"King Duck 1. Male 2. Female", Audubon, J. J.

This is Plate 404 from Audubon's Royal Octavo Edition of Birds of America, which was lithographed and hand colored by J. T. Bowen. The Royal Octavo Edition was Audubon's effort to make his work more affordable and widely available. Using new technology called the camera lucida, the images from the Double Elephant Folio edition were reduced in size and drawn onto lithographic stones, with some compositional changes made to accommodate the smaller size. The plates were sold by subscription, five at a time, with the number at top left on each engraving indicating in which "part" the engraving was issued. This engraving depicts a male and female King Duck on the beach with two razor clams at their feet and cliffs in the background.

References: Low, p. 150.

Condition: A

A clean bright example with a couple tiny spots of foxing and tape remnants in the top sheet corners.