Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 15

John James Audubon
Townsend's Cormorant /// John James Audubon Ornithology Bird Art Natural History

1840-1844

About the Item

Artist: John James Audubon (American, 1785-1851) Title: "Townsend's Cormorant" (Plate 418, No. 84) Portfolio: The Birds of America, First Royal Octavo Edition Year: 1840-1844 Medium: Original Hand-Colored Lithograph on wove paper Limited edition: approx. 1,200 Printer: John T. Bowen, Philadelphia, PA Publisher: John James Audubon and J.B. Chevalier, New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA Sheet size: 10.13" x 6.5" Image size: 4.38" x 5" Condition: Light toning to sheet. Some light foxing and small areas of discoloration. Remnants of mounting tape from previous framing on verso. The white background was recently also hand-colored. In otherwise good condition with strong colors Notes: Provenance: private collection - Nashville, TN; acquired from a gallery in Nashville, TN. Lithography and hand-coloring by American artist John T. Bowen (1801-c.1856). Comes from Audubon's famous seven volume portfolio "The Birds of America", First Royal Octavo Edition (1840-1844), which consists of 500 hand-colored lithographs. Based on a composition probably painted in London in 1838, from a specimen obtained near the mouth of the Columbia River. Brandt's cormorant is a strictly marine bird of the cormorant family of seabirds that inhabits the Pacific coast of North America. It ranges, in the summer, from Alaska to the Gulf of California, but the population north of Vancouver Island migrates south during the winter. To make 'The Birds of America' more affordable and widely available, in 1839 John James Audubon began the first octavo edition, a smaller version of the folio which was printed and hand-colored by J. T. Bowen in Philadelphia. Employing a new invention, the camera lucida, the images were reduced in size, rendered in intermediate drawings by John James Audubon and his son John Woodhouse, and then drawn onto lithographic stones. These miniatures exhibit a remarkable amount of attention to quality and detail, as well as a meticulous fidelity to the larger works. Some compositional changes were made in order to accommodate the smaller format. Like the Havell edition, John James Audubon’s first octavo edition was sold by subscription and distributed in parts, five at a time. However, the octavo editions were issued in proper phylogenic, or species order. These prints also bear the plate number in the upper right-hand corner and the subscription number in the upper left. The first edition of approximately 1,200 sets was completed in five years from 1839 to 1844. A total of 500 images comprise the First Royal Octavo Edition. Biography: John James Audubon (April 26, 1785, Les Cayes, Saint-Domingue (later Haiti) – January 27, 1851 (aged 65) Manhattan, New York, U.S.), born Jean-Jacques Audubon, was an American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He was notable for his expansive studies to document all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats. His major work, a color-plate book entitled The Birds of America (1827–1839), is considered one of the finest ornithological works ever completed. Audubon identified 25 new species.
More From This SellerView All
  • Ivory Gull /// Ornithology Bird Audubon Seascape Beach Ocean Shorebird Shell
    By John James Audubon
    Located in Saint Augustine, FL
    Artist: John James Audubon (American, 1785-1851) Title: "Ivory Gull" (Plate 445, No. 89) Portfolio: The Birds of America, First Royal Octavo Editi...
    Category

    1840s Victorian Animal Prints

    Materials

    Lithograph, Watercolor

  • Booby Gannet /// Ornithology Bird Art John James Audubon Florida Keys Seascape
    By John James Audubon
    Located in Saint Augustine, FL
    Artist: John James Audubon (American, 1785-1851) Title: "Booby Gannet" (Plate 426, No. 86) Portfolio: The Birds of America, First Royal Octavo Edition Year: 1840-1844 Medium: Origina...
    Category

    1840s Victorian Animal Prints

    Materials

    Watercolor, Lithograph

  • Grey Fox /// Natural History Animal Nature John James Audubon Antique Lithograph
    By John James Audubon
    Located in Saint Augustine, FL
    Artist: John James Audubon (American, 1785-1851) Title: "Grey Fox" (Plate 21, No. 5) Portfolio: The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, Royal Octavo Edition Year: 1849-1870 Mediu...
    Category

    1850s Victorian Animal Prints

    Materials

    Watercolor, Lithograph

  • Set of Six Hand-Colored Lithograph Ornithological Prints from "The Ibis"
    Located in Saint Augustine, FL
    Artist: Philip Lutley Sclater (English, 1829-1913) Titles: "Loria Mariae (MacGregor's Bowerbird)", "Cnemophilus Macgregorii (Crested Satinbird)", "Aegotheles Savesi (New Caledonian O...
    Category

    1870s Victorian Animal Prints

    Materials

    Watercolor, Lithograph

  • Set of Six Hand-Colored Lithograph Ornithological Prints from "The Ibis"
    Located in Saint Augustine, FL
    Artist: Philip Lutley Sclater (English, 1829-1913) Titles: "Crossoptilon Harmani (Tibetan eared Pheasant)", "Hypotaenidia Sulcirostris (Barred Rail)", "Craspedophora Duivenbodei (Dui...
    Category

    1850s Victorian Animal Prints

    Materials

    Watercolor, Lithograph

  • Greenshank (St. Augustine, FL) /// Bird Ornithology John James Audubon Seascape
    By John James Audubon
    Located in Saint Augustine, FL
    Artist: John James Audubon (American, 1785-1851) Title: "Greenshank (St. Augustine, FL)" (Plate 346, No. 70) Portfolio: The Birds of America, First Royal Octavo Edition Year: 1840-1844 Medium: Original Hand-Colored Lithograph on wove paper Limited edition: approx. 1,200 Printer: John T. Bowen, Philadelphia, PA Publisher: John James Audubon and J.B. Chevalier, New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA Framing: Recently beautifully framed in a walnut wood moulding with hand decorated archival French matting and blue marbling Framed size: 13.63" x 15.75" Sheet size: 6.5" x 10.25" Image size: 4.38" x 7.75" Condition: In excellent condition with strong colors Rare Notes: Lithography and hand-coloring by American artist John T. Bowen (1801-c.1856). Comes from Audubon's famous seven volume portfolio "The Birds of America", First Royal Octavo Edition (1840-1844), which consists of 500 hand-colored lithographs. Comes with its original accompanying text pages on verso. The composition was probably painted in England in 1835, using a preserved specimen. Since no other than Audubon has ever claimed to have seen this European species in America, it is considered possible that he confused it with the greater yellow-legs. The common greenshank is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. The genus name Tringa is the New Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading...
    Category

    1840s Victorian Animal Prints

    Materials

    Watercolor, Lithograph

You May Also Like

Recently Viewed

View All