A national treasure is celebrated in this landmark publication. The Birds of America is a monumental classic, but it has never been explored like this before. This important new volume presents all the dazzling watercolors that Audubon painted for these monumental engravings. We are familiar with the prints engraved by Robert Havell Jr., but Audubon’s Aviary illuminates the original masterpieces that were created by Audubon himself and tells the story behind their creation with fresh insights and engaging quotes from his writings. These powerful paintings—all newly photographed using state-of-the-art techniques—possess a startling immediacy, vibrancy, and fluidity that link natural history, art, and a respect for the environment. These watercolors transmit Audubon’s devotion to his craft with their inscriptions and layers of media wrought with a miniaturist’s attention to detail and their revolutionary compositions, which for the first time in history depicted all the birds life-size. Audubon is considered America’s first great watercolorist, introducing innovative approaches developed over a lifetime of study. Even judged alongside today’s technology, his dramatic tableaux remain some of the most spectacular natural history documents and visually arresting works of art ever produced.

This edition has 65 new images, making a total of 500. The original configurations were altered so that there is only one species per plate. The text is a revision of the Ornithological Biography, rearranged according to Audubon's Synopsis of the Birds of North America (1839).

America's Other Audubon chronicles the story of Genevieve Jones, her family, and the making of an extraordinary nineteenth-century book, Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio. At the age of twenty-nine, Genevieve Jones, an amateur naturalist/artist and daughter of a country doctor, visited the 1876 Centennial World's Fair in Philadelphia, where she saw Audubon's paintings in Birds of America on display. His artwork inspired her to undertake the production of a book illustrating the birds nests and eggs that Audubon neglected to include in his work. Her parents were reluctant to support the undertaking of such an ambitious and expensive project until Genevieve became despondent over a broken engagement. Concerned over her fragile mental state, they encouraged her to begin the book as a distraction. Her brother collected the nests and eggs, her father paid for the publishing costs, and Genevieve and her girlhood friend learned lithography and began illustrating the specimens. The book was sold by subscription in twenty-three parts. When part one of Genevieve's work was issued, leading ornithologists praised the illustrations, and Rutherford B. Hayes and Theodore Roosevelt added their names to the subscription list. One reviewer wrote: It is one of the most beautiful and desirable works that has ever appeared in the United States upon any branch of natural history and ranks with Audubon's celebrated work on birds. Then, suddenly, Genevieve died of typhoid fever after personally completing only five of the illustrations. Her family took up the completion of the work in her memory. They labored for seven years until the book was completed in 1886; collecting nests and eggs, drawing lithographs on stone, and hand coloring fifty copies of each illustration, and writing the field notes for each species of bird. Both the brother who collected the nests and eggs and wrote the field notes, and the mother who completed the drawings on stone and hand coloring, were stricken with typhoid fever two years after Genevieve's death and nearly died. In spite of serious damage to their health, they never gave up and labored until the book was finished. The father covered the publishing costs, which were higher than had been anticipated and were not covered by the subscription price, and ultimately lost his entire retirement savings completing the task in his daughter's memory. The mother lost her eyesight at the end of her life from the effects of typhoid fever and long hours of straining to draw and color the nests and eggs. But neither parent ever complained and considered their work on the book the most important accomplishment of their lives. When the mother's copy of the volume was exhibited on the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, it was awarded a bronze medal. Only 90 copies of the book were produced and fewer than 20 have been located today in libraries or in private collections. America's Other Audubon includes a foreword by the Curator of Natural-History Rare Books at the Smithsonian, Leslie Overstreet, a prologue and introduction by researcher and writer Joy M. Kiser (with archival photographs of the family and original advertisements and ephemera from the publication and sale of the book), the 68 original color plates of nests and eggs, plus selected field notes, a key to the eggs, and a key to the birds scientific and current common names (which have changed since the book first published in the nineteenth century). Joy Kiser has been friends with the Jones ancestors for fourteen years and has access to family photographs and documents that the general public has never seen. The Joneses story has never been fully told and no other author is better prepared to tell it.

"John James Audubon's paintings of birds are as familiar as they are beautiful. But even among his admirers, many may be surprised to learn that Audubon was a gifted writer. In this one-of-a-kind anthology, Christoph Irmscher and Richard J. King have curated a collection of Audubon's coastal and sea writing, which represent Audubon's most compelling and evocative depictions of the natural world and early nineteenth-century American life. The collection is geographically diverse, bringing to light the variety of people and wildlife Audubon met or observed, pulling from the massive Ornithological Biography (1831-1839) as well as the "Autobiography" and journals. The editors supplement the selections with an instructive introduction and powerful coda, section headnotes, explanatory notes, and an appendix linking Audubon's species to current taxonomy and geographic ranges. The book is lavishly illustrated as well. There is much more in Audubon at Sea than descriptions of birds: we have stories of life aboard ship, of travel in early America and Audubon's work habits, the origins of iconic paintings, and, in the end, the carefully drawn commentary on a flawed and, at best, ambiguous hero"--

Featuring the snowy egret, wild turkey, brown pelican, screech owl, and many others, this new collection gathers 130 select plates from Audubon's octavo edition. Includes an informative introduction to the artist and his work.

In this Pulitzer Prize–finalist biography, the author of Mad at the World examines the little-known life of the man behind the well-known bird survey. John James Audubon is renowned for his masterpiece of natural history and art, The Birds of America, the first nearly comprehensive survey of the continent’s birdlife. And yet few people understand, and many assume incorrectly, what sort of man he was. How did the illegitimate son of a French sea captain living in Haiti, who lied both about his parentage and his training, rise to become one of the greatest natural historians ever and the greatest name in ornithology? In Under a Wild Sky this Pulitzer Prize finalist, William Souder reveals that Audubon did not only compose the most famous depictions of birds the world has ever seen, but he also composed a brilliant mythology of self. In this dazzling work of biography, Souder charts the life of a driven man who, despite all odds, became the historical figure we know today. “A meticulous biography and a fascinating portrait of a young nation.”—San Francisco Chronicle “As richly endowed and densely packed as the forests of Audubon’s day.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune “Deftly weaves together the story of the self-taught artist and naturalist…with the development of scientific inquiry in the early years of the republic and the lives of ordinary Americans as the new nation spilled westward over the mountains from the Eastern seaboard.”—Los Angeles Times

This volume provides the most comprehensive selection of Audubon's writings ever published, along with a portfolio of his drawings.

'Birds of America' is one of the best known natural history books ever produced and also one of the most valuable - a complete set sold at auction in December 2010 for 7.3 million, which is a world record.

Produced in association with the National Audubon Society, Audubon Birdhouse Book explains how to build and place safe, species-appropriate bird homes for more than 20 classic North American species, from wrens to raptors. A visit to almost any home or garden center presents birders with numerous cute and colorful contraptions that are sold as bird homes. But the fact is, many of these products provide anything but a safe refuge for your feathered friends. Each of the easy-to-build boxes and shelves within is accompanied by cut lists, specially created line diagrams, and step-by-step photography, making the projects accessible to those with even the most rudimentary woodworking skills. In addition, this practical and beautifully presented guide is packed with color photography and profiles and range maps for the bird species covered—including titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, phoebes, swallows, waterfowl, and even kestrels and owls—to help the reader properly place and maintain the homes to attract birds. And because these projects are the product of years of experience and field-testing, you can be sure you’re getting the best advice regarding proper design, safe construction materials, and correct home placement to mitigate exposure to elements, pests, and predators. Finally, beyond the birdhouses, you’ll find out how you can contribute to the larger birding community and even enhance your birding experience with the aid of new technologies. Build an Audubon-approved home for these species: Bewick’s, Carolina, or House Wren; Prothonotary Warbler; Eastern, Western, or Mountain Bluebird; Ash-throated or Great Crested Flycatcher; Tree Swallow or Violet-green Swallow; Juniper, Oak, Black-crested, or Tufted Titmouse; Barred Owl; Eastern or Western Screech-owl; Barn Owl; Northern Flicker; American Kestrel; Black-capped, Carolina, or Mountain Chickadee; Wood Duck; Hooded Merganser; Purple Martin; Mourning Dove; Barn Swallow; American Robin; House Finch; and Eastern or Say’s Phoebe.

There is more to a bird than simply feathers. And just because birds evolved from a single flying ancestor doesn't mean they are structurally the same. With 385 stunning drawings depicting 200 species, The Unfeathered bird is a richly illustrated book on bird anatomy that offers refreshingly original insights into what goes on beneath the feathered surface.