Feather your nest!
Audubon fine art at its very finest! Welcome to Princeton Audubon Prints.
... and fur your den!
A unique opportunity to own both the uncolored mink, just as it was pulled from the lithograph stone in Bowen’s Philadelphia shop, and the finished product. These Imperial Quadrupeds are among the rarest of all Audubon originals.
Today’s featured original
Welcome to Princeton Audubon. This is your opportunity to own one of the most sought-after of all Audubon originals. Extinct? Perhaps not. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Click below for condition report. We invite your offers. Call us at 908.510.1621.
Special announcements!
The Lord-Hopkins Collection - Octavo Quadrupeds
The most exciting Audubon find in a generation, this is a collection of pattern prints, or touchstone prints, that were used by the Audubon family and their engraver, J. T. Bowen, as a guide for his colorists when producing the Octavo quadrupeds. Usually seen only in museums, these are the last known prints to come from Bowen’s shop, some with penciled instructions from Victor Audubon! These were discovered in 1923 and are only now being offered to collectors, and only from this website. Very reasonably priced, you may want to purchase two of the same image where available. Purchasing two or more? Add selections to your cart, click Checkout, and apply coupon code Lord-Hopkins-Octavos for a 20% discount. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany each historic print. These of course are more than actual originals. They are part of Audubon history.The Lord-Hopkins Collection - Imperial Quadrupeds
This collection is composed of Imperial pattern prints and uncolored Imperials, just as they were pulled off of the stones. We believe the colored prints were used as pattern prints, as they were found bundled with the Octavo pattern prints and are well worn, as one would expect from such reference prints. These are reasonably priced and in some cases we have the resulting colored original in our Imperial quadruped gallery. Purchasing two or more? Add selections to your cart, click Checkout, and apply coupon code Lord-Hopkins-Imperials for a 20% discount. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany each historic print. These of course are more than actual originals. They are part of Audubon history.
The Heritage Collection
Actual original Audubon Octavos, birds and quadrupeds, already professionally matted. We recommend displaying as is, although you may simply drop into a frame of your choice. Most birds are from the beautiful second edition produced by Audubons family in 1856. For this collection only, select two or more, click Checkout, and apply coupon code Heritage for a 20% discount!New Audubon prints from Princeton Audubon!
Two exquisite baby elephants, the Cardinal Grosbeak and the mesmerizing Indigo Bird. New Double Elephants, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker & Long-billed Curlew!
Our most popular prints. American Flamingo, Carolina Parrot, Pileated Woodpecker, and the Great Blue Heron.
Section 1- Audubon fine art reproductions
Click here for The Princeton Audubon Double Elephant Edition. (Direct camera lithographs) Described as the finest Audubon prints ever accomplished, Princetons are the world’s only direct camera Audubon fine art prints. 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. We purchased these originals and physically used them to produce this edition - the world’s only direct camera Birds of America lithographs. A giant camera with film the same size as the print took a direct-capture picture of the original, and this exact image was transferred directly to the metal printing plates.
William Steiner, Audubon collector and author of Audubon Prints: A Collector’s Guide To Every Edition, states “True prints, true colors, incredible detail! Princetons are simply the finest Audubon prints ever produced!” Chris Lane, Philadelphia Print Shop West, and appraiser on Antiques Roadshow, “Of all the full-size facsimiles of Audubon's prints, those from Princeton Audubon Ltd. come the closest in appearance and quality to the originals. Combining this with their very reasonable cost make the Princeton Audubon facsimiles winners for those looking to acquire some of the most dramatic American natural history images ever produced." Louise Mirrer, Director of The New-York Historical Society states, "With their astounding detail, definition, and color, the Princeton direct-camera facsimiles have long set the standard in Audubon Birds of America lithographs."
Princeton Audubon Edition specifications. Double elephants (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. This collection includes The Carolina Parrot, The Pileated Woodpecker, The Purple Heron, The American White Pelican, The Snowy Egret, The Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and many more.
Click here for The Rare Prints Double Elephant Edition (Archival pigment prints) The absolute finest of today’s giclee editions. These archival pigment prints are precise in their fidelity to the originals and can be displayed together with the Princeton Edition above. Of the many giclee editions, this high-quality Edition is the only one we agree to sell. This collection includes the finest edition of The Great Blue Heron money can buy.
Click here for The Princeton Audubon Fine Art Edition. (Archival pigment prints) These precision giclees are produced from our own films and originals. Newly introduced, several of these limited editions of 200 or 500 prints worldwide are offered at the introductory price of $650. Regular retail will be $850 to $1,250. This collection includes The Ivory-billed Woodpecker. This stunning edition also includes The Long-billed Curlew, The Turkey (male), and The American Flamingo.
Click here for The Princeton Essex New-York Historical Society Edition. (Medium sized lithographs) Produced by permission of The New-York Historical Society, these four reduced size prints are unique in their quality, paper, and size. Louise Mirrer, Director of the New-York Historical Society says, "Princeton has faithfully reproduced the N-YHS original engravings in a collector's edition of stunning quality and brilliant color." This collection includes The Great Blue Heron, The Louisiana Heron, The Roseate Spoonbill, and The Hooping Crane.
Click here for The Princeton Audubon Baby Elephant Editions. Audubon prints in this gallery are of the highest quality and in a reduced size format. They include The Princeton Baby Elephant Edition, which is a new series of archival pigment prints, Princeton double elephants with wide margins trimmed, and The Princeton Audubon Watercolor Edition which is a smaller series of watercolor images. The reduced size allows for more possibilities in display locations while still retaining the highest craftsmanship. Notable in this gallery are the new giclees in reduced size, the Flamingo, Wild Turkey, Cardinal Grosbeak, and the Indigo Bunting.
Click here for Princeton Imperial reproductions. Direct camera fine art prints of Audubon’s popular quadrupeds. Measuring 21 x 28 inches, these are beautifully printed on archival Somerset paper imported from England.
Looking for a flamingo? We have four fine art flamingo images you may choose from...
(1) The Rare Prints Edition Flamingo. $1,800. This is an exact facsimile of an Audubon Double elephant flamingo as it appears today after 180 years.
(2) The Princeton Audubon Double Elephant Edition. $1,500.Said to be the finest ever produced. The world’s only direct camera edition of the Flamingo. (3) The Princeton Audubon Fine Art Edition. $650 introductory price. This is our own giclee or archival pigment print edition produced from our direct camera films.(4) The Princeton Audubon Baby Elephant Edition. $175. Measuring 17 1/2 x 26 inches, this fine art giclee is for those hard to fit spaces.
Section 2 - Audubon originals
Click here for Original Audubon Havell Edition. (1827-1838) This is the most desirable of all original Audubon editions. These are large prints measuring about 27 x 39 inches and all the birds in the foreground are life size. Included are the impossible to find Ivory-billed Woodpecker, the Orchard Oriole, and the exquisite Sea-side Finch. We invite you to make an offer on these Audubon originals.
Click here for Original Audubon Imperial Quadrupeds. Yes, Audubon is not just birds. This incredibly detailed work is officially termed The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. These mammals of North America were published in three volumes, dating 1845, 1846, and 1848. Somewhat more that 303 Imperial sets were printed. These are rare and very valuable today. These lithographs were printed on paper sized at 22 x 28 inches, termed Imperials. These prints are identified by the legend at the lower right "Lith. Printed & Cold. by J.T. Bowen, Phila." We have a large collection of these rare prints. Coming soon – a large collection of uncolored Imperials, believed to be the last to come out of Bowen’s Philadelphia print shop.
Click here for Original Audubon Octavo Editions – birds. These were produced between 1840 and 1871. This work is often termed The Royal Octavo Edition, the octavo referring to the size of the paper being about 1/8 the size of a normal folio, or about 6 1/2 x 10 1/2inches. Audubon himself called it "The Birds in Miniature" and you will also hear it simply being termed the 'miniatures'. It was produced in Philadelphia, USA, by John T. Bowen. We offer many such originals already professionally matted and mounted on a display board. These can be displayed as is (the perfect gift) or simply dropped into a frame.
Click here for Original Audubon Octavo Editions – quadrupeds. Audubon's sons saw the need to reduce the size of the Imperials, and beginning in 1849, the octavo edition of The Quadrupeds of North America was published in three volumes. Volume 1 was followed in 1851 with the second volume, and the final, the third volume was published in 1854. Between 1,999 and 2,004 sets were published in this first edition. A second edition was published in 1852-54, a third in 1856-60, and a fourth in 1870. The size for these editions was about 6 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches. Many of these are also offered already matted and mounted on an archival backer board.
The Chiswick Collection. Five Audubon original octavo quadrupeds framed to archival standards from a California collector. This collection consists of The Common American Skunk, The Red-bellied Squirrel, The American Beaver, The Grey Fox, and The Common American Wildcat. These are beautifully framed and can be sold as a set if you wish at a discount.
The Lord-Hopkins Collection. Discovered in 1923 and privately maintained until 2019, these are the last known prints to come from Bowen’s shop in Philadelphia. Some have the penciled in Instructions of Victor Audubon. These nearly 200 prints will soon be available from this website.
Click here for Original Audubon Bien Edition. The rarest of all Audubon originals. In 1858, about seven years after John James Audubon passed away, his younger son John Woodhouse Audubon initiated an ambitious project to reissue the Birds of America. He recruited the Roe Lockwood Company in New York city to publish the works and Julius Bien for lithography. Unlike the Havells which were produced from copper engraving plates, Julius Bien utilized the newly emerging chromolithography process as a way of reducing the costs of production. Chromolithography utilized different sets of printing stones to produce a given plate, some with different colors to produce the final colored image. All the larger images as well as some smaller images carry the credit "Chromolithy by J. Bien, New York, 1860".
Invest in the past!
"The woods are the habitation best fitted for them, and there the richness of their plumage, their beautiful mode of flight, and even their screams, afford welcome intimation that our darkest forests and most sequestered swamps are not destitute of charms." So wrote John James Audubon about the stunning Carolina Parrot. In later years he was to write: "Our Parakeets are rapidly diminishing in number, and in some districts, where twenty-five years ago they were plentiful, scarcely any are now to be seen." Sadly, this beautiful bird, which ranged from Texas to New York, is now extinct.
Introducing our newest Audubon fine art print!
Princeton Audubon Fine Art Edition Ivory-billed Woodpecker, plate 66
Limited edition of only 200 prints worldwide. This very rare print measures 27 x 39 inches on archival paper. This is a Princeton Audubon Fine Art Edition, produced from the actual original. At this writing, the actual original is also for sale in our Havell gallery.
Of this bird, Audubon wrote, “The Ivory-billed Woodpecker nestles earlier in spring than any other species of its tribe. I have observed it boring a hole for that purpose in the beginning of March. The hole is, I believe, always made in the trunk of a live tree, generally an ash or a hagberry, and is at a great height. The birds pay great regard to the particular situation of the tree, and the inclination of its trunk; first, because they prefer retirement, and again, because they are anxious to secure the aperture against the access of water during beating rains. To prevent such a calamity, the hole is generally dug immediately under the junction of a large branch with the trunk. It is first bored horizontally for a few inches, then directly downwards, and not in a spiral manner, as some people have imagined. According to circumstances, this cavity is more or less deep, being sometimes not more than ten inches, whilst at other times it reaches nearly three feet downwards into the core of the tree. I have been led to think that these differences result from the more or less immediate necessity under which the female may be of depositing her eggs, and again have thought that the older the Woodpecker is, the deeper does it make its hole. The average diameter of the different nests which I have examined was about seven inches within, although the entrance, which is perfectly round, is only just large enough to admit the bird.”
Gallery 1 samples - Princeton Audubon Double Elephant Edition.
The world’s only direct camera Audubon prints. Click Checkout, enter BigFeathers in Discount box, and click apply for a 20% discount on any print in Gallery 1 - The Princeton Audubon Double Elephant Edition. Select Gallery 1 from the drop down Gallery list above to view entire gallery.
Princeton Audubon Carolina Parrot
$1,200.00
Princeton Audubon Purple Heron
$1,200.00
$950.00
Princeton Audubon Pileated Woodpecker
$1,800.00
Princeton Audubon American White Pelican
$1,500.00
Princeton Audubon Brown Pelican
$1,400.00
$900.00
$400.00
Princeton Audubon Pinnated Grous
$750.00
Are Princetons really the “finest (Audubon Prints) ever produced?”
The Royal Society of London, where John James Audubon was a Fellow, displays our prints in Chicheley Hall, a 300 year old estate in Buckinghamshire, England which serves as the International Science Conference Center. A paper conservator addressed the crumbling portion of an original Havell Wood Duck by using the corresponding section of ours. Additionally, The New York Times featured our Purple Heron when rolling out their original online store. And Martha Stewart Living framed and featured our Snowy Owl. Universities have added our entire collection to their acquisitions. You can display these same prints in your home or office. Audubon author and collector William Steiner, Audubon Prints: A Collector’s Guide To Every Edition, states “True prints, true colors, incredible detail! Princetons are simply the finest Audubon lithographs ever produced!” Far beyond common reproductions, Princetons are the world’s only direct camera Audubon lithographs. “Of all the full-size facsimiles of Audubon's prints, those from Princeton Audubon Ltd. come the closest in appearance and quality to the originals. Combining this with their very reasonable cost make the Princeton Audubon facsimiles winners for those looking to acquire some of the most dramatic American natural history images ever produced." - Chris Lane, Philadelphia Print Shop West, appraiser on Antiques Roadshow. “With their astounding detail, definition, and color, the Princeton direct-camera facsimiles have long set the standard in Audubon Birds of America lithographs." - Louise Mirrer, The New-York Historical Society.
Purchase securely from this website. We also authorize and guarantee sales of our prints from The Audubon House and Gallery in Key West, Florida, The Taylor Clark Audubon Gallery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and The New York Historical Society in New York City. You may also visit your local gallery and have them order the print(s) directly from us. We have also authorized and guarantee sales of our prints from the following websites: Minniesland.com, Rare Prints.com, and Audubon-Prints.com. Phone us if you wish to order by phone or have any questions. 908.510.1621. Thank you for your visit.
Gallery 2 - The Rare Prints Double Elephant Edition
The finest of today’s Giclee editions.
Rare Prints Carolina Turtledove
$500.00
Rare Prints American Ptarmigan
$400.00
Rare Prints Cock of the Plains
$400.00
$500.00
$500.00
$600.00
$500.00
$600.00
Rare Prints Osprey or Fish Hawk
$900.00
$400.00
Rare Prints Virginia Partridge
$600.00
Rare Prints Yellow-crowned Heron
$600.00
$500.00
$1,200.00
$500.00
Rare Prints Wild Turkey - Female
$600.00
Bien Edition Green Heron
The 1860 BIen Edition is the rarest of all Audubon originals, as production was halted before the entire edition was completed. We invite your offer.
The Chiswick Collection
Conservation framed and ready to be shipped! Actual Audubon Octavo originals published between 1849 and 1854. Framed measurement - 12 x 14 3/4 inches. COA included.
What is a copperplate?
Audubon originals are often referred to by a specific plate number. These large smooth copper plates, numbered from 1 to 435, had reverse images etched into them such as shown here for the Labrador Falcon. The plate was then (1) Black-inked, (2) Dampened paper was pressed upon it. (3) The paper was pulled from the plate, resulting in a properly oriented black and white image. (4) The image 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.
What does the watermark look like?
The watermark, which is actually a countermark, can be seen on the back of untrimmed Havells and stretches across about 10 inches. The name J Whatman is often followed by the year the paper was manufactured. The name Turkey Mill appears in some countermarks, evidently alluding to the mill’s original purpose of grinding Turkey Wheat from India.
Audubon references
Audubon information you can use.
Print Identification and Authentication
Reproduced by permission of the author - Ron Flynn Is Your Audubon Print An Original?Illustrated Print Identification and Authenticationby Ron...
Audubon Octavo Print “States” Versus “Editions”, Plus Valuations, Collecting, and the Marketplace.
Reproduced by permission of the author - Ron Flynn Audubon Octavo Print “States” Versus “Editions”, Plus Valuations, Collecting, and the...
A Brief Introduction to Audubon and the Original Editions
Reproduced by permission of the author - Ron Flynn A Brief Introduction to Audubon and the Original Editionsby Ron Flynn...
Do You Really Own A 1st Edition Octavo Quad Print?
Reproduced by permission of the author - Ron Flynn Do You Really Own A 1st Edition Octavo Quad Print?by Ron...
Print Identification and Authentication
Reproduced by permission of the author - Ron Flynn Is Your Audubon Print An Original?Illustrated Print Identification and Authenticationby Ron...
Audubon Octavo Print “States” Versus “Editions”, Plus Valuations, Collecting, and the Marketplace.
Reproduced by permission of the author - Ron Flynn Audubon Octavo Print “States” Versus “Editions”, Plus Valuations, Collecting, and the...
A Brief Introduction to Audubon and the Original Editions
Reproduced by permission of the author - Ron Flynn A Brief Introduction to Audubon and the Original Editionsby Ron Flynn...
Do You Really Own A 1st Edition Octavo Quad Print?
Reproduced by permission of the author - Ron Flynn Do You Really Own A 1st Edition Octavo Quad Print?by Ron...