Audubon

Around 1820, American wildlife artist and naturalist John James Audubon declared his intention to paint every bird species in North America. The result of this ambition was Birds of America, published between 1827 and 1838, and featuring 435 life-size, hand-coloured prints. The book’s large size (almost 1m high) and its publication as a series of folios has resulted in very few complete volumes remaining to this day.

Audubon was and is a controversial figure. Many of his practices were criticised by the naturalist community and he profited from the ownership of enslaved people during his life-time. However, the book itself stands as a reminder of the beauty and fragility of our natural environment, featuring paintings of at least five now-extinct birds.

The information below is taken from the National Library of Scotland which looked at the experiences John Audubon during visits to Scotland's capital city.

Without his first visit to the city in 1826, Audubon might never have been able to publish life's work; Birds of America, one of the world's most famous and valuable books. His Edinburgh encounters were crucial to the production of this four-volume work. Containing more than 1,000 of his life-like paintings, it created an important record of nearly 490 bird species, some of which are now extinct. Complete sets of the book are rare and one even sold at auction in 2000 for $8.8 million.

Among the brilliant and influential men Audubon met when staying in Edinburgh were Sir Walter Scott, the most famous living Scotsman at that time, Artist and engraver William Home Lizars, natural historian and ornithologist William MacGillivray, and anatomist Robert Knox.

Birds of America took nearly 12 years to complete. In four volumes it contains 435 plates showing 1,065 life-size illustrations of 489 bird species of 19th-century America. Audubon was determined to have his paintings reproduced to the highest possible standards. The first 10 copper plates were painstakingly engraved by William Home Lizars whom he met in Edinburgh. A team of colourists then reproduced the details of the original painting on to the engraved print.