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n In the years between 1827, when the first plates ofnhis Birds of America were printed, through to 1839, when John JamesnAudubon, with the assistance of James MacGillivray, completed the OrnithilogicalnBiography, he spent his time alternately between England and America.nDuring his time in America, he travelled and drew, at a punishing pace;
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n“Inam at work and have done much, but I wish I had eight pairs of hands, andnanother body to shoot the specimens; still I am delighted at what I havenaccumulated in drawings this season. Forty-two drawings in four months, elevennlarge, eleven middle size, and twenty-two small, comprising ninety-five birds.”n
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| J J Audubon – American Bald Eagle |
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nHe would rise before dawn and begin working, sometimes in sessions of fourteennhours at a spell, and would also go out into the wild to shoot specimens, whichnhe mounted with wires in life-like poses, attempting to draw and paint the birdnon the same day, and would work until about one o’clock in the morning, oftennonly sleeping for four hours, before rising again and repeating the samenpattern.
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| J J Audubon – Bernicle Geese – Read more here |
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nThere was pressure to keep producing the drawings in order to fulfilnhis obligations to the subscribers, but it was a labour of love and Audubonnworked at such a pace because he enjoyed what he was doing, his enthusiasm fornthe project drove his perseverance. When he spent the rest of his days engagednin the other side of the business, obtaining further subscriptions orncollecting the fees, he dreamed of being back in the wilderness, left tonhimself with his birds, and adding material to his great work.
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| J J Audubon – Passenger Pigeons – Read more Here |
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nThe Audubonsntried settling down in New York, but city life did not suit them and, in 1842,nthey bought instead property on the Hudson River which they called Minnie’snLand (it is now incorporated into New York and is known as Audubon Park). Asnthe years passed, Audubon was greatly helped by his sons, Victor and John,n(John Waterhouse Audubon became a noted naturalist in his own right), as theynundertook much of the administrative side of the enterprise, giving Audubonnmore time to concentrate on his drawings.
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| J J Audubon – Great Auk – Read more here |
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nWhen the octavo edition of Audubon’snwork was published, Victor oversaw the printing and John reduced the plates tonthe required size with a camera lucida. In 1837, Audubon faced twonthreats to the nearing completion of his work. The first was the result of hisnown industry, for as he had spent so much time searching for specimens, he hadndiscovered new species that, in order to comply with his initial intent ofnfiguring every species of American birds, he was compelled to included them.
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| J J Audubon – White Egret – Read more here |
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nHowever, he had, in his prospectus, fixed the edition to be of eighty parts ofnfive plates, a total of 400 plates. Many subscribers were not prepared to paynfor any additional plates, and Audubon was not prepared to compromise bynincluding plates that featured more than a single species each, but his onlynother option was to issue a completely new, complete, edition.
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| J J Audubon – Baltimore Oriole |
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nHe was alsonforced to abandon his plan of including plates, at the end, that were intendednto show the eggs of all the birds. In the end, he extended the plates by annadditional seven parts, of thirty-five plates, by which he figured 489 Americannspecies. The second problem was the economic crisis of 1837, which greatlynaffected subscribers on both sides of the Atlantic, with many having no choicenbut to cancel their subscriptions as they faced bankruptcy.
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| J J Audubon – Blue Jays |
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nIt had been annambitious undertaking in the first place and, in his heart of hearts, Audubonnmust have known that a number of his subscribers would have had to cancel, fornwhatever the reasons, over a period of ten years, even if they fully intendednto commit themselves to an outlay of about $100 per annum. Audubon himselfnestimated that there were 120 incomplete editions in circulation when the worknwas eventually completed.
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| J J Audubon – Eider Ducks |
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nStill, on June 20th 1838, the final platenof the Birds of America was published, completing the illustrations although itnwould be two more years before the text was finished. It is a remarkablenundertaking, in size, scope and ambition, and is one of the most beautiful ofnany printed book ever produced. The double elephant sized volumes require twonmen to lift them, because of the weight and the size, and each print contains anlife-size depiction of its subject.
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| J J Audubon – Roseate Spoonbill |
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nAudubon’s finished drawings were engravednonto copper plates and for each impression, the metal plate had to be inked andnpressed individually, left to dry, and then painted in water-colours by hand bynteams of skilled colourists. At the time, chromo-lithography was a thing of thenfuture, and this was the only method of producing a work of this sort. As such,nit was tremendously expensive to make and to buy, and because publishers werenunwilling to undertake the costs of production, Audubon himself paid for thenbooks to be printed and coloured.
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| J J Audubon – Great American Shrike |
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nIt is estimated that he paid out overn$100,000 in production costs over the twelve years it took to complete thenwork. It is thought that 120 copies of the complete first edition still exist,nand to give you some idea of their worth, a complete copy sold in 2012 for $7.9nmillion.
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nTomorrow – Beasts, not Birds.
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