American Flamingo, Phoenicopterus ruber, John T. Bowen; John James Audubon

Audubon continued to profit from his series The Birds of America by publishing them at a significantly reduced scale in bound volumes accompanied by his written descriptions of the birds in the Ornithological Biography. The excellent condition of this set, combined with the way any bound book protects each page from prolonged exposure to light, allows viewers to appreciate the hand-coloring in these four examples that still look as much as is possible like they did when first printed. These prints can be compared to Jackson’s images to reveal the many ways he departs from Audubon in coloration and alterations to the blank backgrounds. For more about this Royal Octavo Edition, see the nearby label, “What is an ‘Audubon’?”