John James Audubon Popular Books

John James Audubon Biography & Facts

John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin, April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was a French-American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictorial record of all the bird species of North America. He was notable for his extensive studies documenting all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations, which depicted the birds in their natural habitats. His major work, a color-plate book titled The Birds of America (1827–1839), is considered one of the finest ornithological works ever completed. Audubon is also known for identifying 25 new species. He is the eponym of the National Audubon Society, and his name adorns a large number of towns, neighborhoods, and streets across the United States. Dozens of scientific names first published by Audubon are still in use by the scientific community. Early life Audubon was born in Les Cayes in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) on his father's sugarcane plantation. He was the son of Lieutenant Jean Audubon, a French naval officer (and privateer) from the south of Brittany, and his mistress, Jeanne Rabine, a 27-year-old chambermaid from Les Touches, Brittany (now in the modern region Pays de la Loire). They named him Jean Rabin. Another 1887 biographer has stated that his mother was a lady from a Louisiana plantation. His mother died when he was a few months old, as she had suffered from tropical disease since arriving on the island. His father already had an unknown number of mixed-race children (among them a daughter named Marie-Madeleine), some by his mixed-race housekeeper, Catherine "Sanitte" Bouffard (described as a quadroon, meaning she was three-quarters European in ancestry). Following Jeanne Rabin's death, Audubon renewed his relationship with Sanitte Bouffard and had a daughter by her, named Muguet. Bouffard also took care of the infant boy Jean.The senior Audubon had commanded ships. During the American Revolution, he was imprisoned by Britain. After his release, he helped the American cause. He had long worked to save money and secure his family's future with real estate. Due to repeated uprisings of slaves in the Caribbean, he sold part of his plantation in Saint-Domingue in 1789 and purchased a 284-acre farm called Mill Grove, 20 miles from Philadelphia, to diversify his investments. Increasing tension in Saint-Domingue between the colonists and slaves, who greatly outnumbered them, convinced the senior Audubon to return to France, where he became a member of the Republican Guard. In 1788 he arranged for Jean and in 1791 for Muguet to be transported to France. The children were raised in Couëron, near Nantes, France, by Audubon and his French wife, Anne Moynet Audubon, whom he had married years before his time in Saint-Domingue. In 1794 they formally adopted both the children to regularize their legal status in France. They renamed the boy Jean-Jacques Fougère Audubon and the girl Rose.From his earliest days, the younger Audubon had an affinity for birds. "I felt an intimacy with them...bordering on frenzy [that] must accompany my steps through life." His father encouraged his interest in nature: He would point out the elegant movement of the birds, and the beauty and softness of their plumage. He called my attention to their show of pleasure or sense of danger, their perfect forms and splendid attire. He would speak of their departure and return with the seasons. In France during the years of the French Revolution and its aftermath, Audubon grew up to be a handsome and gregarious man. He played flute and violin, and learned to ride, fence, and dance. Audubon enjoyed roaming in the woods, often returning with natural curiosities, including birds' eggs and nests, of which he made crude drawings. His father planned to make a seaman of his son. At twelve, Audubon went to military school and became a cabin boy. He quickly found out that he was susceptible to seasickness and not fond of mathematics or navigation. After failing the officer's qualification test, Audubon ended his incipient naval career. He returned to exploring fields again, focusing on birds. Immigration to the United States In 1803, his father obtained a false passport so that Jean-Jacques could go to the United States to avoid conscription in the Napoleonic Wars. 18-year-old Jean-Jacques boarded ship, anglicizing his name to John James Audubon. Jean Audubon and Claude Rozier arranged a business partnership for their sons John James Audubon and Jean Ferdinand Rozier to pursue lead mining in Pennsylvania at Audubon's Pennsylvania property of Mill Grove. The Audubon-Rozier partnership was based on Rozier's buying half of Jean Audubon's share of a plantation in Haiti, and lending money to the partnership as secured by half interest in the lead mining. Audubon caught yellow fever upon arrival in New York City. The ship's captain placed him in a boarding house run by Quaker women who nursed Audubon to recovery and taught him English. He traveled with the family's Quaker lawyer to the Audubon family farm at Mill Grove. The 284-acre (115 ha) homestead is located on the Perkiomen Creek a few miles from Valley Forge. Audubon lived with the tenants in the two-story stone house, in an area that he considered a paradise. "Hunting, fishing, drawing, and music occupied my every moment; cares I knew not, and cared naught about them." Studying his surroundings, Audubon quickly learned the ornithologist's rule, which he wrote down as, "The nature of the place—whether high or low, moist or dry, whether sloping north or south, or bearing tall trees or low shrubs—generally gives hint as to its inhabitants." His father hoped that the lead mines on the property could be commercially developed, as lead was an essential component of bullets. This could provide his son with a profitable occupation. At Mill Grove, Audubon met the owner of the nearby Fatland Ford estate, William Bakewell, and his daughter Lucy Bakewell. Audubon set about to study American birds, determined to illustrate his findings in a more realistic manner than most artists did then. He began drawing and painting birds, and recording their behavior. After an accidental fall into a creek, Audubon contracted a severe fever. He was nursed and recovered at Fatland Ford, with Lucy at his side. Risking conscription in France, Audubon returned in 1805 to see his father and ask permission to marry. He also needed to discuss family business plans. While there, he met the naturalist and physician Charles-Marie D'Orbigny, who improved Audubon's taxidermy skills and taught him scientific methods of research. Although his return ship was overtaken by an English privateer, Audubon and his hidden gold coins survived the encounter.Audubon resumed his bird studies and created his own nature museum, perhaps inspired by the great museum of natural history created by Charles Willson Peale in Philadelp.... Discover the John James Audubon popular books. Find the top 100 most popular John James Audubon books.

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  • Audubon and his Journals, Volume 1 synopsis, comments

    Audubon and his Journals, Volume 1

    John James Audubon

    <b>Audubon and his Journals, Volume 1 and Volume 2 by John James Audubon:</b> This remarkable twovolume collection offers an intimate glimpse into the life and work of ...

  • Under a Wild Sky synopsis, comments

    Under a Wild Sky

    William Souder

    In this Pulitzer Prize–finalist biography, the author of Mad at the World examines the littleknown life of the man behind the wellknown bird survey. John James Audubon is renowned ...

  • John James Audubon synopsis, comments

    John James Audubon

    Gregory Nobles

    John James Audubon's The Birds of America stands as an unparalleled achievement in American art, a huge book that puts nature dramatically on the page. With that work, Audubon beca...

  • Into the Woods synopsis, comments

    Into the Woods

    Robert Burleigh

    As a young man, John James Audubon, the renowned American woodsman and artist, had to make a choice between following his father's dreams for him and discovering his own special de...

  • Audubon and his Journals, Volume 2 synopsis, comments

    Audubon and his Journals, Volume 2

    John James Audubon

    <b>Audubon and his Journals, Volume 2 by John James Audubon: In this second volume of his compelling journals, the renowned naturalist John James Audubon takes readers on a c...

  • John James Audubon synopsis, comments

    John James Audubon

    Gregory Nobles

    John James Audubon's The Birds of America stands as an unparalleled achievement in American art, a huge book that puts nature dramatically on the page. With that work, Audubon beca...

  • The Audubon Reader synopsis, comments

    The Audubon Reader

    John James Audubon & Richard Rhodes

    This unprecedented anthology of John James Audubon’s lively and colorful writings about the American wilderness reintroduces the great artist and ornithologist as an exceptional Am...

  • Audubon at Sea synopsis, comments

    Audubon at Sea

    Christoph Irmscher & Richard J. King

    This oneofakind, lavishly illustrated anthology celebrates Audubon’s connection to the sea through both his words and art.The American naturalist John James Audubon (1785–1851) is ...

  • John James Audubon synopsis, comments

    John James Audubon

    John Burroughs

    John James Audubon John Burroughs, naturalist and nature essayist (18271921) This ebook presents «John James Audubon», from John Burroughs. A dynamic table of contents enables to j...

  • Tenacious of Life synopsis, comments

    Tenacious of Life

    John James Audubon

    Daniel Patterson and Eric Russell present a groundbreaking case for considering John James Audubon’s and John Bachman’s quadruped essays as worthy of literary analysis and redefine...

  • This Strange Wilderness synopsis, comments

    This Strange Wilderness

    Nancy Plain

    Birds were “the objects of my greatest delight,” wrote John James Audubon (1785–1851), founder of modern ornithology and one of the world’s greatest bird painters. His masterpiece,...

  • John James Audubon synopsis, comments

    John James Audubon

    John Burroughs

    This book is perfectly adapted for a pleasant reading on a digital reader, tablet, phone or computer.

  • Books of a Feather synopsis, comments

    Books of a Feather

    Kate Carlisle

    In this novel in the New York Times bestselling Bibliophile Mystery series, San Francisco bookrestoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright’s latest project is for the birds, but it may h...

  • John James Audubon synopsis, comments

    John James Audubon

    John Burroughs

    His story is a dramatic and surprising one. Audubon was not born in America, but saw more of the North American continent than virtually anyone alive, and even in his own time he c...

  • John James Audubon synopsis, comments

    John James Audubon

    John Burroughs

    This is American Naturalist John Burroughs' 1902 biography of John James Audubon. John James Audubon (1785 1851) was an American ornithologist, painter, and naturalist. He was...

  • Four Died Trying synopsis, comments

    Four Died Trying

    John Kirby, Mark Crispin Miller & Libby Handros

    They fought for peace. They fought for justice. The fought for equality. They had to go. In the 1960s, a series of catastrophic assassinations forever altered the course of America...

  • Palace of Books synopsis, comments

    Palace of Books

    Patricia Polacco

    From beloved storyteller Patricia Polacco comes a picture book based on her childhood about how a very special librarian and town library made her life happier after moving to a ne...

  • John James Audubon synopsis, comments

    John James Audubon

    Richard Rhodes

    John James Audubon came to America as a dapper eighteenyearold eager to make his fortune. He had a talent for drawing and an interest in birds, and he would spend the next thirtyfi...

  • John James Audubon synopsis, comments

    John James Audubon

    John Burroughs

    <b>John James Audubon by John Burroughs is a captivating biography that explores the life and achievements of the renowned American ornithologist and artist, John James Audub...