Audubon's Elephant: America's Greatest Naturalist and the Making of The Birds of America - Softcover

Hart-Davis, Duff

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0805077758 ISBN 13: 9780805077759

Publisher: Holt Paperbacks, 2005

Synopsis

"Well-written. The picture emerges of a complex personality . . . a failure at several businesses but an astute judge of people . . . always happiest when roaming the woods and fields, and painting."
-David Allen Sibley (author of The Sibley Guide to Birds), The Boston Globe

Audubon's Elephant was the name given to John James Audubon's greatest work, The Birds of America-a folio of 435 life-size ornithological prints that would prove the most enduring depiction of birdlife in the United States. In 1826, still hard at work, his ambition threatened to exhaust the largesse of American aficionados and, seeking funds and fame, Audubon made his first trip to England.

British naturalist Duff Hart-Davis tells how Audubon's exotic woodsman's charm and astonishing artistic gift won him the attention of the aristocracy and an admiring public at a time when Americans in Britain could still cause a stir. Ultimately, his impassioned presentations to rooms full of smitten bird lovers helped him raise the funds he needed to complete The Birds of America. Lavishly illustrated with images from Audubon's life and work, Audubon's Elephant is an inspired depiction of the most important chapter in the life of America's most famous naturalist.
Duff Hart-Davis, himself a naturalist, has written a lively, highly engaging biography of Audubon’s heady and memorable days as a great American artist abroad.

About this title

About the Author

Duff Hart-Davis is a British writer and journalist. A former literary editor for The Daily Telegraph and longtime country columnist for The Independent, he lives in Gloucestershire, England, with his wife and two children.

From Publishers Weekly

With precision and detail, Hart-Davis, an English nature writer, tells the story of Audubon's years in England and Europe trying to sell his unwieldy masterpiece. Audubon, at 41 years old a peripatetic woodsman and artist, sailed for England, carrying a 100-pound portfolio of his bird paintings (his "elephant" or double-elephant color folio format). Full of quotations from Audubon's lively, honest diaries and letters, Hart-Davis's book portrays this man of exuberance and determination as he walked 165 miles from Kentucky to Ste. Genevieve, Mo., on the Mississippi River trying to collect funds owed him. Facing bankruptcy in America, Audubon sailed to Europe and slowly but surely met wealthy, connected families like the Rathbones in England and men like William Home Lizars in Edinburgh, who was to become Audubon's first printer. Despite bitter competition from the supporters of another ornithologist (George Ord) and long separations from his wife, Lucy, and their children, Audubon prevailed, meeting Sir Walter Scott and securing subscriptions from King George IV and other members of the royal family. Because the book focuses mainly on the years of Audubon's European travels, one doesn't get a full picture of the man, and readers may question the importance of the minutiae of meals and weather on his journey. However, solid research, fine writing and details of 19th-century society make this a worthwhile book for historians, artists and Audubon enthusiasts alike. What stands out most are the 31 b&w and 41 color illustrations throughout.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0805077758
• ISBN 13: 9780805077759
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288