A COMPLETE first edition of John James Audubon’s Birds of America sold to an undisclosed buyer for almost $8 million at a Christie’s auction in New York today. The four volume set of three-foot tall hand-colored, etched and aquatint plates made from Audubon’s life-size watercolor drawings is one of 120 complete sets in the world, most of which are owned by museums, universities and libraries. This edition was purchased in England by the fourth Duke of Portland sometime after 1838, when the collection was completed. The record for a first edition set is $11.5 million.
For excellent images of plates in the set, see Christie’s slide show here. There is also a brief, well-written account of Audubon’s life on the same page. At Butlers Birds, Laurence Butler continues his series, “Wednesdays with Audubon.”
I have a beautiful volume of 223 of Audubon’s plates published by American Heritage in 1966. I paid $7.50 for it at a book sale.
— Comments —
Laurence Butler writes:
That’s a pretty eyebrow-raising price tag, but given the historical and artistic value in Audubon’s work I guess it’s appropriate. I should be glad too that people still appreciate and buy this kind of art, instead of the post-modern variations.
For Audubon’s plates, he spent countless hours out observing the species, and then labored to bring his collected specimens back to life for the viewer. There’s something inescapably real, personal, and joyful in his illustrations, and despite all of the other bird books and bird art, they’re unique. It’s unfortunate that so many of the Audubon Societies and birding groups today are caught up in the environmentalist morass of leftist politics (The typical vitriol one encounters in such circles can be sampled
here and
here.) They do little credit to their namesake, but at least Audubon’s legacy and importance are continued through his timeless paintings.
Buck writes:
I’m not a “birder”, but I get it. A half-dozen years ago I bought a spotting scope (16-32×50) on a tripod just to watch a particular
Cooper hawk that frequents my back yard. I’ve see her a hundred times. The female is huge, and twice the size of a male who once stood next to her on a high branch. Several times I watched her catch and eat. Once she stood on my shed’s roof peak staring down at a pile of lumber. She bolted down in a flash and quickly returned atop the roof and gulped down a medium size garter snake. Pretty cool. About two months ago I walked past the window and saw her standing on the ground, right in the middle of the yard. That was very unusual. I got my best impression of just how large she is. She had to stand two feet tall. But, she saw me moving and took off. Rapters are fascinating. They rule their world at the top of the food chain. I once watched a group of black birds taunting and chasing one of the young ones. That won’t last long.
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