Audubon's Birds of America: Legacy

Please use this guide as a starting point for your research. If you need further assistance, contact us via email at reflib@fieldmuseum.org

John James Audubon was born in Haiti in 1785 to French sea captain Jean Audubon and Jeanne Rabin, a chambermaid. Not long after he was born, his father moved the family back to France, where Audubon spent his childhood years studying geography, fencing, mathematics, and, of course, art. Nothing seemed to capture young Audubon's interest more than finding and drawing all types of birds as well as their eggs and nests. To prevent him from being conscripted into Napoleon's army, Audubon's father sent him to America at age eighteen to take charge of a farm he had purchased near Philadelphia. Audubon was able to sustain it for a few years, but ultimately his love for hunting and painting birds outweighed any of his other pursuits, and the farm failed. Audubon tried for success in several different business ventures but unfortunately none proved fruitful. After so many failed attempts to provide for his family, he decided to stay devoted to his passion as a way to earn a living and went on a series of voyages to discover more birds to immortalize in his paintings. 

In 1826 Audubon ventured to England to find someone willing to publish his work; there, he and his work were received with much praise and he was even hailed as a genius for what would become The Birds of America (1827-1838). The double elephant folio edition consists of 87 parts of 5 hand-colored copperplate engravings and is bound in 4 volumes. The Field Museum Library's copy is one of the only two copies extant (originally made for Audubon's close friends/family) that include 13 additional plates. 

Field Museum Resources & Publications

Books

• Audubon, John J. Audubon: Early Drawings. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008. 
• Audubon, John J. A Synopsis of the Birds of North America: By John James Audubon. Edinburgh: A. and C. Black; [etc., etc., 1839. 
• Audubon, John J, Annette Blaugrund, Theodore E. Stebbins, Carole A. Slatkin, and Holly Hotchner. The Watercolors for the Birds of America. New York: Villard Books, 1993. 
• Audubon, John J, Daniel Patterson, and Patricio J. Serrano. John James Audubon's Journal of 1826: The Voyage to the Birds of America. Lincoln [Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 2011. 
• Audubon, John J, and George Dock. The Audubon Folio. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1964. 
• Audubon, John J. John James Audubon Journal of 1826.1826. 
• Audubon, John J, and Howard Corning. Letters of John James Audubon: 1826-1840. New York: Kraus, 1969. Reprint.
• Audubon, John J, John Bachman, and Victor H. Cahalane. The Imperial Collection of Audubon Animals: The Quadrupeds of North America. Maplewood, N.J: Hammond, 1967. 
• Audubon, John J, Maria R. Audubon, and Elliott Coues. Audubon and His Journals. New York: Scribner's Sons, 1897. 
• Audubon, John J, Marshall B. Davidson, and John J. Audubon. The Original Water-Color Paintings by John James Audubon for the Birds of America: Reproduced in Color for the First Time from the Collection at the New-York Historical Society., 1966. 
• Audubon, John J, and Richard Rhodes. The Audubon Reader. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2006. 
• Audubon, John J, and Samuel N. Rhoads. Auduboniana. Place of publication not identified: publisher not identified, 1903. 
• Audubon, John J, W H. Lizars, and Robert Havell. The Birds of America: From Original Drawings. London: Pub. by the author, 1827. 
• Audubon, John J, William MacGillivray, John J. Audubon, and Adam Black. Ornithological Biography: Or an Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America; Accompanied by Descriptions of the Objects Represented in the Work Entitled the Birds of America, and Interspersed with Delineations of American Scenery and Manners. Edinburgh: A. Black; [etc., etc., 1831. 
• Bannon, Lois E, and Taylor Clark. Handbook of Audubon Prints. Gretna, La: Pelican Pub. Co, 1991.
• Barrow, Mark V.  A Passion for Birds: American Ornithology After Audubon. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998. 
• Ford, Alice. Audubon's Butterflies, Moths, and Other Studies. New York: Studio Publications in association with Crowell, 1952. 
• Goddu, Joseph. John James Audubon & Robert Havell, Jr: Artist's Proofs for the Birds of America. New York: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 2002. 
• Gourdin, Henri, A Joveniaux, and John J. Audubon. Les Oiseaux Disparus D'amérique Dans L'oeuvre De Jean-Jacques Audubon. Paris: Éditions de la La Martinière, 2008. 
• Hart-Davis, Duff. Audubon's Elephant: America's Greatest Naturalist and the Making of the Birds of America. 2004. 
• Hart-Davis, Duff. The Story of John James Audubon's Epic Struggle to Publish the "Birds of America". London: Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd, 2004.
• Holt, Jeff, and Albert Filemyr. The Composite Plates of Audubon's Birds of America. Philadelphia, Pa: Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, 2008. 
• Low, Susanne M, and John J. Audubon. An Index and Guide to Audubon's Birds of America. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1988. 
• Mearns, Barbara, Richard Mearns, and John K. Townsend. John Kirk Townsend: Collector of Audubon's Western Birds and Mammals. Dumfries: B. and R. Mearns, 2007. 
• Nobles, Gregory H. Ornithology and Enterprise: Making and Marketing John James Audubon's The Birds of America. Worcester [Mass.: American Antiquarian Society, 2005. 
• Reynolds, Gary A, and John J. Audubon. John James Audubon & His Sons: Catalog. New York, N.Y. (33 Washington Pl., New York: Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, 1982. 

• Rourke, Constance. Audubon. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co, 1936. 

• Small, Ernest. Audubon: Beyond Birds: Plant Portraits and Conservation Heritage of John James Audubon. Ottawa: NRC Research Press, 2009. 
• St, John H, and U M. J. Audubon the Naturalist in the New World: His Adventures and Discoveries. 1856. 
• Steiner, Bill. Audubon Art Prints: A Collector's Guide to Every Edition. Columbia, S.C: University of South Carolina Press, 2003. 

Articles

• Audubon, John J. "A Hitherto Unpublished Letter of John James Audubon." The Auk. 22.2 (1905): 170-171.
• Aldrich, John W. "Audubon Field Notes." The American Biology Teacher. 11.1 (1949): 24-25. 
• Fawcett, William Peyton. "All About Audubon." Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin 41, no. 5 (May 1970): 4-5.
• Field Museum of Natural History. "Library." Annual Report 1965-74 (1969): 20-22.
• Godow, Michael D. and Steven Strohmeier. "The Audubon Ottoman-Furniture for the Birds." In the Field 79, no. 2 (March-May 2008): 14.
• Williams, Benjamin W. "Audubon's The Birds of America and the Remarkable History of Field Museum's copy." Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin 57, no. 6 (June 1986): 7-21.
• Williams, Benjamin W. "Journal of a Voyage." In the Field 71, no. 5 (Sept/Oct 2000): 6-7.

John James Audubon Bust, gift of Chauncey and Marion Deering McCormick Foundation. Located in the Marie Louise Rosenthal Library Reading Room.

John James Audubon journal of 1826: incomplete autograph manuscript showing page with handwriting and housing for detached leaf 214. Located in Field Museum Library Rare Book Room. Gift of Charles Palmer and family.