Audubon's Aviary: The Original Watercolors for The Birds of America

There is a reason it is called the Audobon Society and this book proves it.

If you've ever visited the original Audubon paintings at the New-York Historical Society, and want to keep your experience fresh in mind, then this book is for you. If you truly appreciate Audubon's birds but have not seen them in full flight at the Historical Society, then this book is the perfect book to prepare you for their major Spring 2013-14-15 exhibits at the Society. The Society has the original Audubon paintings from which all the Audubon-authorized and unauthorized versions and copies are based. This volume provides unique insights which the Society's Audubon curator has discovered and uncovered, along with her colleagues, over more than a decade of care and scholarship. The original paintings were purchased directly from John James's widow Lucy Audubon, who lived on their estate in New York City, by the Society through public subscription in 1863, 150 years ago. The originals provide viewers with a profound sense of discovery, and this book will help prepare you for and deepen that sense of discovery. I heartily recommend the book and the collection itself. Not to be missed, the collection is one of America's greatest art treasures.

This book, a classic, was sent to the son of colleagues of mine in China as a thank you for hosting me. Their son, an avid bird watcher and photographer, loved the book for its drawings as well as the meaningful text. The Amazon experience of ordering on line and arranging shipping to China could not have been easier. My colleagues had the book in-hand in 4 days! There was even a follow-up partial refund of the duty fees. Good book - a classic and a great ordering experience.

Gorgeous book and a steal at this price. This is where the story of "Birds of America" starts, with his watercolors. One word of caution. Only about 1/3 of the watercolors are depicted in full page size in this edition. Others are thumbnails. However the quality of this production, the introductory section and the annotations of each selected piece are wonderful. I plan to buy other Audubon Art books but wanted to start with the watercolors, the studio masters, from which the famous Havell and later "Bird of America" editions were produced. You don't have the whole Audubon story until seeing the watercolors. Hopefully the Society will follow with a second edition with the remaining watercolors. Thank you Amazon for making these works available for the masses!

Interesting and crazy talented artist. Prime has a great Audubon documentary too.

I Learned of this beautiful book while watching the excellent, 2017, PBS documentary, "Audubon". The reproductions of Audubon's original watercolors are superb. Roberta J.M. Olson et al have created a magnificent art book for a true American Master. Inspired by the documentary and this book, I look forward to viewing the original watercolors at the New York Historical Society.

A must have for any bird watcher.

Beautiful prints.

Lovely book, as I thought it would be. Take a note of the size though, and it is heavy, so not easy to browse through in your arm chair. A great book though.

Gorgeous informative book....

Such a gorgeous book to treasure.

The book is very beautiful. However, the service of the bookshop 'books_any' is disappointing. I will not buy books from this shop.

Superb book with good quality reproduction of Audubon's work.I recommend itSent way ahead of schedule, which is always a pleasant surprise :) Nicely and securely packed