Audubon's Birds of America : The Audubon Society Baby Elephant Folio (Tiny Folios) Hardcover – Picture Book, January 1, 1991

Perfect for my toddler who loves birds and has taken a shine to Audubon.

I bought the original edition of this stunning book years ago, and I finally decided to buy this revised edition too to compare them, since I couldn’t find a comparison elsewhere. The page size is the same. It still comes in a an attractive, sturdy slipcase. It has a dust jacket now, but no ribbon marker. There are various minor differences not worth mentioning. but some surprising major ones. I expected a “revised” edition would have better color reproductions, than before, but they are generally darker, making details less visible. Sometimes the color is little off too, although never glaringly so. There are no large foldout pages as there were before. I believe all of these larger foldouts have been reduced to single page size, rather than spread between two facing pages. But the birds that were spread between two facing pages before, with the book’s “gutter” down the middle, still are. The paper is slightly shinier and whiter. A few of the prints are better in the revised edition, and since I’m displaying the book open on a lectern in our living room, turning a page each day, I actually prefer not having the foldout double pages, which simply drape over the book’s edge. So I will keep both, display the new one, and occasionally drag out the original (they’re both hefty tomes) for the pleasure of visiting it again. Any customers who would prefer the earlier edition can still get it new or used on Amazon. (It has a pelican on the cover and no dust jacket.) But why, I wonder, didn’t Abbeville Press make the reproductions in the new edition at least as good as in the original edition? Why not better?

Nice book. shipping was great and delivery fast so no quibbles there. Images are not quite as accurate as with other more recent publications such as the Sterling/Sibley effort, (which is gorgeous and a bargain). Most of the images in this book are good to very good, and a few are not so good. Dark colored birds lose some of their relief and detail. It is as if many images were underexposed if they had been photos. However what I do love are the wonderful annotations by Roger Peterson on each of the 435 birds. They were carefully researched and thoughtfully written. Also, unlike some criticisms, I like the ordering of the birds by genus and species. I can see how Audubon treated similar birds. So what the reader is getting with this Abbeville production is a combo art book and ornithological treatment of Audubon's birds, which makes sense given that Mr Peterson was so involved in the production. . The intro written by Mr Peterson is also excellent. One final word of caution the book is huge and heavy, that is good and bad. good because you get large bordering on poster sized images. Bad in that one does not easily handle this thing. Lastly the binding and overall physical construction is outstanding. Comes in a beautiful slip case.

This baby elephant folio is a smaller version of the much, much larger original addition. I purchased this as a gift, and it is a very large book. Weighs about 18 pounds. The folio it slips into is a great way to store the book, as it can be a little bit unwieldy. The illustrations are superb, and the book is a collectors item that makes a great gift for the bird an artist enthusiast. Very happy with it!

This was a gift. I made baskets & filled them with: Audubon Calendar, Audubon field guide, Audubon bookmarks, oragami cranes, silk flowers, pine cones, Audubon Birds of America Tiny Folio, bottle of wine, bird seed. These baskets were gifted to two friends who are avid bird watchers/nature lovers. This was a huge hit!!! Everyone at the party was commenting on MY gifts when there was a huge table full of gifts!!! This book is very small but the quality is definitely there. It is a great way to view & reference the Audubon's Birds of America in its entirety without spending a fortune. I didn't give it 5 stars because I feel that if they had made it just a bit bigger, and charged a little bit more, it would still have been an affordable option & would have appealed to many more readers/viewers. I purchased one for myself, as well, & my daughter loves to look through it, and I will enjoy referencing it (as long as I have on my reading glasses!!) lol.

This is a lovely edition of book. The large size makes for the perfect display or coffee table book. If you appreciate Audubon's work, this is a wonderful addition to collection. Since it is Audubon's first works, makes for a great first edition to start a collection. I highly recommend.

Having recently read the biography of Audubon, I was very interested in seeing the actual drawings. The book I read had a few of them in black and white, but I wanted to see a larger sample in color. I decided to see if Amazon had anything and was very surprised to see that they offered all of the original drawings in color for a very small price. I realized the book would be smaller than the original life size drawings, but was a little surprised to find that the book was so small. That is my main problem with the book. Otherwise - WOW. To see these birds in all their glory in full color is just breathtaking. Furthermore, when you consider the original size, to have shrunk them down and still maintain the detail and the beauty is quite impressive. One can appreciate the drawings without having read about Audobon's struggle to create and then publish them, but I would suggest this book as a companion to a good biography of Audobon. Once you have both, his accomplishment can be fully appreciated.

I love Audubon's work and although I didn't expect 'originals' I did expect to see some detail in the images, there is none in either the birds or the plants. Also, the colours are not bright and vivid as they should be.I have had this book for almost a year but every time I opened it I was absolutely underwhelmed and angered by it - this is the reason I haven't written a review before, it upsets me so much.Now I am moving house now and have just had another look and I still feel the same about itSo I am at last writing this review because I do not want anyone else to waste their money on it. If you just want glossy, flat, undefined representations of his work then it's ok but for the amount it costs you should expect more, as I did

I bought the book as a present for me. I have always admired the illustrations of Audubon, but most reproductions of his works are huge and expensive coffee-table books. This edition, which is complete, is a manageable size. The colours are bright and authentic, but the book can even be enjoyed lying in bed. It should be admired for its artistry; a serious ornithologist going to North America to watch birds would choose one of the Field Guides.

Excellent Sketches showing minutest details despite being a small book (which I knew about prior to purchasing it). Excellent value for money. Audubon must have either a good memory to do these sketches or must have had extreme patience to make these sketches over a period if time. I would not have thought he could have done it on one sitting even for several hours to do one sitting.

Lovely little book

A nice book, it was bought as a Christmas present.