From the Collection of Dr. Marshall Kiser
From the Collection of Dr. Marshall Kiser
by Linkous Auctioneers
Event Begins: Saturday, March 26, 4:35 PM Eastern
First lots ends Monday, May 2, 10:01 AM Eastern
Last lot ends Monday, May 2, 6:41 PM Eastern
Last lot ends Monday, May 2, 6:41 PM Eastern
Linkous Auctioneers is pleased to present this exclusive online auction featuring
Dr. Marshall Kent Kiser's Collection of
The Birds of America
First Edition Royal Octavo Lithographs
Bidding Begins Monday, March 28th, 2022 at 12 Noon and
Begins Closing Monday, May 2nd, 2022 at 10:00 AM
John James Audubon explored the American backwoods and wilderness to discover, record, and illustrate its avian life. America’s most revered artist-naturalist, John James Audubon (1785—1851), is renowned for his extraordinary undertaking to record the birds of America. The images he created are icons of 19th-century art. Though he studied and drew from nature since childhood, it was not until 1819 when he was the father of two sons that John James Audubon fully embraced the life of an artist-naturalist with the support of his devoted wife, Lucy Audubon. In 1820, John James Audubon left his family in Cincinnati, embarking with a young apprentice, Joseph R. Mason. Mason worked with John James Audubon from 1820 until 1822, contributing mostly botanical elements to about 55 of John James Audubon’s paintings. Later, the artists George Lehman, Maria Martin, and his sons Victor Gifford Audubon and John Woodhouse Audubon assisted John James Audubon with botanical and landscape backgrounds. Published from 1827—38, the lavish double-elephant-size folio of The Birds of America, spectacularly launched John James Audubon’s career as an artist-naturalist and publisher of natural history folios depicting North American birds and animals.
To make The Birds of America more affordable and widely available, in 1839 John James Audubon began the first octavo edition, a smaller version of the folio which was printed and hand-colored by J. T. Bowen in Philadelphia. Employing a new invention, the camera lucida, the images were reduced in size, rendered in intermediate drawings by John James Audubon and his son John Woodhouse, and then drawn onto lithographic stones. These miniatures exhibit a remarkable amount of attention to quality and detail, as well as a meticulous fidelity to the larger works. Some compositional changes were made in order to accommodate the smaller format. Like the Havell edition, John James Audubon’s first octavo edition was sold by subscription and distributed in parts, five at a time. However, the octavo editions were issued in proper phylogenic, or species order. These prints also bear the plate number in the upper right-hand corner and the subscription number in the upper left. The first edition of approximately 1,200 sets was completed in five years from 1839 to 1844.
What makes the octavo edition remarkable?
Ron Tyler, historian, author, and retired director of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, suggests that “Important factors in the octavo edition’s success were its beauty, comprehensiveness, and authenticity. Audubon had not conceived it or put it together in a year or even a decade; it was the culmination of the work of a lifetime, the fulfillment of his “Great Work” (Audubon’s Great National Work, 3). Along with the printed plates, Audubon included portions of his text -the Ornithological Biography- in the octavo edition. The result is a comprehensive, highly informative work of art that caters to both naturalists and appreciators of art alike. Visually the octavo edition is simplified in order to accommodate the reduced scale of the images. This, in turn, reduces the distraction of environmental elements and thus lends sole focus to the bird depicted. Fostered by its small scale, the octavo edition provides the observer with the opportunity for an intimate encounter with the prints, and encourages the viewer to pour over the detailed imagery with unhurried deliberation.
