print room: John James Audubon 

Princeton Audubon Editions

Princeton Audubon is well know for their direct-camera facsimile prints of the originals from Audubon's Birds of America. True fine art lithographs and not digital representations or copies of photographs, these prints are themselves part of the official collection of the museum of the New-York Historical Society, where the original watercolor paintings are held. For those who love Audubon's art, but do not have the wall space for the larger facsimile prints, Princeton is now offering a new line of prints, the Princeton Essex Collector's Edition.  The first four images of the series -- all desirable water birds -- are now available. See Princeton's Essex Collector's Edition.

DOUBLE ELEPHANT EDITION

Princeton's Double Elephant prints are issued in limited editions of either 500 prints (for the White Pelican and the out-of-stock Wild Turkey) or 1500 prints.  All Princeton Double Elephant prints are numbered and have a seal in the bottom margin to demonstrate their authenticity.

Princeton's Plate 311 American White Pelican  is printed on 100% rag, extra heavy, acid-free, museum paper which is specially toned to reflect the average color of the 170-year-old original.  The image reaches nearly to the ends of the paper.  Like all Princetons, it is a direct-camera print. This print was awarded the prestigious "Nth" award from the Philadelphia area lithographers.  Princeton has limited the worldwide distribution of this print to 500 -- and less than 50 are still available. This beautiful print will be very difficult to obtain after the edition sells out. Each print is numbered and embossed with the Princeton seal for verification of authenticity. Sheet size of 26-1/4 x 39-1/4 inches with image size of  24 x 37 inches.

HOW THEY'RE MADE Princeton facsimiles were produced directly from the original Audubon/Havell antique engravings. Instead of working from a photograph and reducing and enlarging the film, or working from a scan, Princeton purchased actual originals (from Sotheby's or other auction houses) and brought them into their printing plant.  The originals were carefully mounted before a giant wall-mounted bellows process camera, with film the same size as the print.  Thus the exact image was captured on the film.  The large image was then transferred to mechanical printing plates, without any reductions or enlargements.  The direct-camera process eliminates two steps (reduction and enlargement) that are typical of other Audubon offset reproductions; it results in the transfer of the original image directly to the printing plates.  The elimination of these two steps eliminates attendant distortions, and results in the most accurate of reproductions. Plate 251 Brown Pelican. The state bird of Louisiana, the Brown Pelican can be found throughout southern and western coastal areas. The image at right, probably painted in the Florida Keys, shows a breeding adult in a branch of Red Mangrove.

Princeton Double Elephant Edition prints are facsimiles of Audubon's original Havell Edition prints. They are printed on paper measuring 26-1/4 x 39-1/4 inches, a size typical of a Havell Edition print trimmed only of its binding edge. Princetons are printed on a very heavy 80 lb. cover stock (except for the White Pelican which is on 100 lb. stock).  The paper is toned to match the average color of the original Havells.  Printed on a 300 line, even a trained eye cannot discern the printed dot pattern (as can be done with both Amersterdams and Abbevilles) without the aid of magnification. Thus a Princeton comes as close as  possible to giving you the overall look of an orginal Havell print -- not just the look of the image, but the entire look of the print as a whole. Plate 17 Carolina Turtle Dove (detail).  Now known as the Mourning Dove, Audubon depicted these beautiful birds in a Silky Stewartia.

WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE Audubon's images can be grouped into three sizes, LARGE (taking up most of the space on the sheet with small margins), MEDIUM (taking up much of the paper space, but with good-sized margins) and SMALL (generally images with large margins on all sides).  Princeton Editions includes examples of each image size in both vertical orientations and horizontal orienations. The full-sheet photos below are intended to give you an idea of the extent different-sized images will take up space on the paper.  Due to the difficulties that we (as amateur photographers) have in photographing larger prints, our photos do not always do these prints justice. SEE THE THUMBNAIL PHOTOS BELOW FOR THE BEST IDEA OF WHAT THE IMAGES LOOK LIKE.		Plate 256 Purple Heron (detail).  This large image is one of the most popular of the Princeton's full-sized facsimiles.  A photo of the full print appears below.
	Example of a LARGE vertical image.	Example of a MEDIUM vertical image.	Example of a SMALL vertical image.
#256 Purple Heron - Example of a LARGE horizontal image. #307 Blue Crane, or Heron - Example of a MEDIUM horizontal image. #305 Purple Gallinule - Example of a SMALL horizontal image.

BUYING A PRINCETON: SELECTION AND PRICES
If you can afford an original Havell Edition print, we think there is nothing in the world like an original print for beauty and historical interest.  But for those who want beautiful examples of Audubon's art for their walls at highly affordable prices, Princeton Editions gives you the highest quality prints at the best prices of those available in the marketplace.  We are happy to be offer Princeton's current selection, and will be adding more prints as Princeton expands their line in the future.  If ready, please order directly from this page (which links to a secure shopping cart).  We are happy to accept telephone orders as well.  Call us at 703-823-7436 to give us your order or to ask any questions. Or use our contact form, and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

PRINCETON ESSEX COLLECTOR'S EDITION

Princeton Audubon Limited has a new line of limited edition Audubon natural history prints, the Princeton Essex Collector's Edition. Using specially-made fade-proof inks pressed upon the absolute finest of all paper, 110 lb. Essex, Princeton took the unusual step of highlighting the paper in the name of the edition. 

Somewhat reduced in size from Princeton's Double Elephant Folio prints, the Essex Edition provides a high-quality alternative for those who do not have space for the largest versions of Audubon's work. Prints measure 19 x 23 inches for horizontal images and 17-1/2 x 26 inches for the vertical. As with the larger prints, the Essex Edition is faithfully created directly from actual originals, either from Princeton's private collection or from originals in the collection of the New-York Historical Society.  The first four images (Louisiana Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, Great Blue Heron, and Whooping Crane) of the series are now available and can be purchased below.  Each was professionally captured from the originals and then carefully matched during the production process against these originals to ensure accuracy.

Princeton is going to unusual lengths to retain the historic appearance of the originals in this new series. Where plate marks or binding holes are evident on the original sheets, they will appear in the reproductions.  In this way, these unique reproductions can help familiarize newcomers to Audubon with some of the features of the original prints, and will perhaps encourage them to seek out opportunities to see and learn more about the "real thing." 

The Princeton Essex Collector's Edition will be issued in limited numbers.  Some will be editions of 2,500, others in editions of 1000 or 500, and some of 50.  They will not be embossed with the Princeton seal, but will be unobtrusively  pencil-numbered along the lower left-hand edge of the image.  The images of the series are available for a limited time only at a special introductory price of $150 each.

Purchase Louisiana Heron  Edition of 2,500 19 x 23 inches $150   Purchase Roseate Spoonbill Edition of 2,500 19 x 23 inches $150

Purchase Great Blue Heron Edition of 1,000 17 1/2 x 26 inches $150       Purchase Whooping Crane Edition of 1,000 17 1/2 x 26 inches $150

In time, Princeton will be adding more prints to both this series and to the Double Elephant Edition of facsimile prints. See Princeton's Double Elephant Edition.

see our Havell Edition prints

see our Bien Edition prints

see our Havell Edition facsimile of the Great Blue Heron (Martino)

see our Alectos - restrikes from the Havell Edition

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Last updated 07.30.08