With upwards of 400,000 books, 130,000 works of sheet music and seven million manuscripts, workers at the Lilly Library must rotate the large number of rare publications they display. John James Audubon's "Birds of America," however, remains in the foyer year-round.\nExtremely famous and likewise rare, Audubon's set of books is comprised of four volumes. Each volume features giant pages; each page contains a huge color-plated illustration of a different bird. The bird is identified on the back of the preceding page.\n"(The) four-volume set is the largest project of its kind done up until its time," said Joel Silver, curator of books.\nSilver authored the "J.K. Lilly, Jr., Bibliophile" in which he lists and describes many of the rare books found at the library. \nAudubon's collection, published between 1827 and 1838, "is one of the most popular tourist attractions at the Lilly Library today," according to Silver's book.
BIG BOOKS\nBecause the work is four volumes and 435 plates long, showing it properly to the public presents a bit of a problem. To remedy this dilemma, the Lilly staff decided to turn a page a week. By showcasing one species a week, it takes eight and half years to flip to each page. Silver said some Audubon followers come to see the page turned every week. \n"The ivory-billed woodpecker that (was up last week) was thought to be extinct. (Recently, sounds) have been heard which sound like it, and we are beginning to get confirmation that they do actually come from the ivory-billed woodpecker. To celebrate its 'coming out of extinction,' we turned to its page. People came to see," Silver said.\nIn addition to being a pioneer of its time, "Birds of America" faced several challenges unique to its history.\n"Because the books are so large, many of them were disbound," said Katie Peebles, the library's public service assistant. "The pages were separated so they could be sold to different people. It is very rare to have all four volumes in one place."\nThe pages of Audubon's collection are so big, they are called "double elephant folios" -- folio being the technical term for a page, and the elephant adjective describing their enormity. As well as being torn up for extra profit, the volumes encountered many other problems because of their size.\n"The size of Audubon's anthologies made them difficult to carry, move around and store," Silver said.\nDavid Randall, in his book "Dukedom Large Enough," also mentions J.K. Lilly's own difficulty with the volumes' size.\n"Lilly had been offered sets of Audubon before but had turned them down because he had nowhere to put them except under the billiard table," according to Randall's book.
ROMANTICIZING NATURE\nLilly did, however, wind up purchasing all four volumes. The volumes (one at a time) are stored in a glass display case donated by The Friends of the Lilly Library. As with the rest of the rare books in the Lilly's extensive collection, the staff wishes to keep the work in the best condition possible. For this reason, Audubon's books are kept under glass in a temperature-controlled room. Protection from the environment as well as humidity control will help to preserve the pages in as close to their original condition as possible.\nWhile Audubon may be looked upon by some as a major design and possibly literary figure, he is highly regarded in the art field as well.\n"Audubon brought a romantic, dramatic new vision of nature into his study of native American birds and animals. He was influential in science as well as art -- Darwin knew his work -- but was also an inspiration to American artists who believed that American nature was uniquely rich and beautiful. Winslow Homer, in fact, is known to have modeled one of his most famous paintings on Audubon's print of golden-eye ducks. Today Audubon's works command soaring prices at auction, which is another index of his enduring value in the art world," said Sarah Burns, Ruth N. Hall professor of the history of art.\nPeebles said other aspects of the works that make them so rare were that the anthologies were a London limited run -- not many were produced and only a few hundred probably survived -- and that all the color plates were hand-made, according to Lilly records. Editions of the books were also published by subscription only at first, accounting for a span of dates instead of one set publication date.\nAudubon's originality helps classify his work as rare, as well as the dwindling number of copies of his prints.\nTo see Audubon's work and the many other pieces the Lilly Library has to offer, visit the library at 1200 E. Seventh St. (south of Showalter Fountain). Library personnel can also be reached via e-mail at liblilly@indiana.edu and by phone at 855-2452. The library is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.
