The Birds of America, at the nation’s oldest Natural History Museum

One of the world’s rarest and most valuable books is out of the crypt for public viewing as part of an odd daily practice at the nation’s oldest natural history museum. Every weekday, a white-gloved staff member of the Academy of Natural Sciences raise the
locked protective cover from 19th century naturalist John James Audubon’s influential book, "The Birds of America," and turns the linen-backed page to reveal the bird of the day. Audubon created 87 sets of five in all; the museum bound its completed collection
into five volumes.

Ornithology, more than 180 years after, a creation by Audubon, still exemplifies the life-size illustrations with vibrant water-colours and fine details. A number of birds in the book are now extinct, which includes the once plentiful Carolina Parakeet and
Passenger Pigeon.

The creator of ‘Ornithology’ travelled for a humongous decades to monitor and observe birds in their locale and to hunt samples, he used as his models for masterwork. The detailed work allowed people to witness exotic species in incredible detail and full
colour before the invention of photography.

Curator Robert Peck said, "Many times these were framed as artworks and faded from exposure to light. Ours weren’t exposed to light, so they’re in wonderful condition."  The complete folio of 435 hand-coloured copper engravings on handmade paper, each measuring
about 2 feet by 3 feet, cost $1,000 — the equivalent of around $40,000 today.

The complete edition of the book, privately owned last year, in London "The Birds of America" sold at auction for $11.5 million — a record-breaking price for a single book. Peck said, "He was so great at these paintings and he was such a wonderful character,
he was a great storyteller with lots of anecdotes about his experiences of discovering these birds in the wild".

After a long time, being in the vault, the book was finally out for public viewing from the Academy of Natural Sciences’ vault. The book was previously available only to scholars by appointment and afterwards it was decided to be accessible for people. The
book is kept with great care, as it holds a great value and superb condition.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=4841

Posted by Melvin Arthur on Nov 27 2011. Filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry