Audubon Fine Art Prints
Audubon’s Birds of America spectacularly capture moments of a calmer past. John James Audubon wrote, "Nothing, after all, could ever answer my enthusiastic desires to represent nature, except to copy her in her own way, alive and moving! The Old Male. That is how Audubon termed this American Flamingo, which was actually a specimen from off the shores of Cuba. Only a small detail is shown here from the 26 1/4 x 39 1/4 inch print. We purchased the original in order to accurately reproduce it, resulting in this award-winning direct camera lithograph. This Princeton Audubon print is unquestionably among the finest Audubon images ever reproduced in any edition.
American Flamingo - plate 431, Princeton Edition
Feather your nest!
Feather your nest!
Welcome to Princeton Audubon.
John James Audubon captured moments of calmer times. His life size depiction of the birds of America and quadrupeds were often presented in natural environments, some with recognizable civilization. We are pleased to offer for sale some of Audubon’s original antique prints, along with world-class re-creations.Princeton Audubon Limited was founded in 1985 by the late David Johnson of Princeton, New Jersey, a collector of superb Audubon originals who also founded the days paramount printing company - Princeton Polychrome Press. This company, now sold, achieved an enviable nationwide reputation by reproducing fine art prints for the National Gallery of Art, National Portrait Gallery, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and The Detroit Institute of Arts.
Although thousands of Audubon type prints flood the Internet, Princetons are unique works of fine art. Typical of professional reviews is the following from William Steiner, Audubon print collector and author of Audubon Prints: A Collector’s Guide To Every Edition. “True prints. True colors. Incredible detail. Princetons are simply the finest Audubon facsimiles ever produced!”
Today’s best deals in Audubon prints.
Our Princeton Audubon Double Elephant Edition Blue Crane and Snowy Egret are prints of exceptional depth and dignity. We have only a few of both images where their wide margins have been trimmed. Since they are no longer double elephants we are selling them for only $250. View them in our Odds & Ends.We have an original Octavo 1st edition American Flamingo already framed! Asking $2,250. Contact us to make an offer.
Add to your cart any two of our popular Essex prints from Gallery 3 and apply coupon code EssexFree to get the second at no cost. These are exceptional fine art prints in medium sizes from the collection of originals at The New-York Historical Society.
Of interest to Audubon collectors.
Among our Audubon originals are some hard to find images. Recently acquired is the beautifully framed octavo Grey Fox. Collectors of Imperial Quadrupeds will find a large selection which includes the Canada Lynx. Our Havells include the beautiful Orchard Oriole and Seaside Finch.
Is my Audubon print an original?
Probably not. Yes, it may have “Drawn from nature by J.J. Audubon” at the bottom, but so do millions of inexpensive reproductions. Same size octavos from a book published in 1890 are regularly and perhaps unknowingly passed off on eBay as originals. Several individuals have sent us these prints are are disappointed to find out that their prints have very little value. Some dealers advertise Amsterdam Edition prints as originals. How can you be sure that your print is authentic? We suggest first reading this page - Authenticating Audubon Originals. Still need help? Purchase our authentication service for $75 by calling us.Who was John James Audubon?
"...there is nothing perfect but primitiveness, and my efforts at copying nature, like all other things attempted by us poor mortals, fall far short of the originals." J.J. Audubon.
Between 1827 and 1838, John James Audubon, brilliant artist and naturalist, published in London, England, in his own style, a series of 435 large-sized, hand-colored etchings with aquatints in a folio entitled The Birds of America. These were reproduced primarily by Robert Havell and Sons from Audubon’s watercolor studies that he had earlier composed during his several journeys throughout the young United States. Looking back, Audubon wrote ... "Having studied drawing for a short while in my youth under good masters, I felt a great desire to make choice of a style more particularly adapted to the imitation of feathers than the drawings in water colours that I had been in the habit of seeing, and moreover, to complete a collection not only valuable to the scientific class, but pleasing to every person, by adopting a different course of representation from the mere profile-like cut figures, given usually in works of that kind." More info.
What is a double elephant?
"It is now a month since my work was begun by Mr. Lizars; the paper is of unusual size, called 'double elephant', and the plates are to be finished in such superb style as to eclipse all of the same kind in existence." - J.J. Audubon, December 10, 1826. Read more...What do all the numbers mean?
The number at top left of each double elephant is a group number. The number at top right is the individual plate number. There are five individual plates in each group. Interestingly, the unique plate number (from 1 to 435) appearing above each larger bird will always end with a 1 or 6. Why? Audubon released prints to subscribers in groups of five, with the first print in each group generally a large bird or a full page composition. Plate number one in the first grouping of five prints was the huge male Wild Turkey. The first plate number in the second grouping of five, plate six, was the equally large female Wild Turkey. Smaller numbers appearing next to birds within the image correspond to the type, sex or maturity of each bird as noted in the bottom script.Audubon’s prints are life size!
All birds in the foreground of Audubon’s double elephant compositions are always life size, exactly as they are seen in nature, to which he adds, "Merely to say, that each of my illustrations is of the size of nature, were too vague ... Not only is every object, as a whole, of the natural size, but also every portion of each object. The compass aided me in its delineation, regulated and corrected each part, ... The bill, the feet, the legs, the claws, the very feathers as they project one beyond another, have been accurately measured." John James Audubon. Ornithological Biography, Volume 1. Larger birds were often drawn in feeding positions in order to fit within the edges of the copper plates. Red-shouldered Hawk, Gallery 1.
What is a copperplate?
Audubon originals are often called plates. Large, smooth copper plates had reverse images etched upon them. Shown here is the actual copperplate for the Labrador Falcon. The plate was black-inked, and then dampened paper was pressed against it. When the paper was pulled off the plate, a properly oriented image resulted which was then hand colored. This was repeated about 200 times, after which the plates lost their crisp edge. This is why many original documents and works of art from this time period were limited to about 200 copies.
