Photo by Behnoush Tavasolinia, LSU Libraries.
LSU Special Collections’ public services librarian, Germain Bienvenu, shows off an illustration from one of the four volumes of the double elephant folio of The Birds of America to a pair of onlookers.
On May 3, the LSU Hill Memorial Library will pull from its rich archives hone of its rarest holdings: a complete original edition of John James Audubon’s The Birds of America.
The ambition to paint every single bird in North America came to Audubon when he was around age 35, in 1820. He spent the years between 1827–1838 traveling not only to gather source material, but also to attract funders, or “subscribers” for the project. These subscribers would receive five copper engraving plates of the birds he was documenting at a time, paying around $1,000 for the privilege (equivalent to a whopping $34,000 today).
The artistic and scientific quality of Audubon’s birds drew subscriptions from some of the most influential people in the world, including King Charles X of France, Queen Adelaide of the United Kingdom, and Kentucky statesman Henry Clay. It is believed that no more than two hundred complete sets were ever compiled, and only 120 still exist today. (One of these editions was sold at Christie’s for $8.8 million in 2000, breaking the record for book sales at the time.)
LSU’s edition, part of Hill Memorial’s E.A. McIlhenny Natural History Collection, originally belonged to one of the first subscribers, the Duke of Northumberland, and was purchased by the university with a grant from the Crown Zellerbach Foundation in 1964. In 2008, LSU oversaw a meticulous historic restoration of the collection with a donation from the Coypu Foundation.
The work has significance in Louisiana due to the fact that the artist and naturalist completed more of his images here than in any other place; he began 167 of the 435 birds during his travels here. Much of that work was completed while he stayed at Oakley Plantation in St. Francisville which, to this day, offers tours and historic programming focused on Audubon’s four-month residency there. Now owned by the State of Louisiana, the property has even been named the Audubon State Historic Site.
“While a project of this magnitude has many fitful starts, it’s safe to say that The Birds of America would never have happened had it not been for the years that Audubon and his wife spent working in St. Francisville, not to mention the many trips to collect specimens while based there, trips that took him throughout the bayous and forests of the region,” said John Miles, LSU Special Collections’ Curator of Books and Head of Instruction.
Each year, for Audubon Day, the library pulls out all four volumes of the set and displays them for a free public viewing. Such an opportunity to spend time, up close, with all of the original prints, at no cost, does not exist anywhere else in the world, according to Miles. “While people have seen reproductions of prints, possibly even multiple prints, being able to page through the elephant folios and see the scope of the project and the rhythm of the work offers an entirely different and unmatched experience for the viewer.”
Audubon Day takes place from 10 am–2 pm at Hill Memorial Library on May 3. Details at lib.lsu.edu/special/audubon.
