{"id":101038,"date":"2016-04-29T11:53:37","date_gmt":"2016-04-29T15:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=101038"},"modified":"2016-07-01T11:13:41","modified_gmt":"2016-07-01T15:13:41","slug":"video-birds-of-america-lands-at-the-bates-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2016\/04\/29\/video-birds-of-america-lands-at-the-bates-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Video: Audubon’s ‘Birds of America’ lands at the Bates library"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"This<\/a>

This detail of the bluejay plate from The Birds of America <\/em> shows what its creator called the “rogues” and “deceivers” of the bird world.<\/p><\/div>\n

Bates gave special attention to the April 26 birthday of ornithologist, naturalist, and painter John James Audubon by wheeling out the library’s volume of Audubon\u2019s masterpiece, The Birds of America<\/i>, for rare public exhibition.<\/p>\n

Birds of America<\/em> is on display in Ladd Library through May.<\/p>\n

Known as the “Bien” edition, after the chromolithographer responsible for the images, the volume is huge\u00a0\u2014 57 pounds, with each page measuring 39 1\/8 inches by 26 1\/8 inches. Its<\/span> Bates provenance is equally outsized.<\/p>\n

In fact, it belonged to Jonathan Y. Stanton, one of the college\u2019s first professors and a major influence on Bates traditions and teaching from his appointment in 1863 until his death in 1918, after which his prodigious library was bequeathed to Bates.<\/p>\n

\n

A tour of the bluejay plate from Birds of America:<\/em><\/p>\n