Yellow-breasted Chat

TJohn James Audubon’s Birds of America

Princeton Audubon Double Elephant Edition of 1500.

What is a double elephant?

26 1/4 x 39 1/4; Condition: Mint

Nature is never out of style, so ... Feather your nest!

Thank you for visiting Princeton Audubon! 

“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 makes 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.

Of our prints, William Steiner, author of Audubon Prints: A Collector’s Guide To Every Edition wrote, “True prints, true colors, incredible detail. Princetons are simply the finest Audubon facsimiles ever made!”

We purchased the actual antique originals in order to accurately produce this award-winning edition, giving you a connection to Audubon’s original work. Read more ...

In order to create this spectacular print, we needed to purchase the actual original. Measuring more than two feet by three feet, the birds are the same size as in life.

Princetons began with the purchase of the actual originals which were physically used in the production process. 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. There are no other Audubon facsimiles which match the quality of Princeton prints.

Our prints have this embossed seal at the lower right of the paper ...

... and are pencil-numbered in the lower left under the printed script.

Here are the printing specifications ...

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 ...

Original painted in New Jersey, June 7. 1829.
"I have presented you with several figures of this singular species," Audubon wrote of the painting from which this plate was engraved, "to shew you their positions when on the wing performing their antics in the love season as well as when alighted."  This "performing," as he noted, involved "the strangest and most whimsical gesticulations."
The chat is the largest member of the New World family of wood warblers and prefers to live in tangled thickets and hedgerows along streams.  It has been described by George Dock, Jr. as "one of the most talented clowns of the feathered kingdom, both with its voice and its droll antics in the air.  Rising from his perch in some thick bush or briar patch, the male flops about in an awkward fashion, with its legs dangling, and performs parachute-like descents on uptilted wings while jerking his tail."