This collection of prints is from the Audubon Birds of America Royal Octavo first edition,  published in 1841.  Audubon enlisted America's premier lithographers, JT Bowen and Co. in Philadelphia and Endicott in New York to produce the work, and worked directly with the printers and colorists to insure a high level of quality in the edition. Audubon and his assistants translated the 435 compositions of the Double Elephant Folio into 500 renewed images for the Royal Octavo editions.  Groups of birds were separated according to species, and presented on a new botanical perch or in a renewed landscape. The Royal Octavo birds were not portrayed life-sized, as in the Double Elephant Folio edition.  Each bird was sized to scale on the smaller (6.5 x 10.25 inch) page.