"California Partridge", Audubon, J. J.

This is Plate CCCCXIII (413) from the double-elephant folio Amsterdam edition of Audubon’s great work on American ornithology. The Audubon Amsterdam Edition was the first complete reproduction of John James Audubon’s original (1826-38) Birds of America Havell Edition. The reproductions were produced using color offset lithography and printed on watermarked 100% cotton rag acid-free paper. Only 250 complete sets of this limited edition were produced. This lovely engraving depicts a female (left) and male (right) California Quail standing on a hillside overlooking a river. (Quail and Partridges are often mistaken for one another.) Audubon painted these birds based on skins he received in 1837 from his friend, Edward Harris, who had purchased them from John Kirk Townsend. The full sheet measures 39-1/4 x 26-3/8". Watermark reads "G. Schut & Zonen [JR Monogram] Audubon [OT Monogram]."

References: Low, p. 213.

Condition: A+

Very wide margins.