The Birds of America by John James Audubon is one of the best known and most valuable natural history books ever published. The original Double Elephant Folio edition has 435 hand-coloured prints of engravings made from Audubon’s original paintings. Apart from being of the highest artistic quality, Audubon’s illustrations were exceptional in that they portrayed the birds life-size in natural positions and in their native habitats.

This edition has been created by disbinding one of the two original sets held by the Natural History Museum, London, and then photographing it using the latest digital technology. It includes all of Audubon’s 435 bird images, reproduced as large as possible on the page and with the original numbering and captions faithfully recreated.

The culmination of over twelve years of work, Audubon’s masterpiece features some of the most stunning bird paintings of all time, from the great crested flycatcher and pin tailed duck to the common American swan. One of the most valuable natural history books ever published, it shows birds in natural positions and in their native habitats.

There is an introduction by world-renowned bird artist and author David Allen Sibley, whose The Sibley Guide to Birds is considered by many to be the most comprehensive guide for the identification of birds in North America.

About the Author:

John James Audubon was a naturalist and painter and is considered one of the greatest bird artists of all time. Born in Haiti in 1785, he spent much of his life travelling North America observing, catching and drawing birds and animals in remarkable detail. Using a variety of materials to create a highly dramatic style, he painted almost 500 species of the 700 or so regularly occurring North American bird species. He also painted other animals but it is his life-size illustrations of birds that he is most famous for.

This sparkling Tiny Folio™ edition of Audubon's Birds of America displays all 435 of Audubon's hand–colored engravings, graced with an illuminating introduction by Roger Tory Peterson that places Audubon in his ornithological and art historical context. Issued with the full endorsement and cooperation of the Audubon Society, the stunning Baby Elephant Folio — here reproduced in a miniature, gem-like version — was the first work ever to arrange Audubon's plates in scientific order.

About the Author:

Roger Tory Peterson established himself as America’s leading ornithologist with his best-selling Field Guide to the Birds. Like Audubon, Peterson received many honorary degrees and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Honor.

The Baby Elephant Folio presents all 435 of Audubon’s brilliant hand-colored engravings in exquisite reproductions derived from the original plates of the National Audubon Society’s archival copy of the rare Double Elephant Folio. Although many attempts have been made to re-create the splendid illustrations in Audubon’s masterpiece, nothing has ever equaled the level of fidelity achieved in this luxurious edition.

Organized and annotated by Roger Tory Peterson and Virginia Marie Peterson, and issued with the full endorsement and cooperation of the Audubon Society, this volume is as informative as it is beautiful. Its fascinating introduction places Audubon in the context of the history of American ornithological art and also reproduces a wide sampling of the work of his notable predecessors and disciples, including Roger Tory Peterson’s own rightfully famous paintings. A new systematic arrangement of the prints, following the modern classification of species, and descriptive captions about each bird allow us to appreciate Audubon's achievement in the light of modern ornithology.

About the Authors:

Roger Tory Peterson established himself as America’s leading ornithologist with his best-selling Field Guide to the Birds. Like Audubon, Peterson received many honorary degrees and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Honor.

Virginia Marie Peterson was a scientist and an expert on the environmental effects of oil spills.

A national treasure is celebrated in this landmark publication. 

The Birds of America is a monumental classic, but it has never been explored like this before. This important new volume presents all the dazzling watercolors that Audubon painted for these monumental engravings. We are familiar with the prints engraved by Robert Havell Jr., but Audubon’s Aviary illuminates the original masterpieces that were created by Audubon himself and tells the story behind their creation with fresh insights and engaging quotes from his writings. 

These powerful paintings — all newly photographed using state-of-the-art techniques — possess a startling immediacy, vibrancy, and fluidity that link natural history, art, and a respect for the environment. 

These watercolors transmit Audubon’s devotion to his craft with their inscriptions and layers of media wrought with a miniaturist’s attention to detail and their revolutionary compositions, which for the first time in history depicted all the birds life-size. Audubon is considered America’s first great watercolorist, introducing innovative approaches developed over a lifetime of study. Even judged alongside today’s technology, his dramatic tableaux remain some of the most spectacular natural history documents and visually arresting works of art ever produced.

About the Author:

Dr. Roberta J.M. Olson is the curator of drawings at the New-York Historical Society. She is also professor emeritus of art history at Wheaton College in Massachusetts and is the author of numerous publications, including Drawn by New York: Six Centuries of Watercolors and Drawings, The Florentine Tondo, and Italian Drawings 1780–1890. Marjorie Shelley is the Sherman Fairchild Conservator in Charge at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

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Пролистать книгу Audubon's Aviary: The Original Watercolors for the Birds of America