Multiple species of birds travel through Louisiana, but on Saturday people can see most of them in Hill Memorial Library.
LSU Libraries will host a viewing of John James Audubon’s folio “Birds of America.” This collection of 435 original prints in four volumes illustrates the country’s birds on large elephant folio-size sheets – paper large enough to portray the birds at life size.
Head of Special Collections at Hill Memorial Library Elaine Smyth described Audubon as the premier bird artist of the early 19th century. The set on display in Hill Memorial was printed between 1827 and 1838. While many have seen reproductions of his work, Smith said few have seen the originals, much less the entire set.
“You get the full force of what he actually accomplished,” she explained. “Not many people get to be in the room with that great work of art.”
While artistic, Smyth described Audubon’s main drive as primarily scientific.
“He was describing the birds and trying to give them their scientific names,” she said. “He portrayed them with plants they actually relied on in nature. He was putting them in context, which was something previous ornithologists and ornithological artists hadn’t done.”
Smyth said Audubon saw many of these birds in Louisiana while tutoring since so many different species travel through the state on their migratory paths.
“This is a very rich area for bird watching because it’s in the fly way,” she explained. “A lot of species migrate through here in spring and fall.”
After this field work, Audubon found even more difficulty in printing the folio since he wanted the images printed very large. This meant the metal plates that imprint the birds’ images needed to be equally as big, making it difficult for Audubon to find a willing printer.
“They would not have anything to do with it,” she said. “They thought his idea was crazy because he wanted to portray the birds at life size.”
Eventually Audubon found printers in England willing to do the work, allowing him to finish printing the project across an 11-year span.
LSU attained the collection in the early 1960s when the school received a grant from the Crown Zellerbach foundation, Smyth said.
“They gave us the $65 thousand to purchase it in the early ’60s,” she said. “That was a very good investment because that book is now worth $10 million.”
The event will take place in McIlhenny Room in Hill Memorial Library on Saturday from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m.
Admission is free, but reservations are required. Those wishing to attend can call Hill Memorial Library for reservations.