Notebook Birds of America

Comprising 435 plates and published by subscription in England between 1827 and 1838, The Birds of America is the masterpiece of John James Audubon (1785–1851). The naturalist’s watercolors, based on birds he observed and hunted along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, were reproduced as aquatints and hand-colored, giving them not only scientific value but also remarkable aesthetic quality. The birds are shown life-size, in a format of approximately 98 × 66 cm, making the first ornithologist of the New World also the creator of the largest antiquarian illustrated book in the world. The work earned him membership in the Royal Society of London.