ALMOST SOLD OUT!
Rex Brasher (1869-1960) was a Connecticut wildlife artist who from 1928 to 1932 produced a limited edition set of books entitled The Birds and Trees of North America. The work was comprised of up to 867 prints (collotypes or, in the last few volumes, offset lithographs) after Brasher’s original paintings, painted from 1895 to 1828 and covering 1200 species and subspecies of North American birds. Unable to afford color printing, Brasher is credited with having done all of the handcoloring (using airbrush and stencil) of the black-and-white prints — coloring about 90,000 prints in four years. Brasher’s niece Marie took on the responsibility of the text while other family members helped with marketing and sales. These were originally offered to subscribers at an initial price of $100 per volume, and then $200 per volume, after the partnership realized it would not cover its cost at the initial price. The ultimate number of sets made up and sold seems to have been around 110 to 120.
I have below a selection of individual plates from Volume 3 of Brasher’s work (ducks, geese, and wading birds). I also have for sale a very rare complete set of Brasher’s work, the full 12 volumes with all 867 of the hand-colored plates in the original post-style bindings. See information on the complete set of Brasher’s work.
As is usually the case with hand-colored art, Brasher’s prints are much more engaging in person than in photos or reproductions. Although Brasher originally hoped to complete 500 copies of the work (reflected in the limitation that appeared on the title page of each volume), he soon realized this would not be feasible given the time and resources required. The edition size was reduced to approximately 100 copies, with the final number of sets somewhere in the range of 110 to 120 copies.
The prints offered here measure 16 inches wide by 12 inches high (not including the linen hinge if present). The linen hinges measure approximately 1-1/4 inches wide, and is attached to the left side of the plates. It was used to insert the plates into the post-hole binder.
A few prints were bought as singles and may be signed. Most prints are from one of two complete copies of the third volume of the work that I acquired (covering ducks, geese, swans, flamingo, spoonbill, ibises and herons). Brasher generally did not sign prints that he sold as part of a complete volume. American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) numbers appear on most but not all of Brasher’s prints. Some prints have titles. Click on any photo for a larger image. The prints will be sent along with any relevant text pages that are available.
