Customer Reviews

Birds of America

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This review refers to the book subtitled "The complete collection of 435 illustrations from the most famous bird book in the world." The book was published in several editions between 1997 and 2000. The publishers of which I am aware include Welcome Rain, Laurel Glen, and Wordsworth. Do not confuse this book with other books reproducing Audubon's Birds of America with the same or similar title.

This is the best book available for anyone who wishes to see accurate reproductions of Audubon's greatest work, the Double Elephant Folio edition of Birds of America. Produced in collaboration with the uniquely talented printer/artist, Robert Havell, Audubon's massive work is (as the subtitle of this book says) the most famous bird book in the world. As such, the Double Elephant Folio deserves to be reproduced as it really is, with all titles, part and plate numbers, and credits to artist and printer that are part of the original plates. This is the only book of several on the market (whether used or in print) that allows the reader to see the plates-all 435 of them--as they actually appear in the original work.

As a collector and art dealer, I use this book constantly, but I have never spent much time looking at the text. It consists of brief notes to each plate (primarily factual information on the specific birds pictured). Although the 2-page introduction gets the basic facts of Audubon's life right, I noticed many significant errors. The book also has organizational flaws (including the lack of an index to the plates or even page numbers to allow you to quickly locate specific plates). Nevertheless, the color and printing is very good to excellent on most of the images, and it is generally superior to that of other Audubon art books. Until something better comes along, I would consider this book a "must-have" for any serious student or collector of Audubon's art.

I can't believe anyone could find fault with this book based on textual errors! The paintings are fantastic. I just got through reading Rhodes excellent biography John James Audubon : The Making of an American, which got me interested in obtaining a copy of Birds of America. Audubon originally published the book by subscription. Each subscriber received five plates at a time as they were printed. Audubon deliberately grouped the birds in a non-taxonomic order, so each installment included a large bird, medium and small birds. The result is variety, surprise, and incredibly, movement. The birds seem to fly. I have seen of many of these drawings in small format, but nothing prepared me for seeing them in large format, page after delightful page. I was stunned, taken aback. A feast for the eyes on a wintery night. You haven't seen nothing until you've seen Audubon's full work in large format. I can only imagine the impact the originals had in their huge elephant folio format. If you're one of these shriveled souls that has to have the birds in the current taxonomic order, stick with your field guide. To put these painting in scientific order - to put all your ducks in a row, so to speak, as some recent editions do would destroy the sense of discovery and surprise that Audubon intended. It would be like taking a Beethoven symphony and arranging all the notes in alphabetic order. You gotta get this book!

This book is the complete collection of the gorgeous work of John James Audubon, all 435 plates of his original work(and NO there are no missing or out of order plates, the people who reprinted this book are not complete idiots). If you are interested in this book, do not be mislead by the former review of Andy B. Why anyone would judge a PICTURE BOOK by correctness of grammar is beyond me. I myself did not see a great deal of typos in the actual introduction to the book(which is hardly reason enough to disregard the rest of the work). The only possible drawback is that the descriptions of the birds are in the back of the book instead of on the page of the corresponding bird and that there is no index. If you are a die hard Audubon fan, this will probably be worth whatever you pay for it and if you are a bird lover, I doubt you will regret buying this book. I'm sure you will cherish it always.

"Returned it before reading the last paragraph" PLEASE! That's like saying you threw out a Picasso because he misspelled his signature.

The introduction had so many typos that (as a purist), I returned it before reading the last paragraph. If readers can live with that, great. Enjoy the book.

As massive an undertaking as the color printing was (first-rate, BTW), the poor attention to proofreading such a small amount of text matter renders the integrity of the rest of the book highly suspect. I didn't want to proofread the 435 plates (in microscopic Roman numerals) for out-of-order errors, missing plates, etc.

Regretfully,

Andy B

The introduction had so many typos that (as a purist), I returned it before reading the last paragraph. If readers can live with that, great. Enjoy the book.

As massive an undertaking as the color printing was (first-rate, BTW), the poor attention to proofreading such a small amount of text matter renders the integrity of the rest of the book highly suspect. I didn't want to proofread the 435 plates (in microscopic Roman numerals) for out-of-order errors, missing plates, etc.

Regretfully,

Andy B