| The First Edition of the Royal Octavo "Birds of Amarica" was offered by subscription only between 1840-1844. At the time, one would subscribe to the entire work by sending $1.00 to Audubon in exchange for 5 hand colored stone lithographs that would be sent through the mail about every 2 weeks along with the acccompanying text for each bird. With 500 birds being the total issued, that means each subscriber paid $100 total for all the images and it took almost 4 years to receive the complete issue. Today, the same hand colored plates range from $100 to $2500 for the most desirable images. Only approximately 1200 subscribers purchased this first edition work and it is highly sought after by collectors today. |
