AUDUBON, John James (1785-1851)

American White Pelican. From "The Birds of America" (Tokyo Edition)

Tokyo: Yushodo Co., Ltd., 2014. Color off-set lithograph on high-quality paper. Excellent condition. Image size: 38 x 24 1/4 inches (approx). Sheet size: 39 5/16 x 25 3/4 inches. [Pl. 311].

This edition limited to 100 sets.

Using the original complete set of Audubons Birds of America housed at Meisei University Library in Japan, the team at Dai Nippon Printing Company were able to produce the present Tokyo Edition Audubon, among the finest possible limited edition facsimiles of the greatest bird book ever made. The highest-resolution images feature a stunning level of clarity and definition unseen in other facsimile editions. The high-quality paper from Takeo Company, combined with the sets technically advanced photography and printing methods, produces a most attractive alternative to the original Havell edition. This edition is limited to 100 sets. The Birds of America is the single greatest ornithological work ever produced and is the realization of Audubons dream of traveling throughout the United States recording, at natural size, every native bird then known. The 435 double-elephant folio-sized plates, printed by the Havells of London, depict some 1,065 different species, the majority drawn from specimens that Audubon himself had captured. John James Audubon was born in Les Cayes, Haiti on 26 April 1785. From 1788 to 1803 he lived in France until he was sent to the United States to manage an estate that his father had bought in Pennsylvania. He returned to France in 1805, but his fascination with the United States had taken root and he returned again in May 1806. He married Lucy Bakewell in 1808, and together they entered a financially difficult period that was only to be resolved, through Audubons unshakable and justified belief in his own abilities, with the publication of his masterpiece in 1827-1838.

Cf. Zimmer, p. 22; cf. Bennett, p. 5; cf. Fries, Appendix A; cf. Wood, p. 208; cf. Nissen IVB 51; cf. Sabin 2364; cf. Ripley 13; cf. Tyler, Audubon's Great National Work, 1993, Appendix I.

Item #39858

Price: $1,125.00