the study Audubon prints: legends and other writing This is a subsection of a larger discussion on Audubon prints. The information presented here is not sufficient for authenticating a print. To begin from the beginning, please read the overview. All Audubon prints were originally sold by subscription. Prints should include
Some prints contain additional writing, e.g., the names of plants or additional species also depicted on the plate, or keys that identify male, female, or immature specimens in the drawing. There may also be additional acknowledgments (in the form of credits or initials) to people whose work helped produce the plate. Space prevents us from delving in all the possibilities; if you are interested in knowing more about the writing that appear on prints, check out some of our suggested references. There is great variability in the specific wording and positioning of legends and other writing. Generalizations should be assumed to apply to most prints, not necessarily all prints in an edition. For example, plate numbers for the Havell edition are typically given in Roman numerals, but many of the prints in the first twenty parts (Plates I to C) have variants with plate numbers given in Arabic numerals. If you are interested in learning more about variants, the references on the overview page are well worth your time. As you learn more about Audubon's work, and as you gain greater familiarity with the prints, you yourself may notice something interesting about print states. If you'd like to tell the world about your discovery, contact us; as space and time permit, we'll post your observations in the lounge area. The first editions of all Audubon's major works were sold by subscription, each installment of the subscription being the equivalent of a part (also known as a fascicle). The part number indicates the order of issue; plates with the same part number were delivered together in the same installment. In general, part numbers are located in the top left corner of the print. In all editions except the Bien edition, there were five plates to a part. Each part of the Bien edition included seven sheets of paper containing ten images, two large images, two medium images, and six small images, the small images printed two to a page. Bien part numbers appear as two numbers, e.g., No. 11-1 would appear on the first plate (that is, the first image) in part eleven. Each plate in the part would have its own number up to No. 11-10. This system allows us to identify the order in which the plates were published. Plate numbers were not sequential in this edition.
Plate numbers can be in Arabic numerals, in Roman numerals, or in both Arabic and Roman depending on the edition. As described above, the Havell edition uses both. Audubon thought of the prints of the Havell edition as falling into one of three categories -- small, medium, and large. The first plate of each part was a large image, the second was a medium-sized image, and the last three were small images. Thus the large images have plate numbers ending in 1 or 6; medium images end with a 2 or 7; and small images end with 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, or 0. When Audubon reissued The Birds of America in the smaller octavo format, he attempted to rearrange the birds in systematic order based on the work he had done in Synopsis of the Birds of America. Thus, the birds of the octavo edition are grouped by type and the plates renumbered accordingly. Havell Plate I (Wild Turkey) became Plate 287 in the octavo edition. When John Woodhouse Audubon decided to publish the Bien edition, he used the new plate numbers from the octavo edition. Thus, No. 1-1 (first plate of part one), the Wild Turkey, is numbered Plate 287 rather than Plate 1. According to Susanne Low, the plate order in the Bien edition is essentially random (other than the fact that each part includes two large images, two medium images, etc.). Plate numbers for both the octavo birds and the Bien edition are printed in Arabic numerals.
The Imperial Folio edition uses Roman numerals, the animals not grouped according to any obvious plan but numbered as they were issued. In our opinion, the first plate of each part (a number ending in 1 or 6) tends to be one of the most impressive plates in the part; we would guess that was by intention but have no evidence to cite. The same order of plates was maintained in the octavo edition, along with the Roman numerals. Although Audubon was not the only artist to work on The Birds of America, he is the sole person credited on the title page and on the plates with a single exception for Plate 64, Swamp Sparrow. This plate is credited to Lucy Audubon; the credit is considered to be Audubon's tribute to his wife's loyalty and support rather than a true reflection of the image's creator. Among Audubon's artistic assistants for The Birds were Joseph Mason, Maria Martin (the sister-in-law, and later wife of Audubon's close friend and collaborator, the Reverend John Bachman), George Lehman, and his sons, John Woodhouse Audubon and Victor Gifford Audubon. Except for John Woodhouse, the assistants worked primarily on plants, insects, or backgrounds. John Woodhouse is credited in Audubon's letters and in the Ornithological Biography with a few of the bird portraits (e.g., John did the painting that was the basis for Plate CCCLV (MacGillivray's Finch). Audubon acknowledged most of his assistants and collaborators at various points in the Ornithological Biography. In his animal series, Audubon shared credit on the title page alone with John Bachman (who authored the text), but his son, John Woodhouse Audubon, was credited as the artist on many of the plates. Victor Gifford Audubon, John James's elder son, made major contributions to the work by painting most of the landscapes in which the animals appear. About midway through the project, Audubon withdrew due to incapacity (he seems to have suffered ill effects from both a stroke and Alzheimer's disease). From then on, his two sons, assisted by Bachman, carried on, eventually completing the Imperial Folio edition, and the first of several octavo quad editions. Perhaps because of the delicacy of the situation with regard to subscribers, and the family's desire to protect Audubon's reputation, John James was credited in the folio edition with 17 plates that were eventually reassigned to John Woodhouse when the octavo versions were published. John Woodhouse was ultimately credited with 77 of the 155 plates of the octavo edition (compared to the elder Audubon's 78 plates). In the folio edition, John Woodhouse has no credits prior to Plate LXXXVI Ocelot (published in 1846), but in the octavo edition his first credit is for #LXI Raccoon (which was published in 1845). Eleven of the 17 plates that switch attribution are numbered below LXXXVI. Even after John Woodhouse's breakthrough on the Ocelot, the elder Audubon was credited in the folio series for what are now considered major plates by his son (e.g., Plate XC Common Mouse and Plate CI Jaguar). Perhaps the family believed that too much accuracy in the artistic credits would lead to subscriber complaints. It is interesting to speculate on Audubon's ambivalence about sharing artistic credit with his son, but since Audubon was still mentally capable in 1846, it seems reasonable to assume that he was aware of and approved of the credit awarded to John Woodhouse for Plate LXXXVI and the other folio plates of that immediate period that bore John Woodhouse's name. The general form of the artist's credits is something to the effect of "Drawn from Nature by J. J. Audubon" but there are minor variants, such as are pictured above. The initials that follow Audubon's name reflect his election as a fellow to the prestigious Royal Society of London (F. R. S.) and the Linnaean Society (F. L. S.). Before these important elections, Audubon also used M. W. S., signifying his membership in the Wernerian Society, and F. R. S. E. (Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh). These initials can be seen either alone or in combination with other honors on some of the earlier plates. Printer's credits are evident on most prints, and acknowledge the efforts of the printer involved in the production of the plate or stone. The first 10 plates of the Havell edition were produced by William H. Lizars of Edinburgh. In response to a strike by Lizars' colorists, Audubon decided to change printers, eventually contracting with a London firm, Robert Havell and Son. The main printer behind the successful completion of the Havell edition was, of course, "and Son," the younger Robert Havell. Until his father's death in 1832, Havell's work was signed Robert Havell Jr. (or a variant thereof), but thereafter he signed his work Robert Havell. You may see printer's or related credits for both Havells on earlier folio prints, one designated Jr. and one Sr., or credits to the firm Havell and Son. Credits to W. H. Lizars appear on some states of all the first 10 plates, although Havell eventually dropped Lizars name from a few of them. Besides Havell, the primary printer associated with Audubon's work is J. T. Bowen of Philadelphia. Bowen was the sole printer for the Imperial Folio, and also did most of the initial work on the octavo editions, first the birds (first edition begun in 1839 and finished in 1844), and then the quads (first edition issued 1849 to 1854). In the first edition of both series, other printers were responsible for the lithographic work for a small number of plates. In the case of the birds, the New York printer George Endicott did the original lithography for 15 plates (part numbers 28, 29, and 30 including Plates 136-150), and in the case of the quads, the New York firm of Nagel & Weingaertner did the original stones on most (possibly all) of the first thirty-one plates. Bowen later replaced the credits to Endicott and to Nagel & Weingaertner with a credit to himself. As you might expect, the Endicott attribution on bird plates is found only in plates from 1st edition sets. Unfortunately for those who care about editions, with the quads there is no firm association between the Nagel & Weingaertner versions of Plates I - XXXI and the first edition. Even though the N&W versions would seem to represent the earliest states of these prints, N&W prints appear in later, as well as in first edition sets. The same is true for the Bowen-credited states. Why this should be the case is open to speculation, but some scholars hypothesize that it reflects the way in which the prints were stored before they were distributed to subscribers or bound into books. The last major printer associated with Audubon's work is Julius Bien of New York. Bien's practice was to print his and Audubon's credit once per page. This can result in oddities when pages including two plates were cut in two. If the separated plates were vertically oriented (taller than they were wide), the one originally on the left would end up with the Audubon credit, while the other would get the Bien credit. With landscape oriented plates (wider than tall), Bien printed one on top of the other, with both credits going beneath the lower plate. If separated, the top plate would have neither credit, while the bottom plate would have both the Bien and the Audubon credit. Interestingly enough, we have seen several full page Biens that are missing the printer's credit, although in all cases the artist's credit was visible. Perhaps these prints were done later by another printer using the original stones. There is a great need for further research on these historically important plates.
Titles of the folio plates usually include the common name of the species along with the Latin name, while octavo titles omitted the latin names. Significant plants or additional bird or animal species in the image were generally identified, sometimes using the common name, sometimes the Latin, sometimes both. Where appearance varied, the sex and age of birds might be indicated using small numbers. Titles were usually, but not always, in the center bottom of the image. In some Havells, the titles were incorporated into the main part of the image.
Some of you may wonder why we have devoted so much space here to legends. The changes in the legends over time often reflect important events in the lives of Audubon or his collaborators. Changes in legends also provide insight into the specific details of how each project was operated. We find this a fruitful area for understanding more about the lives of the people involved in these great endeavors.
Last updated 09.05.05 |
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