The Birds of America; from original drawings by John James Audubon

Narrator: The Birds of America; from original drawings by John James Audubon. Illustrated book with hand-colored engravings. 1827 to 1838. Displayed open. Dimensions when open: 3 feet 4 inches high by 4 feet 6 inches wide by about 5 inches deep.

Each page of the book is illustrated with a colored image of a type of bird. The pages will be turned and different images displayed during the run of the exhibition. The birds are illustrated in vivid detail and at real life size. They are shown in their natural settings—perched on a tree, plant, rock or meadow; in flight; or feeding on berries, prey or carrion. Sometimes there is just one bird; sometimes there is a group of birds; or sometimes a parent bird is shown feeding its young in the nest.

Interpretive commentary follows.

Anna Deavere Smith: Perhaps the first thing you’ll notice about John James Audubon’s Birds of America is: It’s big. Really big. Curator of Rare Books Michael Inman:

Michael Inman: That is the largest book in The New York Public Library, and certainly one of the largest books ever printed.

But I think it's important to not be overwhelmed by the sheer size of it. And to really sort of pause and take in the fine details.

I'm certainly drawn to, as many people are, the very large images. But more recently I've actually been drawn towards some of the smaller-scale drawings. The smaller birds, which maybe at first pass aren't quite as striking, but certainly invite a lot of scrutiny and contain a great deal of detail.

Anna Deavere Smith: The size of Audubon’s tome is matched by the massive scope of his effort. Audubon sought to depict every single bird species in North America.

Michael Inman: He endeavored to depict all of the birds life-sized. That's why the volume is so large.

When he identified a bird that he had not yet depicted, he would shoot the bird, and then, he rigged an armature that would depict the bird in a lifelike pose. The fact that his birds were depicted in a lifelike way was what really set his work apart from that of his predecessors.