John James Audubon. The Birds of America.
Bien edition, the rarest of all Audubon's editions.
Published by Julius Bien in 1858-60 Chromolithograph.
Sheet size: 27 x 39 inches
$1800

Bien, a German émigré to this country, brought some of the most sophisticated lithographic knowledge and printing techniques to be transplanted from Europe to America. The large scale of these plates done in "Double-Elephant" portfolio size sheets maintained Aububon's depiction of the birds in their natural life-size. The color and detail are remarkably true to Audubon's original watercolors. While the Bien edition is dated later than first edition by Havell, it is is even more rare than the Havell edition and eminently as important. While around 200 sets of the Havell edition were completed It is estimated that only between 50 and 100 sets containing only 150 plates were produced for the Bien edition. Peter Marzio, ex-curator of prints for the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, and author of The Democratic Art, Pictures for a 19th Century America, calls the work Bien's "magnum opus", and states "this folio represents one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken in American chromolithography". Marzio lists the plates from the Bien edition in his "Top Fifty American Chromolithographs". Because of the difficult working condition the series was produced under during the Civil War, quality varies quite a bit from plate to plate.

The Ruby crowned Wren depicts two males in a branch of a sheep laurel and was painted during Audubon's 1833 trip to Labrador.

The American Golden crested-Wren depicts a male, below, and a female, above, on a stalk of Powdery Thalia and is believed to be painted in 1831 in or near Charleston, South Carolina .

Tam O'Neill Fine Arts

311 Detroit St. Denver, CO 80206

For More Information call 1-(800)-4-AUDUBON
1-(800)-428-3826