University of Pittsburgh Library System (ULS) Launches Audubon’s Birds of America Web site
March 3, 2008
Press Release
The University Of Pittsburgh Library System (ULS) has digitized and mounted online its collection of John James Audubon’s Birds of America and his Ornithological Biography. Visitors to the website (http://digital.library.pitt.edu/a/audubon/) will have access for the first time to both rich and complimentary resources.
John James Audubon (1785-1851) set out to paint every known North American bird in the early-nineteenth century. He eventually stopped at 435 paintings after he exhausted his personal resources. Based upon the paintings, Audubon developed a series of hand-colored plates that are considered unique. He sold the engraved plates in a subscription series in England, Europe, and North America over a period between 1827 and 1838, at a cost totaling about $1,000. It is thought that no more than 120 complete sets exist today. Each set consists of 435 individual plates that are based upon the original paintings. Each plate was engraved, printed, and hand colored, in large part thanks to Robert Havell of London, although William Lizars, of Edinburgh, was involved with the first ten plates.
To replicate the actual size of some of the larger birds, Audubon insisted that Havell engrave the prints on Whatman double elephant folio size mold-made paper (26 x 38 inches), the largest paper sheets available at the time (known even then as ”double elephant folio” size). Complete sets of the engraved, hand painted plates were frequently bound together by their individual owners, normally into four large volumes. Each of the volumes weighed sixty pounds or more. Today, ornithologists, art historians, rare book librarians, and collectors consider Audubon’s masterpiece the greatest work on North American ornithology ever published.
While Audubon was developing Birds of America, he was also working on a companion publication, namely, his Ornithological Biography. Originally published in Edinburgh in 1831, this five-volume set contains lively narratives that describe each bird and includes additional information, such as their habitat. Together these sets comprise an unprecedented online combination.
The Digital Research Library, a unit within the University Library System, digitized the Birds of America plates and Ornithological Biography as part of a larger effort to convert the vast holdings of the Darlington Memorial Library into digital format for greater accessibility. The plates were scanned on its A0 DigiBook SupraScan scanner at 400 ppi in 24-bit color. The interface enables viewing of portions of the plates at full resolution, revealing the stunning quality of the original hand colored plates.
For more information, please contact Michael Dabrishus at (412)244-7065 or michaeld@pitt.edu.