print room: octavo prints from Birds of America later edition prints that are entirely hand colored. Although they are not from first edition volumes, we have several plates that LOOK almost exactly like their first edition counterparts. There is some evidence that the Audubons printed and colored additional plates after completion of the first edition, but before the printing of the second. Tyler discusses "hybrid editions" (see Audubon's Great National Work, p. 108-109) and points out that the Audubons did not distinguish in any way between first and later printings of either text or plates, and that some plates printed earlier in the project may easily have found their way into later editions. Although these prints were apparently disbound from later edition sets, they may have been printed prior to 1856 (when the second edition was published). Our print #440 Noddy Tern is unusual in that it lacks any trace of the second-stone tint found in the second and later edition plates of this bird; it differs from a first edition Noddy Tern only in that it substitutes block letters for the first edition's italics on the artist and printer credits. Besides these "hybrids," there are certain images that in the first edition appeared with dark watercolored backgrounds. For these images, the Audubons maintained the dark background through at least the second edition and possibly others. These images include #28 Snowy Owl, #361 Wood Ibis, #368 Great White Heron, and # 433 Common Tern. Many of these plates were eventually changed, perhaps by the Lockwood Company, to incorporate the usual pale tint rather than the darker watercolor background. We hope to provide more information on print states and octavo editions over time.
Last updated 03.31.07 |
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