"Interior of the floridas with sand Hills in the distance" Full Sheet with Platemark and watermark, 26 3/4 x 39 1/2. UNCOLORED No aquatint PLATECCLXI, No 53.

We offer for sale a full sheet, Havell engraved, Hooping Crane, young. Audubon erroneously labeled this plate as a Hooping Crane young, but it is now known as the adult Sandhill Crane. The bird is presented in the foreground with Florida sand hills and numerous other cranes in the background. Audubon reported in his journal that these cranes were abundant at the time of painting his two crane images (Plate CCLXI and Plate CCVI).

The print was never colored and is believed to be one of the originally unsold prints held in reserve by Audubon and then passed through his family at his death. A very few uncolored engravings of various birds have been found over the years, and they are sometimes referred to as "artist's proofs". These uncolored prints are extremely rare and beautiful in their own right as they clearly show the mastery of the engraving done by Robert Havell, Jr. without the masking of the aquatint seen on the sheets that were colored, sold and bound into volumes. There are no binding holes or any evidence that this print was ever included in a released number. This sheet was conserved in November 2011. the paper was neutralized and two small tears (seen above and to the left of the head of the bird) at the top of the print were repaired. The print is in excellent shape and the paper is strong and viable.

It is interesting to note that by the conclusion of Audubon's production of the "Birds of America", engraving and aquatinting had all but disappeared from the field of print production as it was replaced by lithographic techniques. The "Birds of America," Audubon’s “imperishable monument,” as the North American Review called it, was the final illustrated bird book to be produced in England by the craft of metal engraving and aquatint. By the time it was finished, nearly all the engravers and aquatinters in the western world had closed their businesses. This was the last bird engraving done by Havell and in 1839 he moved to American and continued his career as a painter. This print is not only one of JJ Audubon's most important compositions, but also is a tribute to the artistry of Robert Havell, Jr., the premier engraver and printer of the 19th Century.