Audubon Birds of America

Why Are His Books So Expensive?

John James Audubon (1785-1851) was a very famous French/American artist during his time. He was a great lover of the natural environment and painted 435 paintings of the birds of America which are depicted in the Birds of America series which he published himself after securing down payments from his subscribers mainly in Britain and Europe and a little later some from America including noble and titled people such as the King of England at the time; King George IV, the Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, King Charles X of France. Many other English and European notability including Lords and Peers of England. He was introduced to many English peers when the highly influential and very wealthy merchant of the Rathbone family of Liverpool took Audubon into his home. He could not find enough backers in America and England had the skilled artisans and the special technical printing processes that Audubon needed for his double elephant folios.

Prices have rocketed over the past decades and are highly sought after fetching staggering prices at auction. But what makes his books so expensive? Let’s take a look.

Quality & Detail of His Illustrations

Audubon eye and skill in painting the birds of America are of the finest as with every brush stroke he painted so much detail of the birds that in the natural environment that they look very realistic. He painted every known bird in north America and left a legacy of a part of history of the birds during the period. The production cost of producing the plates was very high. Six of the birds he painted are now extinct so these give ornithologists today a very detailed description of these birds in so much detail including their size. Audubon painted in his birds and their poses whether they were preening themselves, flying, hunting and fighting. It was unusual for an artist do this at the time. He depicted his birds with movement unlike other artists of the 19th Century whose bird illustrations were quite stiff.

From his original works he used copperplate engravers and hand-colourers to reproduce his massive artworks. He entrusted the job to Robert Havell and his father of the same name who were based in London and the Turkey Mill where the paper was produced was based in Maidstone in Kent. They oversaw most of the work that their 50 hand-colourers did on Audubon’s birds. Each and every one of the workers did something on the plates. The Havell father and son did all the technical works like producing the works onto the copper plates etching them out with needles and acid. They also painted over some of the works that was up to his standard which his 50 workers had made errors. They had to be perfect as this was their name and business and they wanted to keep their customers, like Audubon happy. The plates were produced by hand tracing Audubon’s paintings which was painstaking in itself.

So Few Copies Were Published

As the purchasers of Audubon’s books were subscribers who were usually bird lovers and were quite expensive to produce at the time they were not mass produced. These books were mainly produced by hand through lithography, etchings where the plate only produced a certain number of copies before it was cancelled. Only the very wealthy could afford to subscribe and included those from the aristocracy in Europe, and educational institutions and prominent figures in high society such as American statesmen of the period. About 200 copies were produced of each set so the limited edition is quite small. There are believed to be about 120 surviving copies. Most of these are in private hands and public institutions away from public hands. The copies and there print run are as follows:

The Birds of America – Havell Original edition double elephant folio edition produced between (1827-1838), print run 200 sets. A copy of the full set belonging to the Duke of Portland which had been bound into 4 volumes sold for over 9.5 million dollars, over 7 million pounds at Christies, New York in June 2018. One single plate of Audubon’s snowy owls sold for $177,500 in February 2026 beating its $70,000-$100,000 estimate.
Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds (1831-1839), 5 volumes. The print run is believed to be 750 sets.
A Synopsis of the Birds of North America (1839), published by Adam & Charles Black in Edinburgh. This book lists the 491 species from the first folio. A copy sod at Christies in May 2022 for $1,638. It was given an estimate of $600-$900. It is estimated that no more than 500 copies were printed of this title in 1839.
The Birds of America Royal Imperial octavo edition produced between (1840-1844), print run 500 sets. A seven-volume set with over 500 plates sold for $35,560 at Christies, New York in June 2026 beating its estimate of $15,000-$25,000.
The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America produced between (1845-1848) has an initial print run of 1200 sets. There were 150 plates in three volumes. A 3-volume elephant folio set was estimated by Christies, New York at $120,000-$180,000 in June 2020. They sold well over the estimate at $300,000. Another set in 4 volumes sold for $464,500 in March 2000.
The Quadrupeds of North America (1849-1854), in 3 volumes with 155 lithographic plates. Print run was 2000 sets as this was a smaller and more affordable subscription to reach more people. Subscription of sets of 5 like the first double elephant folio edition. A three-volume set was estimated by Christies in October 2023 at $5,000-$8,000. It skyrocketed and achieved a sale price of $48,880.
Various Other Octavo Editions, produced between (1856-1871). Reissued by family members and publishers in unknown print runs but not mass produced but numbers more than the early editions.
The Bien Edition of the first folio. This edition was printed in 1858-1860 in New York by Julius Bien with the help of Audubon’s son Victor as a revival of the first grand folio with lithographic plates as a cheaper version of the double elephant folio size. The American Civil War broke out half way through production where 150 plates were printed on 105 sheets. It is not known how many copies were produced, historians estimate the number by sets that have either come up for auction by descendants of subscribers or those that were known subscribers through letters written to family and friends etc. A set sold for $77,000 at Christies in June 2010.

Once a subscriber had the complete set after 11 years of subscribing many had them bound into a book so they would last much longer and be easier to view in book form. The fact that these sheets are worth more separately than altogether financially resulted in some being broken down and removed from the book to be sold. Some later broke them down from the book as the full set weighed about 60lbs which is quite heavy to lift and move about.

There have been numerous other editions meant for mass production since but the early versions are the most valuable as later print run are machine printed from the mechanical presses and issued in much larger print runs and more easily available.

Sheer Size Of The Plates

The Birds of America were produced in large double elephant folios measuring about 39 x 26 inches. (A UK broadsheet newspaper is about 14.5 x 23.5 inches so you can imagine how much bigger the sheets are from this). This was the largest hand-made paper available at the time which was supplied by J. Whatman, a British supplier. The paper had to be strong enough to bear the weight of the paints to prevent warping. The higher the quality of paper the more expensive it was. This enabled Audubon the birds in full size without having to shrink them to fit onto standard size paper as he wanted his subscribers to see get a feel for the size of the birds that he had painted to scale including flamingos and turkeys. The paint was by no means cheap as Audubon used premium pigments that came from raw minerals such as lapis lazuli so he could achieve the rich colours that he needed and which had the glossiness he was looking for to portray his birds of America with as much realism as he could. Many birds have glossy feathers and dull paints would not have shown the true colour of the birds that Audubon painted. The quality that Audubon wanted on his materials had to be high as they plates needed shipping around the world and travel took time then so the colours had to remain sharp as the day, he painted them.

If they had used inexpensive materials they would have faded the image, sheets may have torn during transit so everything was of the highest quality. The plates would have to go on a ship for weeks then help at a port for days then travelled on by horse-drawn carriages. Just packing the plates was costly as they would have to ensure that packing materials were appropriate for such large elephant folio sheets and they had to be protected from salt spray from the sea and the changing humidity in the hold of the ship so were often protected with wax canvas sheets and wooden crates. Custom and duties taxes may have applied in certain countries too. The cost to Audubon was very high and this cost was shown in the price of the plates so buyers had to be fairly rich to able to afford the plates. Only the really well-off could afford them which kept subscriptions low.

Hand Colouring

Havell’s team painstakingly coloured each plate by hand. They layered his paints and chalks, pastels and gouache to obtain the sheen of the natural birds colouring just as Audubon did by hand when he painted the originals.

Aquatinting was a process in itself as it involved melting the resin to dust and covering the copperplate and leaving it to settle. The use of acid to wash it then had to be timed to perfection and redo this several times pulling the plate out and varnishing areas to keep them lighter than the darker parts to create the watercolour tones. This was very tedious to produce and very costly if it went wrong due to the cost of the materials and the labour. Only the best artisans were employed to undertake such painstaking tasks. The images were then glazed the wet paints using linseed oils to make the whole scene look more realistic. Leaves in the background looked full of moisture, the eyes of the birds looked wet and glossy, the feathers looked iridescent and the whole scene looked like a photograph as it would today that have just been captured in the open air. Photography had not been invented then but Audubon had captured and painted his bird scenes as it had. It took the Havell’s and their staff 11 years to paint the 87,000 elephant folio prints. The original Audubon painting would be hung up across the assembly line of painters and they used the same shade of colouring. By building up layers they would achieve the exact same colour for uniformity, so all plates looked similar with none being brighter than another. As Audubon produced these over the 11-year period as they were sent to subscribers in multiples of five prints every month or so during 1827-1838. He would send one large bird image, two medium bird images and three small bird images in numbered packs. The cost was around 2 guineas which would be worth around £311 today.

Chances of Finding a Plate Today

The chances of finding a full set today of the first folio are quite slim as you can imagine given the information above. However, single plates that were removed and/or framed could turn up at your local car boot sale or on eBay and such. Educational establishments broke the plates up to display to students after purchasing a full bound set. Other private buyers may have done the same to display in their lavish houses. Left to family members down the line of succession some would have got rid of the framed print as they didn’t like the subject matter or it didn’t go with their decor and may have given them to charity shops, friends, neighbours etc, so they do turn up. Bearing in mind that one plate from the first Havell double elephant folio fetched over $177,000 this would appear a very good find indeed. Havell used their watermarked paper so always look at the reverse under light to see if a sheet has the watermark. There is typed information on the sheets including the set number with the 4 others in the set in the top left-hand corner, the plate number from I to CDXXXV in the top right corner, both the common and scientific names of the birds, plus the name of the plant or habitat in the bottom centre margin, the engraver Audubon on the bottom left and the printer like ‘Havell’ on the bottom right margins.

The back of the paper there is a watermark with the name J. Whatman or J. Whatman Turkey Mill and the production year. The Imperial octavo folio had 45,000 hand painted sheets so the chances are higher of coming across one individual plate either framed or unframed. There is a good chance of coming across later either as a single volume or a full set if you’re lucky as later editions had bigger print runs.