Sir Sacheverell Sitwell
There is nothing in the world of fine books quite like the first discovery of Audubon.
Book Description
Unlike the drawings and paintings of his contemporaries, which were produced from prepared skins and zoo specimens, Audubon’s paintings are taken directly from his observations in the wild, and the richness and directness come straight from the real world. No wonder that Audubon became known in his lifetime as “The American Woodsman.” These paintings were produced between 1828 and 1837; between 175 and 200 sets of these paintings were produced, and the last complete set to come to auction fetched nearly $3 million. The prints of this edition are almost exactly one-half size of the original life-size paintings.
Originally published at a 30 x 27” trim so that Audubon could paint life-size renditions of the birds, this edition contains 435 full-color reproductions of hand-colored aquatinted plates taken from a rare subscription copy at the Cambridge University Library. The descriptive matter is written by Dr. Colin Harrison, who is the author of the standard reference A Field Guide to Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds and was for 26 years a scientific officer of the British Museum of Natural History, and Cyril Walker, a senior scientific officer of the British Museum of Natural History.
