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In 1805, Jean Jacques Audubon was a twenty-year-old itinerant Frenchman of ignoble birth and indifferent education who had fled revolutionary violence in Haiti and then France to take refuge in frontier America. Ten years later, John James Audubon was an American citizen, entrepreneur, and family man whose fervent desire to “become acquainted with nature” had led him to reinvent himself as a naturalist and artist whose study of birds would soon earn him international acclaim. The drawings he made during this crucial decade—sold to Audubon’s friend and patron Edward Harris to help fund his masterwork The Birds of America, and now held by the Houghton Library and the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University—are published together here for the first time in large format and full color. In these 116 portraits of species collected in America and in Europe we see Audubon inventing his ingenious methods of posing and depicting his subjects, and we trace his development into a scientist and an artist who could proudly sign his artworks “drawn from Nature.” The drawings also serve as a record of the birds found in Europe and the Eastern United States in the early nineteenth century, some now rare or extinct.

The drawings are enhanced by an essay on the sources of Audubon’s art by his biographer, Richard Rhodes; transcription of Audubon’s own annotations to the drawings, including information on when and where the specimens were collected; ornithological commentary by Scott V. Edwards, along with reflections on Audubon as scientist; and an account of the history of the Harris collection by Leslie A. Morris.

Splendid in their own right, these drawings also illuminate the self-invention of one of the most important figures in American natural history. They will delight all those interested in American art, nature, birds, and the life and times of John James Audubon.

Average Customer Rating:

One of two "Birding Books of the Year"

Customer Rating:

The Harvard University Press has done a superb job of producing this beautiful collection of Audubon's early drawings of birds and a few mammals. The drawings were made and sold to his patron Edward Harris to help fund "The Birds of America". There are 116 portraits of species collected in America and in Europe. Richard Rhodes, John James Audubon: The Making of an American, contributes an essay on the sources of Audubon's art. There are transcriptions of Audubon's annotations to the drawings, with info on when and where the specimens were collected. There is some information on the animals themselves, and a history of the Harris collection and the important relationship between Harris and Audubon. Most of all, there are the wonderful drawings. Harvard has put a very representative collection of 12 of the images online at the link which appears in the first Comment to this review. This book is a great introduction to Audubon's work, arguably the most important contributor to American birding in the 19th Century. It makes an excellent companion volume to Roger Tory Peterson's Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America, undoubtedly the most important contributor to American birding in the 20th Century. Any book and bird lover should seriously consider adding both of these beautiful books to their libraries. Robert C. Ross 2008

Wonderful view of Audubon's beginnings

Customer Rating:

This wonderfully assembled collection of drawings gives you a rare glimpse of Audubon's early years of art and ornithology. Created long before he would achieve fame for his Birds of North America portfolio, these drawings offer insight into his formative years as an artist. Despite the stiffness and naivete of the images, his later brilliance is still very apparent. His natural approach to composition has yet to manifest itself but regardless the drawings reflect his early passion for nature and are a joy to behold. The volume is finely bound in full buckram with a slipcase. A beautiful book for a discriminating collector.