Collection: Birds of America by Audubon

John James Audubon is in vogue. Like German Ernst Haeckel and Frenchman Adolphe Millot, Audobon's drawings became part of the decoration of many houses around the world. Audubon's best-known work is The Birds of America, considered the most expensive printed book in the world.

The exotic idea worked, and John James printed about 200 copies of The Birds of America, which contained 435 engravings, on pages as large as 99cm x 66cm. The engravings were arranged in 4 volumes and were published between 1827 and 1838. Each image was hand painted by the author himself in watercolour technique and was accompanied by a volume of text called Ornithological Biographies written by the ornithologist William MacGillivray.

Each book was sold for a thousand dollars, a fortune then, but a success. The British King George IV was one of Audubon's buyers and enthusiasts; upon successful publication, the Royal Academy invited him to become a member of the institution.

After the first edition of the book, John James wanted to make the publication more accessible to the middle class and produced the lithographs in Philadelphia. The second edition was released in 1844 in 1199 copies with reproductions of the Audubon drawings.