The Birds of America
The cover shows a Louisiana heron,
Egretta tricolor (now called tricolored heron) |
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| Author | John James Audubon |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Birds of America; from original drawings by John James Audubon |
| Illustrator | John James Audubon |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Subject | Birds – North America; Birds – pictorial works |
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Publication date
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1827–1838 |
| LC Class | QL674 .A9 1827 |
The Birds of America is a book by naturalist and painter John James Audubon, containing illustrations of a wide variety of birds of the United States. It was first published as a series in sections between 1827 and 1838, in Edinburgh and London.
The work consists of hand-coloured, life-size prints, made from engraved plates, measuring around 39 by 26 inches (99 by 66 cm). It includes images of six now-extinct birds: Carolina parakeet, passenger pigeon, Labrador duck, great auk, Eskimo curlew, and pinnated grouse. The plant-life backgrounds of some 50 of the bird studies were painted by Audubon's assistant Joseph Mason and reproduced uncredited in the book.
About 1820, around the age of 35, Audubon declared his intention to paint every bird in North America. In his bird art, he mainly forsook oil paint, the medium of serious artists of the day, in favour of watercolours and pastel crayons (and occasionally pencil, charcoal, chalk, gouache, and pen and ink). As early as 1807, he developed a method of using wires and threads to hold dead birds in lifelike poses while he drew them.
In 1823, Audubon went to Philadelphia and New York, looking for financial support in the form of subscribers to enable him to publish his artwork, but he found support lacking. As a result, in 1826, he set sail for the United Kingdom with 250 of his original illustrations, looking for the financial support of subscribers and the technical abilities of engravers and printers. After exhibiting his drawings in Liverpool and Manchester, he journeyed to Edinburgh, where he met the accomplished engraver William H. Lizars. Lizars engraved up to ten of the first plates but was unable to continue the project when his colourists went on strike. In 1827, Audubon engaged the noted London animal engraver Robert Havell Jr., and his father, Robert Havell Sr. Havell Jr. oversaw the project through to its completion in 1838.
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