Le Grand Livre Des Oiseaux Jean-Jacques Audubon

The Birds of America by Jean-Jacques Audubon (1785-1851) is one of the jewels in the crown of ornithological publishing.

Audubon quickly discovered his love of nature and birds. In particular, he was one of the first to ring birds in order to observe them. After studying drawing and painting with J.-L. David, he set sail for the United States in 1803. From 1827 to 1838, with the help of a number of collaborators, he published the 435 plates of Birds of America. This work was quickly acclaimed for the quality of its scientific approach, the number of plates, the quality of their execution and their size - Audubon had wanted the birds to be represented in actual size. With his meticulous drawings, precise brushstrokes and fresh colours, he transformed the way we looked at birds. Whereas at the time, birds were mainly depicted stuffed and on a plinth, he showed them in their natural environment, with the plants on which they perched or were attacked by their predators.

This superb work presents the 435 plates from the original edition. It is accompanied by a detailed introduction covering the pioneers of American ornithology, Audubon's life, the collaborators who also worked on Birds of America, the various editions of this work and the other books published by Audubon, in particular his Ornithological Biography. Each plate has a note with detailed comments on each of the 1,065 birds depicted.