This book represents a revision and extension of Ms. Low's earlier work, An Index and Guide to Audubon's Birds of America (Abbeville, 1988). It is a valuable reference for anyone interested in Audubon's folio bird prints. If you have a choice, select this more recent version than the out-of-print Abbeville edition. As in her earlier book, Ms. Low includes sizes of the plate marks for Havell Edition prints, and adds more information on the variants she encountered in a systematic review of four complete Havell Edition sets. The book also includes a wonderful bonus -- a detailed description of the Bien Edition (sometimes called the second folio edition of The Birds of America). Ms. Low's treatment is by far the most comprehensive information available in one place on this important and neglected work. As an Audubon dealer, and someone who has prepared web-based study guides of all the major Audubon editions, I have found endless uses for this book. It is a must-have reference for all serious students and collectors of Audubon's art.

Susanne Low conducted years of painstaking research to write this lovely book. She examined four complete 435-print sets of Audubon's double elephant folio and this detailed, comprehensive Guide is the result. Every variant of every print is described including the birds depicted, the exact size of the plate mark, and where and when Audubon painted the original. A similar section describes the 150 Bien edition chromolithographs that were made in 1858-1860. The information presented is invaluable to antique dealers and collectors because it enables even the casual user to authenticate prints.

I especially like her cross-references and cross-indexes that make it easy to compare the double elephant folio prints with the Biens and the Octavos. She even included a biographical section that describes all the people who helped Audubon along the way. Writing my own book - Audubon Art Prints - would not have been possible without using Susanne's book as a reference.

Low's index has long been the bible for dealers and collectors of Audubon's Birds of America. Painstakingly accurate in its original edition, this new, updated and expanded version is produced with all the care of true booklovers. Elegant and useful. Thanks to Reese and Heald for making this invaluable tome available.

First and formost it is a shame that Dr.Delatte has only had time to write one book. And I hope that she will get the chance to write another soon. In her book Lucy Audubon A Biography she sets the tone in the first chapter. She goes in great detail to explain to her reader Lucy Audubon's life. She gives a rare insight to a historical figure and brings her to life with her words. the reader feels as if they are there with Audubon as she goes through life and overcomes the obstacles in her life.

I have to say that this book is one of the best books that I have ever read. It keeps your attention from the first page to the last. A must read.

There is not much to say but that this book is one of the best books that I have ever read. It gives you a rare look into the life of Lucy Audubon.

The book has a lot of information and display of bookmarks. I highly recommend this book to bookmark lovers and collectors.

Audubon kept a journal for his wife, who stayed behind in Louisiana, and it is filled with the observations of an unworldly American in England. He is excruciatingly shy, and very apprehensive about how his drawings and paintings will be received.A heartwarming, funny, very human look at America's great naturalist/artist.

Good sharp, clear rendering of Audubon's 435 Birds. The images appear to be photo offsets of the original Havell prints, including small flaws like spots and tears. No page or image numbers. You have to pencil in your own by using the excellent table of contents at the back of the book. Solid, high quality binding. Excellent addition to any birdwatcher's library.

This beautiful picture book is a real treat for any admirer, young or old, of nature and the work of John James Audubon. From first page to last, it is a tribute to an extraordinary man who had a passion for America's wilderness, as well as to the wilderness itself. Robert Burleigh tells the story of the pioneering environmentalist through an imaginary rhyming letter to his father, with accompanying excerpts from Audubon's journals. Wendell Minor, a renowned jacket artist and distinguished picture book illustrator, enlivens the text with some of his finest work, which is complemented by a few of Audubon's original paintings. Mr. Minor portrays the curious woodsman as he rambles through sun-dappled forests, investigates a cormorant's nest on the side of a rocky cliff, and admires the untamed spirit of a temporarily captive hawk. Later on, the story's tone changes from carefree revelry to a heartfelt plea for wilderness preservation, as Audubon mourns the loss of the woodlands and the birds he holds so dear. While holding a dying pigeon in his hands he remarks: "And as I watched it die I knew/The world I love is passing too. And I must paint it all because/We need this memory of what was. . ." These inspiring words are accompanied by some poignant pictures of a flock of now-extinct passenger pigeons--once the most populous bird in the world--streaming across the sky, and a once-mighty forest reduced to stumps. There is a hopeful note in the story, as well: "But listen, now, from every tree/I hear them calling out to me: The crow's ka-kow, the lark's ti-ti/The warbler and the chickadee." In order to preserve nature, we must first appreciate even the smallest aspects of it, from the the mighty bald eagle to the tiny chickadee. The book leaves one with a sense of hope about the conservation movement and a refreshed passion for the outdoors, especially birds, which are so plentiful and so striking in this country. With his paintings Mr. Minor has skillfully captured the personality of the man and the beauty of the birds he loved, and Mr. Burleigh has brought poetic words to help us remember Audubon not just as the vanguard in the American conservation movement, a mere icon of history books, but as a true woodsman who loved this country and its wilderness with his whole heart. INTO THE WOODS makes a lovely gift for any aspiring naturalist of age 8 to a lifelong birder of age 80. Pick up a copy for the child in your life and one for yourself. Also be sure to check out another new picture book, RACHEL: THE STORY OF RACHEL CARSON, which, like INTO THE WOODS, tells the story of a pioneering American environmentalist and is wonderfully illustrated by Wendell Minor.

Excellent scholarly work that explains and shows what Audubon did, and how he did it. As a collector of original Audubon Havell prints, I found the introductory chapters to be informative, readable and very helpful. Wonderful explanations of his technique. About eighty of the plates are rendered nearly full size in this large book. The other 390 are included in an index as full-color 3 X 4 prints. All of the 435 original "Birds of America" images are in this book as well as quite a few other Audubon watercolors that were never syndicated for printing. There are several appendices including one that lists the actual size of each watercolor. Very helpful to a collector. I especially enjoy comparing Audubon's original watercolor paintings depicted in this book, with the large, excellent renderings of the Havell prints in "Audubon Birds of America" by Tim Parmentor, also available from Amazon. My one tiny complaint is that all of the color images are designated by the Roman numerals that Audubon assigned to them. Pain in the neck. Great gift book for both art students and birdwatchers.

Anyone looking for a chronicle of the American wilderness in its infancy would do well to start here. There is great charm in the journals of 1820, where the spellings are still Audubon's own, and the flavor of the times -- especially regarding life on the frontier, and concerning everyday life in old New Orleans -- is everywhere. With his "Bird Biographies" of everyday varieties, as well as descriptions of now-extinct species, such as the Carolina Parakeet, and Ivory Billed Woodpeckers, this book is a treasure not just for nature lovers and bird aficianados, but for lovers of history as well.

De Caro & Jordan have selected a range of travel accounts that manage to capture the diversity, contradiction, and character of Louisiana, from colonial times to the present. Their contemporary travel updates make this book useful to modern-day trippers, and the inclusion of selections by literary luminaries such as Steinbeck broaden its appeal beyond Louisiania lovers.

Despite, or perhaps because, the illustrations are somewhat stylised, but beautifully set with foliage and flowers, this book is a classic coffee table book (if the table has strong legs!). It will be purely by accident if it helps you identify birds you see (and will take up your whole knapsack if you took it into the field!) but it is a joy to turn through, sensuously, in front of a log fire, remebering those very days in the field and remembering how long birds have been on earth and how long we have watched them.

And, sacreligious as it may seem, at USD30, buy two and take one apart to frame and line the walls of your study.

A classic in every sense of the word!