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Case study

The rebinding of Audubon’s 'Birds of America'

The oversize volumes required a team of bookbinders

Conservators study one of the large volumes

John James Audubon (1785-1851) was a naturalised American born in Haiti and raised in France. He had a passionate interest in birds from his early years. To illustrate them accurately and sympathetically became his life’s work. His immense four-volume Birds of America was printed and published in the UK between 1827 and 1838. It comprises 435 hand-coloured prints from his original paintings which depict birds life-size in their natural habitat. Prior to Birds of America, ornithological illustration was mainly taken from stuffed specimens. In contrast, Audubon’s individualistic paintings were based on freshly-killed birds and his extensive observations in the wild. They caused a sensation in British society, as did the charismatic ‘Kentucky woodsman’ himself.

Illustrating the size of the plates in the volume

The size of the plates makes the task of rebinding difficult ©

Through contacts and dogged determination he found subscribers, printers and enough species to fulfil this extraordinary project. It was innovative and pioneering, not only in the world of ornithology, but in the size and scale of the whole venture: his insistence on having even the largest species reproduced life-size provided dramatic prints on ‘Double Elephant’ size paper (approximately 40 x 28 inches; 100 x 67cm) one of the largest sizes of European handmade paper.

Subscribers received the illustrations in ‘numbers’ of five loose plates at a time: one large, one medium and three small. There was no text other than a title page to each volume. One of these original subscriptions was taken out by George IV and continued after his death by Queen Adelaide, wife of his successor William IV: this is the copy in the Royal Library.

Objects featured in this case study

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After John James Audubon (1785-1851)
The Birds of America. Vol. I 1827-30
    RCIN 1122502

    John James Audubon (1785-1851) was a self-taught artist specialising in ornithological (bird) paintings and is most famous for his magnificent double-elephant folio, The Birds of America, published between 1827 and 1838, which consists of 435 hand-coloured plates. Audubon was born on the island of Hispaniola in the French colony of Saint-...

    After John James Audubon (1785-1851)
    The Birds of America. Vol. II 1831-34
      RCIN 1122503

      John James Audubon (1785-1851) was a self-taught artist specialising in ornithological (bird) paintings and is most famous for his magnificent double-elephant folio, The Birds of America, published between 1827 and 1838, which consists of 435 hand-coloured plates. Audubon was born on the island of Hispaniola in the French colony of...

      After John James Audubon (1785-1851)
      The Birds of America. Vol. III 1834-35
        RCIN 1122504

        John James Audubon (1785-1851) was a self-taught artist specialising in ornithological (bird) paintings and is most famous for his magnificent double-elephant folio, The Birds of America, published between 1827 and 1838, which consists of 435 hand-coloured plates. Audubon was born on the island of Hispaniola in the French colony of...

        After John James Audubon (1785-1851)
        The Birds of America. Vol. IV 1836-38
          RCIN 1122505

          John James Audubon (1785-1851) was a self-taught artist specialising in ornithological (bird) paintings and is most famous for his magnificent double-elephant folio, The Birds of America, published between 1827 and 1838, which consists of 435 hand-coloured plates. Audubon was born on the island of Hispaniola in the French colony of...

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