John James Audubon & Robert Havell, Jr.: Artist's Proofs for The Birds of America

John James Audubon's keen observation, passion for the natural world, and remarkable aesthetic sensibility combined to produce one of the world's preeminent natural history documents. Publication of the four-volume "The Birds of America", the grandest and most sumptuous colorplate folio ever produced, was a massive undertaking without precedent. Before now, there has been little research into the nature of the creative process between Audubon, the artist-ornithologist, and his master printer, Robert Havell. Little has been written of the collaborative effort that produced it or even the exact methods used to accomplish the translation of the original watercolors into prints. This catalogue's essay, based on painstaking review of original correspondence between the Audubon family members and Robert Havell, sheds new light on the exact methods employed in the printing of the work, and the critical roles played by the various Audubon and Havell family members. This publication catalogues 60 artist proofs, owned by the Havell family, and reproduces the lionshare of them, all for the first time ever.