1830-1839 / Published by the Author / London (England) / Color lithography on paper / UMUT

Born in the West Indies as the natural son of a British Navy officer, Audubon (1785-1851) travelled all over the Northern American continent by foot, capturing birds, making stuffed specimens, and producing this reference book, considered as the pinnacle of 19th-Century illustrated ornithological books. In this reproduction in color lithography, the birds of America are figured in actual size in their environment. Each of these drawings contain numerous birds with differing sex and age, drawn so as to show their original characteristics, making this book a field guide. It is also an ecological encyclopedia presenting the birds’ natural environment and characteristic behavior. The background shows surrounding plants as well as what the birds feed on, with their scientific name meticulously indicated. It is said that Matthew Calbraith Perry offered a full set of this book to the Tokugawa shogun, but the existence of such as copy has not yet been verified.