Audubon Print Image Size Matters!

By Terry Wright

When considering the collectibility of Audubon Double Elephant Folio limited edition facsimile prints a number of factors are important. Chiefly among these are the edition from which the print comes, the number in circulation, the ‘popularity’ of a particular print, and, of course, its condition. With the relatively high prices and scarcity of original Havell and Bien prints, the modern facsimile prints are coming into the limelight as they are still within reach of the average collector with limited resources. One additional consideration in collectibility, the subject of this article, is the size of the images. The image size is important from two points of view. First, image size is positively correlated to average selling price. And, image size affects the ability to readily display the print aesthetically, without trimming. Whether a print is purchased principally for price appreciation or for display, size is an important consideration in print selection.

With print prices for Havell’s and Bien’s going out of reach for the casual or amateur collector (available prints fetch up to $100,000 or more), the modern facsimile limited edition prints are a good alternative. They are semi-precious and some may appreciate over the coming years. Of these, the Amsterdam, Abbeville, Loates, Oppenheimer and Princeton editions are well known. See the reference section for a comparison of the various limited editions.

These print editions are facsimiles, copies that is, of the original Havell lithographs. As such, they are all reproduced on Double Elephant Folio paper (size approximately 26” x 39.5”) the same as that upon which the Havell’s were printed. However, not all image sizes on the DEF sheets are the same. They range from 12-1/4” x 9-1/2” for the Shore Lark, plate #200, up to 25-5/8” x 38-1/2” for the Virginian Partridge, plate #76. To put this in perspective, the relative sheet coverage by these images ranges from a low of 11%, to a maximum of 94%. Stated another way, the Shore Lark image covers barely more than 10% of a DEF sheet, while the Virginian Partridge covers 94% of the page. So, there is a great range of image sizes represented in Audubon’s Birds of America. In general, since Audubon painted birds to be ‘life sized’, the smaller images tend to be smaller birds (e.g. Warblers) and the larger images tend to be larger birds (e.g., Cranes, herons), though this is not strictly the case. Even more interesting, one can see Audubon’s business sense in action when the patterns of image size are explored.

It seems, quite clearly, that Audubon put a lot of thought into the size aspect of his original lithographs. To understand this, it is instructive to review how the original ‘Birds of America’ were sold. Audubon sold subscriptions to ‘Birds’. The subscriptions were issued in ‘parts’ of five sheets, each containing one image. All in all there were 87 parts, for a total of 435 DEF pages and images. Each of these 435 sheets contains a plate number, from 1 through 435, as well as a part number. The plate number identifies a unique image among the 435 issued. The part number identifies the subscription part to which that image belonged. The images were issued in series. For example, Part 1 contained the images 1 through 5, Part 2 contained images 6 through 10, and Part 87 contained images 431 through 435. Thus, every part contained images with plate numbers ending in 1,2,3,4,5 (odd Part numbers), or 6,7,8,9,0 (even Part numbers). This original numbering scheme is preserved in the modern facsimile print editions.

Why this is interesting is that it helps us understand Audubon’s marketing strategy. He was quite careful to distribute the images among all 87 parts in strict accordance with image size. Each part contained at least one large image (75 – 94% sheet coverage), and all of these ended with plate numbers of either 1 or 6, the first image in each part (there is one large image ending with a 2). One part contains 2 large images, but no part contain zero. Each part also contained a medium sized image (40-70% sheet coverage), and each of these ended with 2 or 7 (a very few exceptions include additional medium sized images with plate numbers ending in 3, 8, 0). The medium image was therefore the second image in each part and only one part was issued without a medium image covering at least 40% of a sheet (it was 35%). Finally, each part also contained three small images (11-39% sheet coverage), and these plate numbers always ended with 3,4,5,8,9,0. Large images were always the first images in the subscription parts, followed by the medium sized images, and last came small images. Thus, Audubon recognized the value of the large and medium images and was careful to ration them among each part in his Bird’s of America. All told, there are approximately three times as many small images as there are medium or large images. It should not be surprising therefore, that the large and medium images are in more demand and command higher prices.

Of the top 25 Audubon Amsterdam limited edition prints, ranked by average dealer price, 23 have plate numbers ending in 1 or 6. The two exceptions are medium sized prints with plate numbers ending in 2 and 7. Furthermore, in the bottom 100 prints, there are none represented with plate numbers ending in 1 or 6, and only one with a plate number ending in 2. Clearly, when it comes to price, image size matters and Audubon used this in his day to sell his original subscriptions to Birds of America.

References:

Flynn, Ron, “2005 Price Guide to the 1971-72 Amsterdam Edition of john James Audubon’s Birds of America”, Jan 18, 2005.
Low, Susanne M., “A Guide to Audubon’s Birds of America”, William Reese & Company & Donald Heald, New Haven and New York, 2002.