First edition set of John James Audubon's 'Birds of America' fetches $7.9M in NYC
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- First edition set of John James Audubon's 'Birds of America' fetches $7.9M in NYC
A rare first edition of John James Audubon's illustrated "The Birds of America" depicting more than 400 life-size North American species in four monumental volumes was purchased at auction Friday for $7.9 million.
Christie's auction house identified the buyer as an American collector who bid by phone.
The winning bid was within the presale estimate of $7 million to $10 million for the work, considered a masterpiece of ornithology art.
Another complete first edition of "The Birds of America" sold at Sotheby's in London in December 2010 for $11.5 million, a record for the most expensive printed book sold at auction.
The 3 1/2-foot-tall books feature hand-colored prints of all the species known to Audubon in early 19th-century North America. Audubon insisted on the book's large format — printed on the largest handmade sheets available at the time — because of his desire to portray the birds in their actual size and natural habitat.
He found creative ways to paint them to fit the page, including showing large species feeding with their necks bent.
The set at Christie's was offered for sale by the heirs of the 4th Duke of Portland. It was accompanied by a complete first edition five-volume set of Audubon's "Ornithological Biography."
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