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Unframed limited editions, heavy archival fine art paper, direct-camera (High definition), pencil-numbered, stamped, absolutely stunning!
Welcome to Princeton Audubon Limited - As seen in the New York Times

The World's Only Direct-camera Audubon Quadruped Re-creations.

 

Grey Rabbit, Plate # 22, limited edition of 750, 22" x 28", Southart/Parkway Series  $300

Toward the end of his life, Audubon endeavored to depict all the known species of North American mammals.  These were published in three sets by J. Bowen between 1845 and 1848.  Known in the trade as the Imperials, his detailed images measured 22 x 28 inches.  We have produced same size facsimiles of these engravings, using the fine originals from the Princeton University collection.  These reproductions, as with our Birds of America reproductions, are direct-camera prints.  They represent the first successful attempt to reproduce directly from the actual antique originals, instead of reproducing a mere photograph of an original.  The 100% rag, acid-free Somerset archival paper is imported from England, and has the tone and texture of the originals.

 

GRAY RABBIT - PLATE XXII

(Eastern Cotton tail) Sylvilagus floridanus

            Long before Beatrix Potter made Peter the Rabbit famous or Joel Chandler Ross wrote down the Brer’ Rabbit stories of Ol’ Uncle Remus, Audubon perfectly captured the character of the common cotton-tail with this passage:

            “This species abounds in our woods and forests, even in their densest coverts; it is fond of places overgrown with young pines thickly crowded together, or thickets of the high bush-blackberry, (Rubus villosus;) and is also fond of frequenting farms and plantations, and occupying the coppices and grassy spots in the neighbourhood of cultivation, remaining in its form by day, concealed by a brush-heap, a tuft of grass, or some hedge-row on the side of an old fence; from which retreat it issues at night, to regale itself on the clover, turnips, or corn-fields of the farmer.  It not unfrequently divests the young trees in the nursery of their bark; it often makes inroads upon the kitchen-garden, feasting on the young green peas, lettuces, cabbages, &c., and doing a great deal of mischief; and when it has once had an opportunity of tasting these dainties, it becomes difficult to prevent its making a nightly visit to them.  Although the place at which it entered may be carefully closed, the Rabbit is sure to dig a fresh hole every night in its immediate vicinity.”

            Wanting to draw the adult male, female and young, Audubon painted these three rabbits over the course of several months, May, August, and December of 1841. Because Audubon and Bachman were doing their research at a time when new species of rabbits were still being discovered and often worked from specimens sent by friends without access to field data, they thought they were discovering new species at every turn. But alas, the Cotton-Tail family includes a dozen species; it was the nearly seventy sub-species that made it confusing. The pleasure for us as modern collectors of their work is that we have several images that beautifully express the varieties of rabbits found in North America.