Audubon and Others
ARCHIVED ONLINE EXHIBIT
Originally displayed at the Thomas Cooper Library, University of South Carolina as part of the
University’s Bicentennial commemoration.
Text by Patrick Scott
Archived September 27, 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Archived Online Exhibit ................................................................................................................................. 1
Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 2
Early Bird Illustration................................................................................................................................. 3
Mark Catesby's Natural History of Carolina .............................................................................................. 5
Illustration Processes ................................................................................................................................ 8
Alexander Wilson's American Ornithology ............................................................................................... 9
John James Audubon's Birds of America ................................................................................................ 11
Contemporaries and Rivals ..................................................................................................................... 15
Some American Illustrators After Audubon............................................................................................ 17
Selected References ................................................................................................................................ 18
INTRODUCTION
The antebellum South Carolina College library was specially strong in natural history and the sciences.
Among its greatest treasures was a set of Audubon's huge double-elephant folio Birds of America,
published in parts between 1828 and 1838, purchased for the College by special vote of the South
Carolina legislature. Only 200 sets of this work were printed, and fewer than 130 complete sets, with all
435 plates, now survive. The story of the College's folio Audubons has been told by Davy-Jo Stribling
Ridge in A Load of Gratitude: Audubon and South Carolina (Thomas Cooper Library, 1985), which
complemented an extensive Audubon exhibit. The purpose of this exhibit, supported by the University's
Bicentennial Commission, is to trace the development of bird illustration, to provide a context for
viewing Audubon's achievement, and to show some of the important early bird books added to the
antebellum holdings during the 1960's and 1970's by gift and purchase (notably from the gifts of Mrs. J.
Henry Fair, Miss Claudia Lea Phelps, Mrs. Richard Wingate Lloyd, and through purchases from the John
Shaw Billings Endowment).
The exhibit is arranged chronologically, starting with European bird illustrations of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, and ending with nineteenth-century American bird illustration after Audubon.
Display items also include a print from the Alecto Press Catesby purchased in 1997 by the Thomas
Cooper Society), a mid-18th century water-color (from the collection donated by Mrs. William Carroll
Brown), and John Gould lithographs (donated by Mr. N. Heyward Clarkson, Jr.). One important precursor
to Audubon, P.J. Selby's massive Illustrations of British Ornithology (1825), was too large for ordinary
display, but has been included in this web exhibit.
In addition to its main archival set of Birds of America, Thomas Cooper Library has a smaller group of
Audubons donated to the University by a local collector, Miss Jennie Haddock Feagle (1896-1993). Miss
Feagle's stunning series of the three double-elephant folio versions of Audubon's first plate, the
American wild turkey (Lizars, 1827; Havell, 1828; Bien, 1859) is on permanent display in the entrance to
the rare books reading room, the Jennie Haddock Feagle Hall.
EARLY BIRD ILLUSTRATION
The first great bird book, 1555
Belon, Pierre, 1517-1564.
"Ciconia" and "Hemantopus,"
L'histoire de la nature des oyseaux, avec leurs descriptions; & nafs portraicts retirez
du naturel: escrit en sept livres.
Paris: G. Cavellat, 1555. From the library of J. van den Heuven, 1820. Later polished
calf.
--the French naturalist Pierre Belon studied medicine at Paris and botany at
Wittenberg, before extensive travels in Greece and the Middle East. His interest in comparative
anatomy also led to a parallel volume on fishes. Belon drew moral lessons from the behavior he
observed, and the white stork (Ciconia) is depicted here holding food for its young. The woodcut
illustrations to Belon's book were made by C.L. Gourdet from drawings by P. Gourdet.
Aldrovandi's Ornithology
Aldrovandi, Ulisse, 1522-1605?
"Grus balearica plinii" and "Grus balearica foemina," in vol. II, lib. XX,
Ulyssis Aldrovandi . . . Ornithologi, hoc est de avibus histori, libri XII.
3 vols. Bononi: Ex Camerali Typographia Manolessiana, 1600-1681 (imprint
varies; vol. 2,
1645). Brown half calf, blue paste-paper covered boards.
--The Italian scholar Ulisse Aldrovandi was a professor at Bologna, and his three
volumes on birds (1599) and his volume on insects (1602) were meant to be the initial installments of a
comprehensive work on natural history, compiled from classical and published sources as well as from
actual specimens. The illustrations (shown here are two cranes) were prepared by professional artists,
not by Aldrovandi himself.
New species in the age of sea-exploration
Jonstonus, Joannes, 1603-1675.
[Pua, Pica, Emeu, Mergus, etc.], Tab. 56, Lib. V,
Historiae naturalis . . . , cum aenis figuris.
6 pts. in 2 v. Amstelodami: apud I.I. fil. Schipper, 1657. Contemporary
sprinkled calf, rebacked.
Purchased from the John Shaw Billings Endowment.
--The Scotsman John Johnston lived abroad for most of his life, and his book
on birds, first published in Frankfurt in 1650-55, is his best-known work. Jonstonus's text was largely a
compilation, but he was especially proud of introducing newly-discovered exotic species, as in this
copperplate engraving, where the toucan is juxtaposed with two kinds of "emeu," one from the
Moluccas and the other a South American rhea, while below are shown a penguin and (bottom left) a
humming-bird. The library has a first edition of Jonstonus's 1650, first, volume, in contemporary vellum,
but not of the 1665, second, volume.
An Illustrated Renaissance Falconry Book
Latham, Simon.
Latham's falconry: or, the faulcons lure, and cure: in two books. . . . Gathered
by long practice and experience, and published for the delight of noble mindes, and instruction of young
faulconers in things pertaining to this princely art.
2 vols. in one. London: Printed by Thomas Harper, for Iohn Harison, 1633. Bookplate of John Blackburne.
Later half calf, marbled boards. Schwerdt, I, 302.
--Some of the most detailed early knowledge of birds came from the aristocratic sport of hawking or
falconry. Latham came from a family of falconers, and served under the Master of the Hawks in King
James I & VI's royal household. His work, was first published in two parts in 1614-1618.
MARK CATESBY'S NATURAL HISTORY OF CAROLINA
From the Catesby originals in the Royal Collection
Catesby, Mark, 1683-1749.
The largest white billed wood-pecker & the willow-oak
Reproduction, no. 49 of 50. London: Alecto Historical Editions, 1996.
--This facsimile of one of Mark Catesby's watercolor drawings, reproduced
recently from the original in the Royal Collection, is one of three purchased in
1997 for the library's ornithological collections by the Thomas Cooper
Society. The English botanist and ornithologist Mark Catesby spent substantial periods of study in
America, first in Virginia in 1710-1719, and then in Carolina in 1722-1726, and brought back a large
number of specimens for his scientific patrons, Sir Hans Sloane and William Sherrard. Engravings from
these watercolors were published in his influential Natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama
Islands (2 vols., London, 1731-1743).
The first great book on American birds
Catesby, Mark, 1683-1749.
"The Blue Heron," vol. I, plate 70,
The natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands; containing
the figures of birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, insects, and plants; particularly,
those not hitherto described, or incorrectly figured by former authors, with
their descriptions in English and French.
2 vols. Third edition. London: Printed for B. White, 1771. On Whatman paper. Contemporary russia. Gift
of Claudia Lea Phelps.
--The first volume of Catesby's great work was published in 1731, earning him election as Fellow of the
Royal Society, and the second volume followed in 1743. He had learned etching specially for the project,
which he illustrated himself. In addition to the Phelps copy, shown here, Thomas Cooper Library has a
second Catesby differing markedly in coloring, the gift of Mr. & Mrs. J. Henry Fair. A digital version of
Catesby's Natural History (page-by-page images of text and plates) is available from the University of
Wisconsin's Decorative Arts site at http://libtext.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/DLDecArts/DLDecArtsidx?issueid=CateNatHisV1&type2=header&submit=Browse
An Original Watercolor Sketch from 18th Century South Carolina
Unknown artist, c. 1765.
The Blue Jay of South-Carolina upon a Crab-Tree Branch
From the collection presented by Mrs. William Carroll Brown, Belton, S.C.
--this original sketch comes from the earliest surviving sizeable collection of
natural history watercolors done in the United States. This is a mid-18th
century album of 32 paintings from South Carolina and east Florida, depicting
both plants and birds. The album was acquired by Mr. and Mrs. William Carroll Brown in 1952, and
donated to Thomas Cooper Library by Mrs. Brown in 1991. At various times the sketches have been
attributed to Mark Catesby (1683-1749), William Bartram of Philadelphia (1739-1823), John Abbot
(1749-1840), or (most recently) to the South Carolinian amateur artist John Laurens (1754-1782), son of
Henry Laurens, who was in east Florida in the relevant years.
Some 18th Century Illustrators
Ornithology and Colonialism, I: Collecting from South America
Edwards, George, 1694-1773.
"The Swallow-Tailed Kingfisher," p. 10,
A natural history of birds: most of which have not been figur'd or describ'd, and
others very little known from obscure or too brief descriptions without figures, or
from figures very ill design'd.
4 vols. London: Printed for the author, at the College of Physicians in WarwickLane, 1743-1751.
Contemporary half tree calf, marbled boards. Gift of Mrs. J. Henry Fair.
--the English author and illustrator, George Edwards, used this smaller quarto format to provide
illustrations for a wide range of European, Asian and South American birds, to parallel Catesby's folio
Carolina series. After Catesby's death, Edwards would revise and edit Catesby's work. As this plate
shows, Edwards, a businessman before he was a naturalist, reveled in aristocratic patronage and the
exotic birds that colonial contact brought to British aviaries; this specimen had been brought back from
Surinam (Dutch Guyana) for the Duke of Richmond.
Ornithology and Colonialism, II: Collecting from the Caribbean
Edwards, George, 1694-1773.
Plate 243, "The Lesser Bonana Bird,"
Gleanings of natural history, exhibiting figures of quadrupeds, birds, insects,
plants, etc., most of which have not, till now, been either figured or described.
With descriptions of seventy different subjects, designed, engraved, and
coloured after nature, on fifty copper-plate prints.
3 vols. London: printed for the author, at the Royal College of Physicians, 1758-64. Contemporary half
tree calf, marbled boards. Gift of Mrs. J. Henry Fair.
--Like Catesby, Edwards did his own engraving, noting "my good friend Mr. Catesby put me on etching
my plates myself." In this instance, he claims to have drawn on the plate directly from his specimen,
without making a separate sketch first. Edwards had obtained the loan of this colorful specimen from
Dr. Patrick Browne, author of a Civil and Natural History of Jamaica (1756).
The Grand Overview of Nature
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de, 1707-1788.
"Le Grand Aigle," Tom. 1, Pl. 1,
Histoire naturelle des oiseaux, tome premier (Histoire naturelle, gnrale et
particulire, avec la description du Cabinet de roi, tome XVI). Paris: De
l'Imprimerie royale, 1770.
Contemporary calf.
--the French naturalist Buffon, appointed in 1739 as keeper of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, produced
in his multivolume Histoire Naturelle one of the most influential works of the 18th century. For the
volumes on birds (first published in this quarto form over the period 1770-1783), Buffon drew on the
work of several collaborators, with solid discussions of individual species, but avoided the new Linnean
classification. A larger, folio edition with colored plates was subsequently issued.
Thomas Pennant and British Birds
Pennant, Thomas, 1726-1798.
"The Lanner," pl. XXIII, in his British Zoology. 4 vols. Warrington: W. Eyres, for
B. White, London, 1776-77. Contemporary calf.
--Pennant, a Welshman, is now best-known for his accounts of traveling
through the British isles. As a boy, he had been given a copy of
Willughby's Ornithology, and he was also an ambitious and dedicated naturalist, contributing to
theTransactions of the (British) Royal Society, corresponding with Linnaeus, Buffon, and Gilbert White of
Selborne, and being elected to the Royal Society of Uppsala. This example from his British
Zoology shows the gradual accumulation of information and the slow process of assimilating local
knowledge to scientific nomenclature.
Thomas Pennant, Classification, and Nomenclature
Pennant, Thomas, 1726-1798.
"Honeysuckers,"pl. VIII,
Genera of birds.
2nd ed. London: Printed for B. White, 1781. Modern quarter calf.
--Pennant's later books included a major work on Arctic Zoology, including
Arctic birds (1785-87), as well as this slim guide to the classification and
identification of bird types. There were few still standards, even for the names of the birds being
illustrated. Here Pennant renamed his hummingbird specimens as honeysuckers. Nonetheless, as the
text for this example shows, Pennant provided scrupulous references to other ornithologists.
ILLUSTRATION PROCESSES
The Process of Illustration, I: An Uncolored Copperplate Engraving
Hayes, William, fl. 1794.
A natural history of British birds, &c. With their portraits accurately drawn,
and beautifully colored from nature, by Mr. Hayes.
London: Printed for S. Hooper, 1775. Quarter calf, boards.
--Hayes aimed where possible to draw his birds life size, as Audubon would
do. At least some of Hayes's bird illustrations were drawn by other members of his large family. Hayes
also produced a series Portraits of Rare and Curious Birds (2 vols., 1794-1799). Hayes is not highly
regarded by scholars of ornithology books, but the uncolored plates in this copy show the process used
in producing such better-respected works as Catesby's and Audubon's; each page was first separately
printed from the inked engraved copperplate with the outline and shading, which was then individually
hand-colored, often by women workers.
The Process of Illustration, II: Thomas Bewick and Wood Engraving
Bewick, Thomas, 1753-1828.
"The Jay," in A history of British birds. The figures engraved on wood by T.
Bewick.
Newcastle: Edward Walker, for T. Bewick; and Longman and Rees, London,
1805. Tree calf.
--Unlike the early woodcut illustrations, the copperplate engravings used by
Catesby, and later by Wilson and Audubon, could not be integrated into the
text. An alternative technique for book illustration, wood engraving done on the end grain of hard
boxwood, was developed by a provincial English illustrator, Thomas Bewick of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Bewick's technique was especially successful in depicting the smaller British birds in a natural habitat.
ALEXANDER WILSON'S AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY
Alexander Wilson, 1766-1813
Audubon's immediate precursor in American bird illustration was the Scots immigrant, Alexander
Wilson. Wilson had spent his early working years as a weaver and peddler in Paisley, Scotland, while
nursing the hope of poetic recognition. In the charged political atmosphere of 1790's Scotland, he was
imprisoned for nearly two years for writing a sharp political satire, and in 1794 he emigrated to
Pennsylvania, supporting himself as a schoolmaster. There, in the library of a neighbour, the American
naturalist William Bartram, Wilson discovered the limitations of earlier books on American ornithology,
and planned his major work.
Wilson as Poet
Burns, Robert, 1759-1796; Wilson, Alexander, 1766-1813; Ramsay, Allan, 1686-1758.
Four funny tales: Alloway Kirk or Tam O'Shanter, Watty and Meg or The wife reformed,
The loss of the pack, and The monk and the miller's wife.
Air: Printed by J. & P. Wilson, 1802. G. Ross Roy Collection.
--Like his better-known contemporary Robert Burns, Wilson had first come to public
attention as a poet, with a locally-published collection, Poems (Paisley, 1790, also in
the Roy Collection). This rare chapbook (not listed in Burns bibliographies or in the
standard Harvard Chapbook Catalogue) reprints Wilson alongside Burns and Burns's major 18th century
predecessor Allan Ramsay.
Wilson's American Ornithology
Wilson, Alexander, 1766-1813.
"Orchard Oriole," pl. 4, vol. 1, 1808,
in American ornithology; or, The natural history of the birds of the United
States: illustrated with plates, engraved and colored from original drawings
taken from nature.
9 vols. Philadelphia: Bradford and Inskeep, 1808-14. Rebound.
--Wilson's American Ornithology was published by subscription over a number
of years, with the final volume completed after Wilson's death by his friend George Ord. Wilson's
purpose was scientific, rather than aesthetic, and his plates characteristically present a number of
related species, accompanied by text, rather than focusing on one bird or pair of birds.
Bartram's Travels
Bartram, William, 1739-1823.
Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida,
the Cherokee country, the extensive territories of the Muscogulges, or Creek confederacy, and the
country of the Chactaws; containing an account of the soil and natural productions of those regions;
together with observations on the manners of the Indians.
London: Reprinted for J. Johnson, 1792. Modern quarter calf. Richard Wingate Lloyd Collection.
--William Bartram of Philadelphia, son of the pioneer American naturalist John Bartram, had traveled
widely in the southeast in the seventeen-seventies. This account, first published in Philadelphia in 1791,
drew attention to the unrecorded natural riches of North America; for birds alone, Bartram recorded
215 species.
Wilson writes to Bartram about publishing his Ornithology
Grosart, Alexander Balloch, 1827-1899, ed
The poems and literary prose of Alexander Wilson, the American
ornithologist. For the first time fully collected and compared with the original
and early editions, mss., etc. . . . with memorial- introduction, essay, notes,
illustrations, and glossary.
2 vols. Paisley: Alexander Gardner, 1876. Large paper copy. Contemporary green half morocco.
--the letter shown here, from Wilson to William Bartram, dated April 8, 1807, discusses Wilson's
Prospectus inviting subscriptions for his American Ornithology and illustrates the close relation between
Wilson and his American mentor.
Alexander Wilson's Carolina Parrot
Wilson, Alexander, 1766-1813.
"Carolina Parrot," pl. 26,
in American ornithology; or, The natural history of the birds of the United
States. Plates.
New York: Harrison Hall; Philadelphia: Collins & Co., 1829.
--this plate is shown from the posthumous reprint of Wilson's work, overseen
by his friend George Ord. The antebellum college library also has a set of the 4-volume second series,
extending Wilson's approach to further species, published by Charles Bonaparte (1825-1833).
JOHN JAMES AUDUBON'S BIRDS OF AMERICA
John James Audubon, 1785-1851: the Naturalist as Frontiersman
Syme, John, 1795-1861,
John James Audubon
Oil, 1826, from Ella M. Foshay, John James Audubon (New York: Abrams,
1997).
--Audubon's extraordinary impact, especially in the 1820's and early 1830's,
stemmed in part from his personal image, as a romantic frontiersman, who
roved freely beyond the confines of metropolitan and Enlightenment
knowledge. This portrait was painted while Audubon was in Edinburgh,
arranging for the publication of his Birds of America.
Audubon and the Age of Revolutions
Brissot de Warville, J.-P. (Jacques-Pierre), 1754-1793.
Lettre de J.P. Brissot M. Barnave: sur ses rapports concernant les colonies, les
dcrets qui les ont suivis, leurs consquences fatales; sur sa conduite dans le
cours de la rvolution; sur le caractre des vrais dmocrate . . .
Paris: Desenne, 1790.
--Audubon was born, not in the America with which he is so closely identified, but in Saint-Dominique
(now Haiti) in the French West Indies, the illegitimate son of a French planter and his creole mistress.
Following the French Revolution of 1789, father and children returned to France, but with Toussaint
l'Ouverture's Haitian Revolution the following year, the Audubons lost their West Indies holdings. In
revolutionary Paris, the young Audubon was exposed to the natural history of Buffon and Lamarck,
studied painting with David, and completed some early bird-pictures.
Audubon in America
St. John, Horace Stebbing Roscoe, Mrs.
Audubon, the naturalist of the New world. His adventures and discoveries.
Rev. and cor., with additions, and illustrated with engravings by J. W. Orr, from
original designs.
New York: C. S. Francis and company, 1856. Original cloth.
--Audubon emigrated to the United States in 1803, when he was eighteen, and after a
period in Pennsylvania (and a brief return to France), married and moved west as a
merchant and storekeeper, first to Kentucky (where Alexander Wilson once visited his
store), and then following successive business failures to Ohio (where he worked as a taxidermist) and
Louisiana. While his wife supported the family as a governess, Audubon set out to become the greatest
American bird-artist. The frontispiece of this early popular biography shows his home in Louisiana.
From Audubon's Birds of America, I: the Kentucky Warbler
John James Audubon, 1785-1851,
"Kentucky Warbler," plate 38, from his
Birds of America, no. 8 (London: Havell, 1828).
--Initially, Audubon had hoped to publish his work in Philadelphia, but
Wilson's American Ornithology had preempted this. In 1826, he set out for
Europe, to Edinburgh, then a center for the natural sciences. The first ten plates of the double-elephant
folio were published by an Edinburgh engraver, W.H. Lizars, in 1827. When Audubon broke with Lizars,
publication moved to London, to Robert Havell, who remained Audubon's publisher for the next ten
years, through the full series of 435 huge handcolored copperplate engravings. The original price was
two guineas a number (164 pounds sterling for the series).
Among the great glories of the library is the full set of John James Audubon's double elephant folio
engravings Birds of America, published in parts between 1828 and 1838. A subscription to these handcolored copperplates, engraved by Robert Havell Jr. of London from paintings by Audubon, was voted by
the South Carolina legislature in December 1831. Shown here is the engraving from one of Audubon's
early paintings for the series, probably done in Louisiana or Mississppi in 1822. The background is by
Joseph Mason.
Not till the 1850's was an effort made to publish full-size Audubons in America, by Bien, in the form of
lithographs, though by the outbreak of war only 106 plates had been issued. All three folio editions of
Audubon's first plate (1827, 1828, 1858) are currently displayed in the entrance hallway to the
Graniteville Room.
From Audubon's Birds of America, II: the Yellow-crowned Heron
John James Audubon, 1785-1851, and Maria Martin
"Yellow-crowned Heron," plate 336, from his
Birds of America, no. 68 (London: Havell, 1836).
--Audubon painted the birds in this picture in Charleston, South Carolina, in
October 1831. The male bird was painted from a specimen shot by his
Charleston friend, Dr. John Bachman, and the trailing vine (smilax) was painted by Bachman's sister-inlaw and future wife Maria Martin.
Audubon's Birds of America at South Carolina College
[Edward W. Johnston],
Catalogue of the Library of the South Carolina College.
Columbia, SC: the Telescope, 1836.
--On his way south in 1831, Audubon had met Col. William Campbell Preston of
Columbia, who with others narrowly persuaded the South Carolina legislature to
subscribe to Audubon's double-elephant folio, for the College library. The appropriation
passed in the House by only one vote. The full set cost South Carolina $925, with a
further $50 being spent on binding the fourth volume. This entry from the library's 1836 catalogue
shows the series still in progress, with two volumes received.
From Audubon's Birds of America, III: The Snowy Heron
John James Audubon, 1785-1851,
"Snowy Heron," plate 242, from Birds of America, no. 49 (London:Havell,
1835)
--In early spring of 1832, Audubon and his assistant George Lehman again
visited Charleston, staying in Dr. Bachman's home. On March 25, Audubon
recorded seeing thousands of snowy herons in the marshes and rice fields.
Audubon probably painted this specimen at that time, and Lehman added the background view of a low
country plantation.
From Audubon's Birds of America, IV: the Scarlet Tanager
John James Audubon, 1785-1851, and Maria Martin
"Louisiana Tanager; Scarlet Tanager," plate 354, from his Birds of America,
no. 71 (London: Havell, 1837).
--the scale of Audubon's project meant that for some specimens he had to
rely on other collectors. The two Louisiana (or western) tanagers here were
supplied by a Dr. Townsend. Audubon painted these specimens in Charleston in the winter of 1836-37.
The plant on which they are perched, the red bay, was painted by Maria Martin.
From Audubon's Birds of America, V: the Louisiana Heron
John James Audubon, 1785-1851,
"Louisiana Heron," plate 227, from his Birds of America, no. 44 (London:
Havell, 1834).
--Audubon painted this specimen during his trip to the Florida Keys in the
spring of 1832. The background scene, showing a reef-like key, with low
dense shrubs, was painted by Audubon's assistant, the Swiss artist George
Lehman, who had accompanied him to Florida.
Audubon's Text
Audubon, John James, 1785-1851.
Ornithological biography, or An account of the habits of the birds of the United States of
America; accompanied by descriptions of the objects represented in the work entitled The
birds of America, and interspersed with delineations of American scenery and manners.
5 vols. Edinburgh: A. Black, 1831-1839. Calf.
--Perhaps to avoid the requirement of giving free copies to the then-numerous British
libraries with copyright privileges, Audubon, unlike Catesby or Wilson, originally published
his illustrations without any accompanying text. However, he followed them with this separate series, in
a smaller user-friendly format. Audubon's text provides descriptions of each species depicted, often with
details of the circumstances under which he first observed it or obtained a specimen, interspersed with
these very readable autobiographical essays on frontier life and exploration.
Audubon in later life
Victor and John W. Audubon,
John James Audubon
Oil, 1841, from Ella M. Foshay, John James Audubon (New York:
Abrams, 1997).
--When his sons collaborated on this portrait, Audubon's
success had enabled him to settle his family on a thirty-five acre
estate, Minnie's Land, on the Hudson River.
The Octavo Birds of America
Audubon, John James, 1785-1851.
"American Flamingo," pl. 375, vol. VI, The birds of America, from drawings
made in the United States and their territories.
7 vols. New York: J. J. Audubon; Philadelphia, J. B. Chevalier, 1840-44.
Modern half morocco
--The first edition of Audubon's Birds to integrate plates and text was the
octavo, first published in 1840-44, and reissued several times by his sons
after his death. For this edition, John W. Audubon reduced the double-elephant folio plates to the
smaller format with a camera lucida, and the plates were reproduced by lithography, rather than as
copperplates. In the first octavo edition, the background remains uncolored, while in later octavo
editions (as in the Bien folio) background color has been added.
The Octavo Audubon in Parts
Audubon, John James, 1785-1851.
"Barn or Chimney Swallow," pl. 48, no. 10, and cover, no. 11, from The birds
of America, from drawings made in the United States and their territories.
100 parts. New York: J.J. Audubon; Philadelphia: J.B. Chevalier, 1840-44.
Original blue wrappers.
--Like its full-size predecessor, the octavo edition was issued in parts, though most surviving copies have
either been broken up for the illustrations or bound up as sets.
Audubon Reclassified
Audubon, John James, 1785-1851.
A synopsis of the birds of North America.
Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black; London: Longman, Rees, Brown, Green,
and Longman, 1839.
--Audubon's Birds of America had originally been arranged, not by any formal classification scheme, but
to provide subscribers with an interestingly varied selection of plates in each issue they received.
This Synopsis provided a scientifically-respectable arrangement and index, together with detailed
references and corrected nomenclature.
CONTEMPORARIES AND RIVALS
Contemporaries and Rivals, I: Prideaux John Selby
Selby, Prideaux John, 1788-1867.
Ornithology, vol. V. Pigeons
in Sir William Jardine, ed., The Naturalist's Library, Edinburgh: W.H.Lizars,
1835.
--Selby is best-known for the massive life-size plates of British birds in
his Illustrations of British ornithology (London: Bohn, 1821), one of the
models for Audubon's series, which is also in the Thomas Cooper library collection. Shown here is his
more modestly-scaled book on pigeons, from Jardine's Naturalist's Library, with lithographs by Edward
Lear (and one by the French artist Pretre). The Magnificent Fruit-Pigeon, from eastern Australia, had first
been described by the French naturalist Temminck.
Contemporaries and Rivals, II: William Swainson
Swainson, William, 1789-1855,
"Garrulus Stelleri: Steller's Jay," plate 54, vol. 2 [1831], in Richardson,
Swainson and Kirby,
Fauna boreali-americana; or, The zoology of the northern parts of British
America: containing descriptions of the objects of natural history collected on
the late northern land expedition, under command of Captain Sir John
Franklin, R.N. . . . Published under the authority of the Right Honourable the
secretary of state for colonial affairs.
4 vols. London: John Murray, 1829-37. South Carolina College, contemporary calf.
--Swainson, after service in the Royal Navy commissariat, had traveled in Brazil with Henry Koster. Back
in London, he learnt lithography, and began a new career as a zoological author and illustrator. When
John Richardson returned from Franklin's expedition, Swainson arranged the specimens for the
ornithology volume, wrote some of the text, and drew the designs for the plates (lithographs colored by
hand). This was the first illustrated zoological publication subsidized by the British government.
Swainson and the Naturalist's Library
Swainson, William, 1789-1855,
"Crimson Crowned Weaver," pl.13,
The Natural History of the Birds of Western Africa.
The Naturalist's Library. Ornithology, vol. VII. Edinburgh: W.H.Lizars, 1837.
--Swainson's work became known to a wide public through the volumes he
contributed to this multi-volume series edited by Sir William Jardine. The
Edinburgh scientific publisher Lizars had been the original engraver for
Audubon's Birds of America.
Contemporaries and Rivals, III: John Gould
Gould, John, 1804-1881.
Plate 34, "Tanagra Darwini,"
in Charles Darwin, ed., The Zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, under the
command of Captain Fitzroy, R.N., during the years 1832 to 1836: Published
with the approval of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury. Part
2. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1841.
South Carolina College, contemporary calf.
--Just as Richardson had used Swainson, Charles Darwin parceled out to specialists the specimens from
his momentous voyage with H.M.S. Beagle. Gould started his scientific career as a taxidermist for the
Zoological Society, and got his start as an ornithologist processing a huge new collection of Himalayan
bird-skins. His early bird-sketches were transferred to lithographic stone by his wife Elizabeth, with aid
from the young artist Edward Lear, and Gould always relied on others for the illustrations that bore his
name. By Darwin's return, the various publication-series Gould master-minded had already established
his name at the forefront of ornithological record. Gould's early work on the Himalayan birds would be
followed by major series (echoing Audubon in their titles) on Birds of Europe (1832-37), Birds of
Australia (from 1840), Birds of Asia(1850-83), Birds of Great Britain (1862-73), and Birds of New
Guinea (1875-88).
John Gould's Birds of Great Britain in parts
Gould, John, 1804-1881, and Richter, Henry Constantine,
"Coracias Garrula: Roller" and "Turdus Musicus: Thrush,"
from Gould, The Birds of Great Britain, no. 9 (London: the Author, August 1st
1866).
Donated by Mr. N. Heyward Clarkson, Jr.
--Like Audubon's Birds of America, Gould's series The Birds of Great Britain was originally published in 25
parts, two each year from 1862-1873. Each regular part, costing three guineas, provided fifteen
handcolored lithographs and accompanying text. It was Gould's most successful series; 486 subscribers
are listed in Gould's Introduction, published at the conclusion of the series in 1873. H.C. Richter had
taken over as the main artist for Gould's various projects following the death of Elizabeth Gould in 1841.
SOME AMERICAN ILLUSTRATORS AFTER AUDUBON
A State-Commissioned Survey
De Kay, James Ellsworth, 1792-1851.
Plate 59, "Chestnut-sided Warbler," "Hemlock Warbler," "Pine Finch,"
in De Kay, Zoology of New York, or the New-York fauna; comprising detailed
descriptions of all the animals hitherto observed within the state of New York,
with brief notices of those occasionally found near its borders, and accompanied by appropriate
illustrations.
Part 2. Albany: Carroll and Cook, 1842. South Carolina College, contemporary calf.
--De Kay, a New Yorker with a swiftly-earned Edinburgh M.D., spent eight years on the study published
here, commissioned as part of a larger work by the state of New York. The bird drawings were by J. W.
Hill, and most of the lithographs prepared by Endicott of New York.
Government-sponsored Exploration
Cassin, John, 1813-1869.
"Centropus melanops" and "Eudynamys tahitius," pl. 22,
Atlas. Mammalogy and ornithology.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1858. One of 150 copies. Modern green
morocco.
--Cassin, head of a Philadelphia firm of lithographers, was a "closet naturalist," working with the
collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences, rather than in the field. The collections illustrated here
had been gathered during Charles Wilkes's naval expeditions to the Pacific in 1838-42.
Surveying the Transcontinental Rail Route
G. Suckley, U.S.A.,
"Western Duck Hawk," pl. IX,
in United States. War Dept. Reports of explorations and surveys: to ascertain
the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi
River to the Pacific Ocean.
Washington: A.O.P. Nicholson, printer, 1855-1860; vol. 12B, 1860.
Alfred Chapin Rogers Collection.
--the disputes of the mid-1850's over the transcontinental railroad led to the comprehensive
government surveys of which this report was part. Cooper and Suckley, who wrote the sections on birds,
had also published a separate edition covering the birds of the northwest, from Bailliere Brothers of
New York, the previous year.
SELECTED REFERENCES
Anker, Jean, Bird Books and Bird Art (The Hague: Antiquariaat Junk B.V., 1973).
Audubon, Maria R., Audubon and His Journals, 2 vols. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1897).
Bachman, Christian, John Bachman (Charleston, SC: Walker, Evans & Cogswell, 1888).
Cantwell, Robert, Alexander Wilson, Naturalist and Pioneer (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1961).
Catesby, Mark, Natural History of the Carolinas and Florida (London: C Marsh, 1754), digital
version:http://libtext.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/DLDecArts/DLDecArtsidx?issueid=CateNatHisV1&type2=header&submit=Browse.
Christie's, John James Audubon, The Birds of America, property of the Delaware Art Museum (New York:
Christie, Manson & Woods, 1982).
________, Catalogue of John James Audubon, The Birds of America and other important printed books
by Audubon, . . the properties of The University of Edinburgh . . . (New York, N.Y.: Christie, Manson &
Woods, 1992).
_______, John James Audubon and his Circle: the Collections of Dr. Evan Morton Evans (1870- 1955) and
his son (New York: Christie, Manson & Woods, 1993).
_______, John James Audubon's Birds of America: the early subscriber's set of George Lane Fox (New
York: Christie's, 2000).
Clark, Taylor, and Lois E. Bannon, Handbook of Audubon Prints (Gretna, LA: Pelican, 1980).
Fries, Waldemar H., The Double Elephant Folio: the Story of Audubon's Birds of America (Chicago:
American Library Association, 1973). --also reissued with the Abbeville Press/National Audubon Society
edition, 1985.
Herrick, Francis Hobart, Audubon the Naturalist, a history of his life and time, second edition (New York:
Appleton-Century, 1938).
Kastner, Joseph, with Miriam T. Gross, The Bird Illustrated, 1550-1900: from the collections of the New
York Public Library (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1988).
Low, Susanne M., An Index and Guide to Audubon's Birds of America: a Study of the Double- Elephant
Folio . . . as Engraved by William H. Lizars and Robert Havell (New York: the American Museum of
Natural History/Abbeville Press, 1988).
Lysaght, A. M., The book of birds: five centuries of bird illustration (London: Phaidon, 1975).
Peterson, Roger Tory, and Virginia Marie Peterson, Commentaries on Audubon's Birds of America (New
York: Abbeville, 1981).
Ridge, Davy-Jo Stribling, A Load of Gratitude: Audubon and South Carolina (Columbia, SC: Thomas
Cooper Library, 1985).
Sanderson, Albert E. Sanders and William D. Anderson, Jr., Natural History Investigations in South
Carolina from Colonial Times to the Present (Columbia, SC: Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1999).
Sitwell, Sacheverell, Handasyde Buchanan, and James Fisher, Fine Bird Books 1700-1900 (London:
Collins; New York: Van Nostrand, 1953).
Skipwith, Peyton, The Great Bird Illustrators and their Art, 1730-1930 (New York: A & W Publishers,
1979).
Streshinsky, Shirley, Audubon: Life and Art in the American Wilderness (Athens, GA: University of
Georgia Press, 1998).
Sotheby's, John James Audubon: The Birds of America, the Property of the Caledon Family Settlements
(New York: Sotheby's, January 28-29, 1985).
________, John James Audubon: The Birds of America, the Property of the New York City Department of
Records & Information Services (New York: Sotheby's, October 18-19, 1985).
________, The Library of H. Bradley Martin: . . . pt. 1 : John James Audubon, magnificent books and
manuscripts; pt. 2: Magnificent color-plate ornithology; pt. 3: the original water-colors for Selby's
Illustrations of British Ornithology (New York: Sotheby's, 1989).
Taylor, David, South Carolina Naturalists, An Anthology, 1700-1860 (Columbia, SC: University of South
Carolina Press, 1998).