Product Description

One of Abbeville's most spectacular achievements, representing the highest standards in fine art printing, now available at a more economical price.

This marvelous edition of Audubon's Birds of America displays all 435 of Audubon's brilliant handcolored engravings in exquisite reproductions taken from the original plates of the Audubon Society's archival copy of the rare Double Elephant Folio. Although many attempts have been made to re-create the magnificent illustrations in Audubon's masterpiece, nothing equals the level of fidelity or scale achieved in this high-quality edition.

Completely reorganized and annotated by Roger Tory Peterson, who was America's best-known ornithologist, and issued with the full endorsement and cooperation of the Audubon Society, this volume is the first to rearrange the plates in a more scientific order. Peterson's fascinating introduction places Audubon in the context of the history of American ornithological art and also reproduces a wide sampling of the work of Audubon's notable predecessors and disciples, including Peterson's own justly famous paintings.

This new systematic arrangement of the prints, complete with informative commentaries about each bird, made it possible to correct many of the problems or errors in Audubon's original edition that later scholarship revealed.

Other Details: 428 full-color illustrations, 435 duotones.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #596628 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 694 pages

From Library Journal
In the review of the original volume, LJ 's reviewer called this "the finest edition since the original double-elephant folio" and recommended its purchase by "all but the smallest libraries" ( LJ 1/1/82). Since then, no other edition has appeared to alter those judgments. The revisions in this new version are minor: the text has been somewhat rewritten, mainly to reflect recent changes in bird names and classification, and some of the double-page plates of the original have been reduced to one page. At the price, libraries owning the original do not need to acquire this book, but libraries that missed the first edition will wish to consider this one--if budgets permit.
- Paul B. Cors, Univ. of Wyoming Lib., Laramie
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Roger Tory Peterson has been regarded as America's most notable ornithologist following the publication of A Field Guide to the Birds in 1934. Like Audubon, Peterson received many honorary degrees and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Honor. Virginia Marie Peterson is a scientist and an expert on the environmental effects of oil spills.

Customer Reviews

A Good Companion
Having recently read the biography of Audubon, I was very interested in seeing the actual drawings. The book I read had a few of them in black and white, but I wanted to see a larger sample in color. I decided to see if Amazon had anything and was very surprised to see that they offered all of the original drawings in color for a very small price. I realized the book would be smaller than the original life size drawings, but was a little surprised to find that the book was so small. That is my main problem with the book. Otherwise - WOW. To see these birds in all their glory in full color is just breathtaking. Furthermore, when you consider the original size, to have shrunk them down and still maintain the detail and the beauty is quite impressive. One can appreciate the drawings without having read about Audobon's struggle to create and then publish them, but I would suggest this book as a companion to a good biography of Audobon. Once you have both, his accomplishment can be fully appreciated.

Beautiful volume of audubon
If you are a birder and you collect all the great bird books, your collection is not complete until you get this. A beautiful book, contained in a hard case, with excellent printing. A steal at $250 at its original price, now knocked down between $125 to $185. Get this book! A great tribute to Peterson and Audubon.

Why reorganize a symphony?
Let me qualify my remarks by first saying that I have not even seen this version. I have no doubt that the printing is of the highest quality, but I have a serious reservation about the organization of this book. Audubon deliberately mixed his birds in a non-taxonomic order to maintain a freshness and an element of suprise. I recently acquired a large format copy published by Welcome Rain, which follows Audubon's original order. The effect is a delightful romp through nature, full of suprises, drama and movement. He never intended it to be a catalog with all his ducks in a row, it was to be an experience. I have seen an abridged, small format edition of his paintings arranged in the standard, dull taxonomic order of a typical field guide and the effect is nothing like seeing them in the order Audubon intended. Rearranging the plates for convenience of listers diminishes this work, and to a certain extent, is a disservice to the artist. While I am happy to see that his work remains in print and is being reproduced at very high standards, I would hope that it would be viewed as a symphony, not as a random collection of notes needing to be organized alphabetically.