Birds of America, James Audubon (1785 - 1851) Elephant Folio, First Edition Aquatint Engravings with Original Hand-Color. London: Robert Havell, 1827 - 1838. (26 x 38 inches. Full margins and excellent condition.) John James Audubon’s “Snowy Owl” is one of the most desirable images from his monumental Birds of America: one of his very few nocturnal scenes, and certainly one of the most vibrant and charming full-page illustrations of his 435-plate series. Although the snowy owl is in fact less nocturnal than most owls, Audubon nonetheless chose to set a pair of the distinctive birds against a dark, midnight blue sky, perhaps to provide a striking contrast to the brilliant white of their plumage. The owls dominate the simplified composition, and the setting, aside from the dramatic sky, consists solely of one stripped tree that serves as a perch. The owls seem to emerge almost forcibly into real space, their yellow eyes staring out at the viewer. About the snowy owl, Audubon wrote: “At home in the far North, the snowy owl sits upon its hillock, surveys its bleak domain, and intones its baleful booming to the polar sky... About every fourth year flights of these big ghostly owls drift into the United States; at longer intervals invasions of thousands pour across the border. Persecuted by trophy hunters, few survive the winter and make the return trip.”

(26 x 38 inches. Full margins and excellent condition.)