the library: recommended books
Below are books recommended for their reproductions of Audubon's art. Many are available for purchase. If you are interested in one of our books, click on "Buy it" to see the price, then use your back button to return.
Birds of America - Original Watercolors AUDUBON, John James: Blaugrund, Annette, and Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr. [editors]; John James Audubon - The Watercolors for the Birds of America; New York: Villard Books, 1993. With excellent essays by Stebbins, Blaugrund, Amy R. W. Meyers, and Reba Fishman Snyder that describe how Audubon worked. Lavishly illustrated. The hardcover edition includes an index (each painting illustrated in color in a small format) of all of the Audubon bird paintings in the New-York Historical Society collection. The softcover edition lacks this index, but includes the many other illustrations and the fine text in its entirety. Buy it. AUDUBON, John James: The Original Water-Color Paintings by John James Audubon for the Birds of America; New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., 1966. Introduction by Marshall B. Davidson. Published in two volumes (also available in a single volume), this large set reproduces in folio format all 431 surviving paintings that were the basis of the 435 plates of the Havell Edition. Paintings are arranged "to present the most pleasurable visual sequence" and to accommodate the needs of two-page and foldout reproductions. This makes it difficult to compare the paintings side-by-side with reproductions of the plates. Fortunately, the commentary accompanying each plate lists the corresponding Havell plate number. It also describes the differences between the paintings and the engravings, and points out interesting features of each painting. A valuable and interesting reference that provides insight into Audubon's working method and his collaboration with Havell. Birds of America - Havell Edition AUDUBON, John James: Birds of America; San Diego: Laurel Glen, 1997 and others. The complete collection of 435 illustrations from the most famous bird book in the world. This is the only book we know of that reproduces all 435 plates of the Havell Edition in color with virtually all original text and titles visible. By far our favorite book on the Havell Edition, the color in this book appears truer than that in other books. Includes some notes on the birds in the back of the book. The only thing really lacking in this book is an introduction to Audubon's art, an index by bird name and page numbers. Buy it. AUDUBON, John James, [PETERSON, Roger Tory & Virginia Marie Peterson]: Audubon's Birds of America - The Audubon Society's Baby Elephant Folio. New York: Abbeville Press, 1981 and others. This book reproduces the 435 plates of the Havell Edition in phylogenetic order and with titles indicating the modern bird names. Colors are bright, the illustrations are big, and the effect is often stunning, but we find the book difficult to use because of its weight, and would prefer plates in the original order and with original titles. The book includes commentary on each of the 435 plates, a concordance relating the names and numbers of the original plates to the book plates, and an illustrated introduction that surveys the work of other artists who have illustrated North American birds. The book is available in a variety of formats, some plain, some more elaborate. There is also a very small version that can make a handy take-along reference if you don't mind the reordering and renaming. The small version lacks the text and the concordance. Buy it. AUDUBON, John James: The Birds of America; New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937. With an introduction and descriptive text by William Vogt. This edition includes 500 color plates, 435 from the Havell Edition and 65 from the Octavo Edition. All original writing on the plates is omitted, but the plates are printed in the original order. Each book plate includes a brief description of the bird at the bottom. AUDUBON, John James: The Birds of America; New York: The Macmillan Company, 1942 and later. With an introduction and descriptive text by William Vogt. This edition reproduces the 435 plates of the Havell Edition omitting original writing on the plates, but including a brief description of the bird, its habits, and modern name. (Same as above without the 65 octavo plates.) We use this book to provide an additional illustration of plates we are interested in learning more about. Buy it. CHRISTIE'S: John James Audubon: The Birds of America; Auction of September 14 and 15, 1987. New York: Christie's. The property of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences (435 lots). This is an excellent auction catalogue, illustrating 434 of 435 plates of the Havell Edition in color and black-and-white. (The set had a duplicate of plate 231, Long-billed curlew, bound in place of plate 281, Great White Heron.) Such sales no longer occur as the value of the whole now exceeds the value of the parts. This is an interesting reference for those curious about 1987 prices. Unlike most catalogues, this one includes very good notes on the condition of each plate. Buy it. Birds of America - Octavo Edition AUDUBON, John James: The Art of Audubon - The Complete Birds and Mammals; New York: Times Books, 1979. This is the only book we know of that reproduces both the octavo birds and the octavo quads in a single volume. Although the bird images appear to be first editions, artist's and printer's credits often appear with block letters instead of the expected italics. Thus, the reproductions may be from one of the post-1844 sets that predate the second (1856) edition. This book appears to faithfully reprint the plates without any significant alterations, but they are not ordered correctly. This makes the book a bit maddening to use, but it is otherwise an enjoyable reference and contains a grand total of 655 illustrations. Buy it. AUDUBON, John James: Audubon's Birds of North America - The Complete 500 Paintings; Secaucus, NJ: The Wellfleet Press, 1990. Introduction by Sheila Buff. This book reproduces a later edition of the octavo Birds of America series. The book does not indicate which edition was reproduced, but we contacted Wellfleet's publishing director for this title, Frank Oppel, and have confirmed the book reproduces an 1870 Lockwood edition including all legends and titles. This book is a must for anyone interested in understanding the changes over time in the octavo bird series. One thing that we learned from this book that may intrigue octavo collectors -- there are later edition octavo bird plates that include italic credits for the artist and printer. Several are reproduced in this book. Buy it. AUDUBON, John James: Audubon's Birds of America - The Royal Octavo Edition; San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 1994. Introduction by Susanne M. Low. Reproduces a complete first edition octavo set of The Birds of America. The 500 plates are beautifully printed in color, and given in the original order, but liberties are taken with the presentation of some plates (e.g., many landscape-oriented plates are printed with a vertical orientation). Titles and other writing on the plates may occasionally have been cut off, omitted or relocated during the printing process. Because the color plates are printed on one side of the page only, this book is quite heavy. We think the images in this book are the best reproductions of the octavo birds that are currently available in a book format. Buy it. Audubon, John James: The Birds of America; New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1967. This 7-volume paperback set includes the complete letterpress (Audubon's text) and 500 black and white reproduction plates from the first octavo birds edition (including all text and titles). It is hard not to like this book which was (according to its cover) the "first reprint of Audubon's important text since 1871." We admire Dover's commitment to putting out important books at economical prices. Hard to find as a set, but fairly inexpensive relative to other options. AUDUBON, John James: The Birds of America; New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937. With an introduction and descriptive text by William Vogt. This 500-plate edition includes 65 plates from the Octavo Edition and 435 from the Havell Edition. We don't see any real reason to buy this book if your primary interest is in the octavo edition. AUDUBON, John James: The Complete Audubon. A precise replica of the complete works of John James Audubon comprising the Birds of America (1840-44) and the Quadrupeds of N. America (1851-54) in their entirety. Kent OH: Volair Limited, 1978-1979. The Birds of America (7 volumes) and The Quadrupeds of North America (3 volumes) reproduced in a single five-volume set (two of the original volumes per modern volume). This book reproduces the letterpress and the plates of both the octavo birds and quadrupeds in a single set. Books are somewhat heavy with an inexpensive binding that does not hold up well over time. Issued in commemoration of the National Audubon Society's 75th Anniversary, this set is also available in a more expensive deluxe (possibly imitation) leather version including 10 volumes. The reproductions in this book are the same as those in the much less expensive single-volume book The Art of Audubon published by Times Books in 1979 (the first book listed in this section). The inclusion of the letterpress is a significant bonus, but we prefer the value and easy handling of the 7-volume set (with b&w illustrations) from Dover Publications. Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America - Imperial Folio Edition AUDUBON, John James and BACHMAN, Rev. John: The Imperial Collection of Audubon Animals - The Quadrupeds of North America; New York: Bonanza Books, 1967. Edited and with new text by Victor H. Cahalane. This book came out in various editions, but the contents do not vary from edition to edition as far we know. This book reproduces the 150 images from the Imperial Folio, and includes excerpts from the original letterpress. Cahalane also provides current information on each animal, and corrects the many errors in classification that were contained in the original. Unfortunately, the illustrations omit all text and titles from the plates and are grouped according to type, rather than in order of publication. Nevertheless, this is probably the best book available for those interested in the Imperial Folio. Buy it. FORD, Alice: Audubon's Animals - The Quadrupeds of North America; New York: The Studio Publications, Inc., 1954. This book reproduces (mostly in black and white) the images of the Imperial Folio edition (without text or titles and organized by animal type rather than by the original plate numbers). Written by Audubon scholar Alice Ford, this book provides a good introduction to the story of the quadrupeds series, and includes short excerpts from the original letterpress. Even though the illustrations are in black and white, they are often larger than the ones in the Cahalane book, and each illustration has an indication of the original artist (based on the corrected attributions in the octavo, rather than the folio edition). We consider that a good reason to own the volume. Quadrupeds of North America - Octavo Edition AUDUBON, John James: The Art of Audubon, the Complete Birds and Mammals; New York: Times Books, 1979. This is the only book we know of that reproduces both the octavo birds and the octavo quads in a single volume. The book does not say which octavo edition the quadruped images are from, but they are identical to the 1851-1854 set reproduced in Volair's The Complete Audubon (see below). The almost random order of the plates can be annoying at times. The reproductions appear to be generally accurate and the book has a good index; it provides a good reference on the octavo quads for those whose main interest is the birds. Buy it. AUDUBON, John James and BACHMAN, Rev. John: The Quadrupeds of North America - Complete and Unabridged; Secaucus, NJ: The Wellfleet Press, 1990. Reproduces one of the octavo quad editions (circa mid-1850s) including plates and letterpress in a single volume. Format is larger than the original which allows the prints to be shown at larger-than-original size while the text is squeezed into two columns in a smaller font. If you want a complete copy of the letterpress and plates of the octavo quads in a single volume, then this is one of the more economical ways to get it. Buy it. AUDUBON, John James: The Complete Audubon. A precise replica of the complete works of John James Audubon comprising the Birds of America (1840-44) and the Quadrupeds of N. America (1851-54) in their entirety. Kent OH: Volair Limited, 1978-1979. The Birds of America (7 volumes) and The Quadrupeds of North America (3 volumes) reproduced in a single five-volume set (two of the original volumes per modern volume). This book reproduces the letterpress and the plates of both the octavo birds and quadrupeds in a single set. Books are somewhat heavy with an inexpensive binding that does not hold up well over time. Issued in commemoration of the National Audubon Society's 75th Anniversary, this set is also available in a more expensive deluxe (possibly imitation) leather version including 10 volumes. The reproductions in this book are the same as those in the much less expensive single-volume book The Art of Audubon published by Times Books in 1979 (the first book listed in this section). The inclusion of the letterpress is a significant bonus, but we prefer the value and easy handling of the 7-volume set (with b&w illustrations) from Dover Publications.
Last updated 02.28.09 |
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