Audubon Havell Ed. Pl 256, Purple Heron

The Audubon Havell Ed. Pl 256, Purple Heron is an exquisite 19th-century, hand-colored engraving capturing this North American species.

The delicacy of the engraved lines, subtle tonal modulation of the aquatint, and vibrancy of the hand-applied color cause this magnificent bird to come to life on the page. As a testament to the antique printing process, a platemark can be found outside the image area in the form of a rectangular depression in the sheet. Similarly, as with all full-size original Audubon engravings, this print contains a Whatman watermark in the margins of the sheet, signifying its unquestionable authenticity.

As part of the first and most valuable edition of the Birds of America, Audubon Havell Ed. Pl 256, Purple Heron is a testament to the legacy of Audubon’s artistry and a treasure for art collectors and naturalists alike. Enrich your art collection and enliven your environment with this unique piece of American history.

About Audubon’s Havell edition of the Birds of America

Audubon’s lavish Havell edition folio of The Birds of America spectacularly launched his career as an artist-naturalist and solidified his placement in the canon of early American art. His monumental project was produced between 1827 and 1836 by London printmaker Robert Havell Jr., after a short-lived attempt by Scottish engraver W. H. Lizars, who produced the first ten plates but was forced to relinquish the project after his colorists went on strike.

Engraved with aquatint on 26 1/2″ x 39″ double-elephant folio-size sheets of Whatman paper, the Havell edition prints capture the tantalizing detail and life-like quality of Audubon’s birds. Rendered at life-size, Audubon’s birds are some of the largest representations ever made. Once complete, Audubon’s folio comprised 435 prints, which were issued to 186 subscribers for the costly sum of $ 1,000 each — the cost of a substantial home at that time. Of the 186 complete sets produced, more than 100 are intact in library and museum collections worldwide. Since their production by Robert Havell over 175 years ago, a number of the folios have been disassembled to make the prints available for individual sale. Joel Oppenheimer, Inc. specializes in these rare, original engravings, maintaining an extensive inventory, many in exceptionally fine condition.

About John James Audubon

America’s most revered artist-naturalist, John James Audubon (1785—1851), is renowned for his extraordinary undertaking to visually record the birds and mammals of North America. His publications The Birds of America & The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America are icons of 19th-century art and capture the nascent stages of American natural history.

Born in 1785 in Les Cayes, Santo Domingo (Haiti) to a Creole mother and French father, Audubon spent the early years of his life in France but moved to America at age 18. It was during this time that his appreciation for birds flourished and he developed a keen artistic acumen for rendering wildlife. It was not until 1819 when Audubon was married and the father of two sons, that he embraced the life of artist-naturalist and embarked on his venture through the backwoods of America with the intent of illustrating the avian life he encountered there.

Audubon’s muti-decade venture resulted in the publication of his monumental folio The Birds of America which documented over 700 bird species on 435 plates. In a similar manner and with the help of his two sons and his friend Reverend John Bachman, Audubon later produced The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, which contained 150 plates depicting the mammals of North America. Audubon’s folios were seismic in the fields of ornithology and mammalogy and set a new precedent for natural history illustration.

For more information about the Audubon Havell Ed. Pl 256, Purple Heron, email us at [email protected] or check out our articles Audubon Print Collecting Guide, What are the differences between an Audubon Havell engraving and Bien Lithograph, and A Modernist Approach to Understanding a Selection of Prints from Audubon’s Birds of America?

More Information About Audubon PrintsView All Articles

Natural History Art Treasures under $10,000

June 4, 2024

Collecting original art doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, there are a surprising number of original paintings and antique prints that can be acquired [...]

Read More

Collecting Guide: Oppenheimer Editions Audubon Prints

April 4, 2024

Since its inception in 1996, our publishing company Oppenheimer Editions has partnered with major institutions to make their holdings available as modern facsimile prints. Several [...]

Read More

Exploring Early Methods of Specimen Collection in Natural History Art

March 27, 2024

Have you ever wondered where the reference material for antique wildlife prints and paintings came from? In an era before photography, how did the artist [...]

Read More

Casualties of Fashion: The Contentious History of Plume Plundering

July 18, 2023

Though the idea of ornamenting oneself with a bird carcass may be a bit deterring today, historically, birds and their feathers have played a major [...]

Read More

What is an Engraving? A Guide to Intaglio Printmaking Techniques

June 26, 2023

This article will examine the intaglio printmaking processes of engraving, etching, and their subsidiaries in relation to image production.

Read More

Investigating Audubon’s 50 Best Watercolors

June 22, 2023

The Oppenheimer Editions Fine Art Prints of Audubon's Watercolors for The Birds of America

Read More

Interspecific Encounters in Audubon’s Birds of America

June 22, 2023

Picturing Combat between Different Species in Audubon's Prints

Read More

Audubon’s Miniature Folio – The Octavo Edition of Birds of America

June 21, 2023

A survey of the technical translation of Audubon’s work from the monumental to the miniature.

Read More