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(left) Framed Audubon prints being prepared for display
at HistoryMiami in 2015. The museum hosted The
Complete Audubon: The Birds of America exhibition;
the first time all 435 first edition, life-size prints were
displayed at the same time in the same venue.

A rare first edition of John James
Audubon’s illustrated The Birds of
America (photo: Christie’s)

The Collector
I have been tracking down and collecting original Audubon sheets
for forty years, and each time I find one, I let my thoughts turn back to
that time, when this indomitable man would be tramping around the
wildlands of America, pursuing his passion to find just one more new
species to add to his collection of birds of America. Although he
relished in the fame and modest fortune his wildlife art brought to him
during his lifetime, he would hardly have expected that his artistic
rendering of his birds would become the most iconic wildlife documen-
tation of modern time. Sadly, at the end of his life, he suffered from
dementia, resulting from absorbing through his skin the mercury-based
compounds used to preserve his specimens for study. Like so many
others of his time, in the end, he gave his life for his passionate
exploration and documentation of our natural world.

Pat Peterson Raynock holds masters degrees in biochemistry and microbiology at
Rutgers University, taught high school for 40 years and taught graduate courses through
the American Museum of Natural History's Seminars on Science program,

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Above: John James Audubon (1785–1851), “Wild Turkey” (Meleagris gallopavo),
Study for Havell pl. 1, ca. 1825. Purchased for the New-York Historical Society by
public subscription from Mrs. John J. Audubon, 1863.17.1

Left: John James Audubon (1785–1851), “Great Blue Heron” ca. 1834

20 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles