A Selection of the Original Drawings and Watercolors Used in the Making of Birds of America Accompanied by a Choice of Audubon’s Writings

Author: John James Audubon. Edited with an Introduction by Ben Forkner

Publisher/Date: Edition de la Main Fleurie, 2004, Limited Edition of 2500

ISBN: 2960049306

Format/Condition: NEW book in linen clamshell case, French bound, 208 pages, 48 prints, 4” X 12” X 15.5”

Description: Fans of John James Audubon, the naturalist’s art, or rare and unusual books, do not pass up the opportunity to own this gorgeous edition of high quality reproductions of his original watercolors, along with key notes and correspondence by Audubon and a biographical introduction—a portfolio intended to create an impression of the man himself and his development as an ornithologist. Printed in a 14-point font on 200g deckled cream stock, 22 1/2×14 1/2 inches open, and French bound (which is to say unbound) in an olive linen clamshell case, each copy is numbered from a printing of only 2500, and illustrated with 48 paintings by the artist, including some from Birds of America and also early works recently rediscovered in the Natural History Museum of La Rochelle. The real pièce de résistance here is the portfolio of individual reproductions, identical to those in the text; with a printed area of up to 10 1/4×13 1/2 inches, on a sheet size of about 11 1/2×14 1/2 inches on heavyweight 300g stock, the prints can be leafed through, removed for consideration, or framed as art.

List of Prints:
1. Nightingale Luscinia Megarhynchos
2. Yellow-Billed Cuckoo Coccyzus Americanus
3. Common Grackle Quiscalus Quiscula
4. Avocet Recurvirostra Avosetta
5. Hawfinch Coccothraustes Coccothraustes
6. Black Tern Chlidonias Niger
7. Woodchat Shrike Lanius Senator
8. European Hoopoe Upupa Epops
9. Wild Turkey Meleagris Gallopavo
10. Hooded Warbler Wilsonia Citrina
11. Barred Owl Strix Varia
12. American Swallow-Tailed Kite Elanoides Forficatus
13. Northern Bobwhite & Red-Shouldered Hawk Colinus Virginianus & Buteo Lineatus
14. Belted Kingfisher Ceryle Alcyon
15. Black-and-White Warbler Mniotilta Varia
16. Tree Swallow Tachycineta Bicolor
17. Brown Thrasher Toxostoma Rufum
18. Grasshopper Sparrow Ammodramus Savannarum
19. American Robin Turdus Migratorius
20. Field Sparrow Spizella Pusilla
21. White-Breasted Nuthatch Sitta Caronlinensis
22. Chimney Swift Chaetura Pelagica
23. Fork-Tailed Flycatcher Tyrannus Savana
24. Sedge Wren Cistothorus Platensis
25. Golden Eagle Aquila Chrysaetos
26. Black-Throated Mango Anthracothorax Nigricolis
27. Common Snipe Gallinago Gallinago
28. Thick-Billed Murre Uria Lomvia
29. Leach’s Storm-Petrel Oceanodroma Leucorhoa
30. Sabine’s Gull Xema Sabini
31. Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa Flavipes
32. Audubon’s Shearwater Puffinus Lherminieri
33. Spotted Sandpiper Actilis Macularia
34. Blue-Winged Teal Anas Discors
35. Red Knot Calidris Canutus
36. Northern Shoveler Anas Clypeata
37. Ruddy Duck Oxyrura Jamaicensis
38. Black Rail Laterallus Jamaicensis
39. American Dipper Cinclus Mexicanus
40. Limpkin Aramus Guarauna
41. Violet-Green Swallow & Bank Swallow Tachycineta Thalassina & Riparia Riparia
42. Gull-Billed Tern Sterna Nilotica
43. Hairy Woodpecker & Three-Toed Woodpecker Picoides Villosus & Picoides Tridactylus
44. Anna’s Hummingbird Calypte Anna
45. Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus Ruber
46. Great Egret Casmerodius Albus
47. Boat-Tailed Grackle Quiscalus Major
48. Little Blue Heron Egretta Caerulea