West Saint Paul Antiques

Audubon's mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity.

Our national network of community-based nature centers and chapters, scientific and educational programs, and advocacy on behalf of areas sustaining important bird populations, engage millions of people of all ages and backgrounds in positive conservation experiences.

Audubon's education was arranged by his father. He was sent to a nearby school and was tutored in mathematics, geography, drawing, music, and fencing. According to Audubon's own account, he had no interest in school, preferring instead to fish, hunt, and explore the outdoors. He was left with his stepmother most of the time while his father served as a naval officer. Audubon became a spoiled, stubborn youth who managed to resist all efforts to both educate him and keep him under control. When residence at a naval base under his father's direct supervision failed to have any effect, he was sent briefly to Paris to study art, but he disliked that also.

The most celebrated work of American ornithology, Birds of America by John James Audubon owes much to its author's determination to have his art reproduced by the best possible craftsmen and to his insistence that the drawings be reproduced life-size, as he had drawn them. Often referred to as the Elephant Folios, the 435 plates were sized to accommodate Audubon's depictions of bird specimens. Audubon could find no American publisher willing to take on this complicated and expensive venture, so he went to England. There he found both master engravers and over half of his subscribers, including King George IV.  Click Here