[TN-Bird] Audubon's Birds of America' sells for $10M
- From: "David Aborn" <David-Aborn@xxxxxxx>
- To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2010 15:00:53 -0500
8 December 2010
I thought this might be of interest to some of you.
David Aborn
Chattanooga, TN
--------------------------------------------
To some it's just a bunch of bird pictures. To others, John James Audubon's
"Birds of America" is a rare blend of art, natural history and
craftsmanship, unique enough to sell for more than $10 million at a London
auction Tuesday - making it the world's most expensive book.
Some of the world's wealthiest book collectors had been anticipating this
auction for months: It represents a chance to own one of the best preserved
editions of Aubudon's masterpiece, with its 435 hand-colored illustrations.
The book sold for $10.27 million at a Sotheby's auction to an anonymous
collector bidding by telephone, the auction house said.
Each individual picture is so valuable there are some fears the volume could
be broken up and sold as 435 separate works of art. But experts believe that
unlikely because the tome is likely more valuable intact. And collectors
hold Audubon in such reverence that the notion of ripping apart a perfect
copy would be akin to sacrilege.
"Audubon's Birds holds a special place in the rare book market for several
reasons," said Heather O'Donnell, a specialist with Bauman Rare Books in New
York. "The book is a major original contribution to the study of natural
history in the New World.
"It's also one of the most visually stunning books in the history of print:
The scale of the images, the originality of each composition, the brilliance
of the hand coloring."
Then there's the wow factor.
"No one can rival John James Audubon for frontier glamour," she said. "The
story of his lonely journey through the American wilderness and his struggle
to record what he saw there gives the Birds a resonance that no other book
can match."
Audubon was part naturalist, part artist, and possessed a rare, almost
unequaled ability to observe, catalog and paint the birds he observed in the
wild. Experts say the book he produced is unmatched in its beauty and also
of considerable scientific value, justifying its stratospheric cost.
Pom Harrington, owner of the Peter Harrington rare book firm in London, said
it has been 10 years since the last complete edition of "Birds of America,"
with all of the illustrations, has been auctioned - and that was sold for
$8.8 million by Christie's auction house, a record for a printed book at
auction.
He said it is unusual to find a copy not in a museum or academic
institution.
"If you want to buy an example of a rare work of art, this is one of the
best," he said. "It is valuable in its artistic nature because it is so well
drawn."
Harrington estimated that a complete Gutenberg Bible in good condition would
probably sell for between $30 million and $50 million, but none has been
sold in more than 30 years. In recent years, he said, a complete First Folio
of Shakespeare
<http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/People/Historical+Figures/William+
Shakespeare> 's works sold at auction for about $5.6 million while a Chaucer
<http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Geoffrey+Chaucer> collection sold
for more than $4 million.
"That's getting close to Audubon," he said. Close, but no cigar: the
complete Audubon book is more rare than the Shakespeare folio - and much
more beautiful to look at, even if Shakespeare is more famous.
A Shakespeare First Folio from 1623 was auctioned with the Audubon book
Tuesday evening. It sold for more than $2 million.
Sotheby's books expert David Goldthorpe said the Aubudon and Shakespeare
volumes represent "the twin peaks of book collecting." The books come from
the estate of the 2nd Baron Hesketh, an aristocratic book collector who died
in 1955.
The "Birds of America" plates were printed in black and white and
hand-colored afterward. That made the production process extremely
expensive, especially, Harrington said, since it was carried out by "the
best artists of the time."
The collection, made from engravings of Audubon's watercolors, measures more
than 3 feet by 2 feet because Audubon wanted to paint the birds life size.
The size of the illustrations makes them extremely valuable as standalone
piece of arts, which makes the complete edition vulnerable to being broken
up so the individual prints can be sold one-by-one.
Harrington said that the wild turkey that is depicted in the first big plate
of the book can be sold for $200,000.
But Mark Ghahramani, a rare book specialist at Classic Bindings in London,
said it is unlikely the "Birds of America" will be divided up for resale
because it is probably more valuable intact.
"There are very few copies left of the entire book, so I would think that
whoever bought it at the auction would be quite interested in keeping it
whole," he said. "Anything to do with American natural history is quite
valuable."
Audubon made an epic voyage down the mighty Mississippi after his dry-goods
business failed, with only a rifle, an assistant and a drawing pad, making
illustrations of as many birds as he could find.
He did not find a printer in the United States willing to take on the book,
with its oversize illustrations, so he sailed to England, eventually finding
printers in Edinburgh, Scotland, and in London.
The volume is seen as a vital piece of American history, Harrington said.
"It is the most important natural history book for America," he said. "That
is the main point. It screams Americana. For an American patriot, it is the
greatest book on American heritage - there is no competition."
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