. It served many purposes for Audubon. First, it was a moneymaker, successfully marketed throughout the United States on a scale that the great cost of the original Birds. Made impossible. Second, it was another step toward proving himself as good a scientific naturalist as the "closet" naturalists who had scorned him, combining a detailed text with careful observations next to his plates. Third, it allowed a more reasonable arrangement, by genus and species, than the headlong production of the original project had allowed. All of these steps were improvements, amply repaid by the book's success. The octavo Birds was originally issued in 100 parts, each containing five plates executed by the Philadelphia lithographer, J.T. Bowen. Changes in subscribers and increased press runs created numerous states of plates as they were reprinted. The whole story of the production of the book, with detailed information about every aspect of the project, is told by Ron Tyler in Audubon's Great National Work. The story Tyler tells of the difficulties of production and marketing are revealing of the whole world of colour printing in mid-19th century America. Around 1820, Audubon undertook the task of painting all the birds of the United States and Canada. His Canadian works were painted during two separate journeys; a trip along the Newfoundland coast in 1831, and a sailing voyage with his son in 1833 along the North Shore of the Lower St. Lawrence, the Labrador coast south of the Strait of Belle-Isle, and Newfoundland. Many of the 33 watercolours Audubon painted during these trips are considered among his best. Tyler, Audubon's Great National Work 129, 165 note 10; Nissen IVB 51; Sabin 2364; Reese, Nineteenth Century Color Plate Books; 34; Bennet, p.5; Wood p.208; Zimmer, p.25; McGrath 50. Seller Inventory # 41811

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Birds of America, from Drawings made in ...
Publisher: George R. Lockwood, New York
Publication Date: 1870
Binding: 8 volumes, 8vo