John James Audubon - The Birds of America 1827-1838
The Birds of America is a book by naturalist and painter John James Audubon, containing illustrations of a wide variety of birds of the United States. It was first published as a series in sections between 1827 and 1838, in Edinburgh and London.
Author: John James Audubon
Sold for: USD 7.9million
Auction house: Christie's, New York
Sale date: January 2012
Seller: Fourth Duke of Portland
Buyer: American collector who bid by phone
The Birds of America is a book by naturalist and painter John James Audubon, containing illustrations of a wide variety of birds of the United States. It was first published as a series in sections between 1827 and 1838, in Edinburgh and London.
The work consists of hand-coloured, life-size prints, made from engraved plates, measuring around 39 by 26 inches (99 by 66 cm). It includes images of six now-extinct birds: Carolina parakeet, passenger pigeon, Labrador duck, great auk, Eskimo curlew, and pinnated grouse. The plant-life backgrounds of some 50 of the bird studies were painted by Audubon's assistant Joseph Mason and reproduced uncredited in the book.