Original Havell Edition Engravings from "The Birds of America" by John James Audubon

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This gallery shows the most desirable of all of these Audubon's original art work. After his unsuccessful attempts to get the American art establishment to appreciate his magnificent paintings and with no prospect of having them engraved and published in America, on May 17th, 1826,  John James Audubon boarded the cotton hauling ship Delos in the port of New Orleans and sailed to Liverpool, England. He carried with him the letters of introduction from prominent people in America with connections to England, and his stack of over 400 watercolor paintings that he hoped to publish as copperplate engravings. Both John James Audubon and his paintings of birds from the New World were very enthusiastically received by the British. During the period 1827 to 1839, Audubon produced the magnificent engravings of his images for his monumental "The Birds of America" (BOA), first with the assistance of William Lizars of Scotland who was able to engrave the first ten of the watercolor paintings (before his staff went on a strike in 1827), and then the rest of the paintings engraved by Robert Havell, Sr., and Jr., in London, England. A total of 435 prints were published from Audubon's paintings. These are copperplate engravings printed on high quality double elephant folio size (~ 39 1/2" x 26 1/2") wove paper with a watermark (either J. Whatman or J. Whatman Turkey Mill, followed by the year). These plates (commonly referred to as the "Havell Edition") are known for the exquisite and unsurpassed beauty and details in the images, and the fresh vibrant colors. These double elephant folio original plates from the BOA successfully capture the incredible beauty of Audubon's original watercolor paintings. Equally important, they display the tremendous skill of the engravers that he recruited for this ambitious project (Lizars from Scotland and the two Havells in London, and their watercolorists that painstakingly hand-colored the images) that resulted in the final finished plates that were included in the BOA. A full sheet Havell edition engraving from Audubon's "The Birds of America", when properly framed and displayed, simply grabs the attention of the viewer! They are indeed breathtaking! Audubon printed only a small number of the full sets of the BOA (estimated to be between 175 to 200 copies). Most of these full sets are in major Museums, Institutions, and Universities and a few in the private collections of wealthy owners, with only a few loose prints available for purchase by the general public (like the prints in the current gallery). In the 19th century and early 20th century, some of the owners of these original prints, understandably given the time period and not anticipating how rare Audubon's Havell prints would become, did not pay the utmost attention and care in preserving these precious copperplate engravings; as a result, some prints got trimmed right down to the platemarks or their white margins folded underneath (to save on framing expenses), or got damaged due to exposure to the elements (exposure to direct or indirect sunlight, smog, smoke, moisture, wide fluctuations in temperature and humidity etc), and didn't survive or retain the original pristine condition. The rarity of these Havell Edition prints becomes very quickly obvious especially when one is searching for a particular bird print or image - - they are very difficult to find indeed!

In the 2010 Sotheby's Auction, the Lord Hesketh 4-volume set of Audubon's The Birds of America sold for a record-breaking $11.5 million!

All the plates listed in this Havell edition gallery are full sheets (double elephant folio size) with the Whatman watermark, unless otherwise noted in the description.  Please click and enter the page to examine the posted images for each bird by moving the mouse cursor over them to see enlarged images. NOTE: The images on the actual prints are much prettier and brighter than what is seen in the images posted here since these very large double elephant folio size prints are hard to photograph with uniform natural indirect light illumination.

If interested in purchasing a Havell edition print(s), please contact us for details.