[1870-71] · New York
by AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES
New York: George R. Lockwood, [1870-71]. Final Octavo Edition. 275 x 175 mm. (10 3/4 x 7"). Eight volumes..
Publisher's full dark brown morocco, boards with intricate blind-stamped frame and central arabesque, raised bands, blind-tooled compartments with small centerpiece, turn-ins with floral gilt roll, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. With numerous woodcuts (mostly of avian digestive systems) in the text and 500 HAND-COLORED LITHOGRAPHIC PLATES. Tyler, "Audubon's Great National Work" 129, 165 note 10; Nissen IVB 51; Sabin 2364; Reese, "Nineteenth Century Color Plate Books" 34; Wood p. 208; Zimmer, p. 25. ◆A couple of volumes with joints and extremities lightly rubbed, occasional faint foxing or trivial marginal stains, but A VERY FINE COPY, clean and fresh internally, with richly colored plates, in the little-worn original bindings.
This is an exceptionally clean, fresh copy, inside and out, of one of the key books in any natural history library and one of the great books in the history of American publishing. The story of the conception and creation of Audubon's monumental achievement, the double elephant folio "Birds of America" (1827-28), is the stuff of legend, but its size and its expense put it beyond the reach of all but an elite few. The first octavo edition, issued in parts in 1840-44, was greeted with great enthusiasm by both critics and book buyers. Reese calls it "probably the greatest commercial success of any color plate book issued in 19th-century America." Although the illustrations had necessarily been reduced in size, they nevertheless were always characterized by pleasing composition, almost always characterized by a convincing verisimilitude, and not infrequently characterized by a richness and intensity of coloration. According to Tyler, the illustrations in our edition were printed, where possible, from the same stones and stereotype plates that had been made in the 1840s and 1850s. And these were never used again, as some time after 1871, a fire broke out in the Lockwood warehouse, and the Audubon plates were destroyed. Copies of the first (and other earlier) octavo printings of Audubon's "Birds" are obtainable, but at a substantially higher price than the present one. This final printing of the work offers the same contents, and our copy is unsurpassable in terms of condition, with both the contents and the bindings showing so little evidence of use.. (Inventory #: ST20103)
Publisher's full dark brown morocco, boards with intricate blind-stamped frame and central arabesque, raised bands, blind-tooled compartments with small centerpiece, turn-ins with floral gilt roll, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. With numerous woodcuts (mostly of avian digestive systems) in the text and 500 HAND-COLORED LITHOGRAPHIC PLATES. Tyler, "Audubon's Great National Work" 129, 165 note 10; Nissen IVB 51; Sabin 2364; Reese, "Nineteenth Century Color Plate Books" 34; Wood p. 208; Zimmer, p. 25. ◆A couple of volumes with joints and extremities lightly rubbed, occasional faint foxing or trivial marginal stains, but A VERY FINE COPY, clean and fresh internally, with richly colored plates, in the little-worn original bindings.
This is an exceptionally clean, fresh copy, inside and out, of one of the key books in any natural history library and one of the great books in the history of American publishing. The story of the conception and creation of Audubon's monumental achievement, the double elephant folio "Birds of America" (1827-28), is the stuff of legend, but its size and its expense put it beyond the reach of all but an elite few. The first octavo edition, issued in parts in 1840-44, was greeted with great enthusiasm by both critics and book buyers. Reese calls it "probably the greatest commercial success of any color plate book issued in 19th-century America." Although the illustrations had necessarily been reduced in size, they nevertheless were always characterized by pleasing composition, almost always characterized by a convincing verisimilitude, and not infrequently characterized by a richness and intensity of coloration. According to Tyler, the illustrations in our edition were printed, where possible, from the same stones and stereotype plates that had been made in the 1840s and 1850s. And these were never used again, as some time after 1871, a fire broke out in the Lockwood warehouse, and the Audubon plates were destroyed. Copies of the first (and other earlier) octavo printings of Audubon's "Birds" are obtainable, but at a substantially higher price than the present one. This final printing of the work offers the same contents, and our copy is unsurpassable in terms of condition, with both the contents and the bindings showing so little evidence of use.. (Inventory #: ST20103)
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