Illustrations of the birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British and Russian America by John Cassin

We are proud to offer for the first time antique bird prints from the exceedingly scarce Illustrations of the birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British and Russian America,  First Edition, 1856. 

John Cassin (1813-1869) was a leading ornithologist of his time, and the America's first taxonomist.  Cassin drew, printed and hand-colored many of the illustrations for the Railroad Surveys as the western regions of the United States were explored.  He was named curator of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences in 1842, and after John T. Bowen's death, he took control of that firm.  His ILLUSTRATIONS was intended to be a 3-volume work, but financial considerations prevented more than one volume being published.These stone lithographs, with hand-coloring, were issued by Cassin as a supplement to John J. Audubon's THE BIRDS OF AMERICA as Audubon completed his octavo edition before he could collect many of the Western birds.  In many cases, these prints are some of the first published images of America's birds.  Most of the drawings were executed on stone by William E. Hitchcock, with some of the earlier drawings done by George G. White and transferred to stone.  All were lithographs and beautifully hand-colored by J. T. Bowen, Audubon's lithographer.Copies of the text will accompany the prints, and images can be provided upon request.  The size of the prints is approximately 7 x 10 1/2 inches. the same as Audubon's octavo edition.  Cassin issued only one volume, a total of 50 prints, of which 10 are missing from this collection.  Experts estimate less than 100 of these sets still exist today, most of which are institutionalized.  This is Americana in its finest sense, and an important supplement to collections of Audubon's birds.

Listed below are 40 of the 50 available.  The plate numbers are followed by today's name for the bird with the name Cassin used in parentheses.  Also, when plants are present, the Latin name is given.