

📜Original Audubon Octavo Subsequent Edition Number 45 Plate 223, Meadow Lark
Authentic John James Audubon Print
Offered here is an original hand-colored lithograph from The Birds of America octavo edition, published by J. J. Audubon and J. B. Chevalier in New York. These smaller-format “Octavo” editions were issued beginning in 1840, with later editions published through the mid-19th century.
· Artist: John James Audubon (1785–1851)
· Lithographer: J. T. Bowen, Philadelphia
· Work: The Birds of America (Octavo Edition)
· Medium: Hand-colored lithograph on paper
· Sheet Size: Approximately 6.5 x 10.25 inches
· Condition: Overall good
🔍 Edition Notes:
This plate is from a subsequent edition, determined by a tinted background. (See below for details on how editions differ).
How can you distinguish between first and subsequent octavo editions?
With very few exceptions, the first edition octavo birds have no tinted background. Subsequent editions have a tinted background, sometimes made to resemble the sky with or without clouds.
Credits at the bottom will appear in italic lettering on first edition prints, except for plates 1 through 150 and 186 through 189 which appear in block letters on first edition prints. All subsequent editions have credits in block lettering.
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Princeton Audubon Fine Art Edition, plate 231, archival pigment print measuring 26 x 39 inches. Limited to 500 prints worldwide. Our double elephant Long-billed Curlew is reproduced by permission of a prominent Charleston SC family, in whose home the original was displayed for generations. The background is Charleston harbor with Castle Pinckney at left. The birds themselves are likely near Hog's Island. This outstanding print is one of only a few that Audubon composed with recognizable civilization in the background. Some buildings exist today. Please allow two weeks for delivery as we print, dry. inspect and carefully ship each new print.
Princeton Audubon Double Elephant Edition •Double elephant (life size - 26 1/4 x 39 1/4) •Limited edition of 1500. •Pencil-numbered and embossed with the Princeton Audubon Limited seal. •Up to 11 color plates used. •Specially developed fade-proof inks. Absolute color fidelity to the actual original. •Printed on a 300 line. •Very heavy archival paper which is recommended by the Library of Congress for archives and is specially toned to match the actual color of the antique originals. •Registered to purchaser. •As permanently displayed at The Royal Society of London, to which Audubon belonged as a Fellow.
About the image itself ...
Next to the rare ivory-billed, the pileated is the largest of all North American woodpeckers. This plate, a combination of pencil, ink, watercolor, and tempera, is based on a painting probably executed in 1829 at Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, and considered to be one of Audubon’s finest works.
He wrote, “When followed [the pileated woodpecker] always alights on the tallest branches or trunks of trees, removes to the side farthest off, from which it every moment peeps, as it watches you progress in silence.” Audubon also wrote: “The observation of many years has convinced me, that Woodpeckers of all sorts have the bill longer when just fledged than at any future period of their life, and that through use it becomes not only shorter, but also much harder, stronger, and sharper.”