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"John James Audubon and Ornithological Illustration," an exhibit of bird illustrations by the American naturalist, will be on display in the mezzanine Exhibition Gallery in Thomas Cooper Library from April 25 through June 30.
The exhibit is free and open to the public during the library's regular hours.
"John James Audubon and Ornithological Illustration" features one of the library's greatest treasures, Audubon's huge double-elephant folio Birds of America, published in parts between 1827 and 1838. The exhibition also celebrates the establishment by an anonymous donor of an endowment to support the Audubon collection, honoring Davy-Jo Ridge, former associate director of libraries.
Thomas Cooper Library's set of Audubon's Birds was purchased for the South Carolina College library by special vote of the South Carolina legislature in 1831. Only 200 sets of this work were printed, and fewer than 130 complete sets, with all 435 plates, now survive. The story of the College's Audubons, and of Audubon's friendship with John Bachman, was told by Ridge in her book A Load of Gratitude: Audubon and South Carolina (1985).
That first Audubon purchase has been supplemented by many additional gifts over the years, including a set of the Audubon-Bachman Quadrupeds donated by Governor Adams in 1851 (not on display), and other illustrated bird books from Mrs. J. Henry Fair, Miss Claudia Lea Phelps, and the John Shaw Billings Endowment. Recent additions include Julia Bachman's specially-bound set of the Octavo Birds of America, donated by Mr. and Mrs. Frank J. Dana, and manuscripts of Audubon and Bachman donated by James P. Barrow.
The exhibit is arranged chronologically, starting with European bird illustrations of the 16th and 17th centuries and concluding near the Graniteville Room entrance with 19th-century American bird illustration after Audubon. The upright cases display, along with selected Audubons, a print from the Alecto Press Catesby water-colors (purchased in 1997 by the Thomas Cooper Society), a mid-18th century water-color (from the collection donated by Mrs. William Carroll Brown), and John Gould lithographs (donated by Mr. N. Heyward Clarkson Jr.).
On display in the entrance hallway to the Graniteville Room are the three double-elephant folio versions of Audubon's first plate, the American wild turkey (Lizars, 1827; Havell, 1828; Bien, 1859), donated by Jennie Haddock Feagle. Additional Audubons are currently displayed inside the Graniteville Room.
The exhibit was curated by Patrick Scott, and mounted by Scott and Jeffrey Makala.
For more information, contact Scott at 7-1275 or scottp@gwm.sc.edu.
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John James Audubon's Snowy Heron, with a South Carolina rice plantation in the background, from Birds of America (1828-1838).
