Original Audubon Bien Edition Birds

The Bien edition prints of the Birds of America were produced by the Audubon family (by Audubon’s younger son John Woodhouse, with assistance from elder brother Victor Gifford), and thus are properly termed originals. Unlike the Havell edition prints which were produced in England, the Bien Edition prints were produced completely in America. Thus, they are truly American originals. In 1858, about seven years after John James Audubon passed away, his younger son John Woodhouse Audubon initiated an ambitious project to reissue the Birds of America to solve some of the mounting financial problems. He recruited the Roe Lockwood Company in New York city to publish the works, and Julius Bien for lithography. Julius Bien utilized the newly emerging chromolithography technique as a way of reducing the costs of production. Unlike the Havells which were printed on paper directly from the engraved copper plates and then each image hand-colored painstakingly by skilled artists, it was said that Julius Bien utilized the original copper plates to first transfer the images to stones for use in chromolithography, a process that utilized several printing stones (about 6 or more) each with different colors, and all printed in register on paper to layer the colors to produce the final finished colored image. For some of the larger images, the background scenery was slightly altered from the corresponding Havell edition image. Occasionally, some of the final prints were hand-colored in specific areas to enhance the image. The plate numbering on the images followed the convention of the Octavo edition birds (thus, for example, the Wild Turkey is numbered as Plate 287 in the Bien edition, even though it is the very first Plate). The use of different stones occasionally resulted in very slight misregister of colors on the dark outlines of birds and background, thus serving as a charming reminder of chromolithography process. Larger images were printed on a single page as in the Havell edition, whereas smaller images were printed two per page (e.g., see 336/333-Semipalmated and Curlew Sandpipers in this gallery). All the larger images as well as some smaller images carry the credit "Chromolithy by J. Bien, New York, 1860” (but some with years 1858 to 1862). Thus these images are commonly referred to as the Bien edition plates. Unfortunately, the start of the Civil War in 1860 brought an abrupt end to this project (and a financial ruin to the Audubon family) after only about 105 pages were printed. It was said that about 100 copies of each page (with bird images) were produced, but most of them did not survive. The Bien edition prints are more scarce to find than the Havell edition prints. For an excellent introduction to the Bien edition, please see the books by Susanne M. Low and Bill Steiner (books listed in the page about John James Audubon).

(Copyright, April 14, 2005, by the owner of antiqueaudubon.com)

Most of the prints available in this gallery are full sheets (~ 39 1/2" x 26 1/2"). Slightly trimmed prints are indicated. 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 size prints are hard to photograph with uniform natural indirect light illumination.

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