The state's bird-loving bargain
Published Sun, Dec 19, 2010 06:44 AM
RALEIGH While an edition of James Audubon's “Birds of America” just sold at auction for a record $11 million-plus, North Carolina bought its copy for a mere $650 - yes, that's right, only three digits - said to be the lowest price ever paid for the book.
It's on display at the N.C. Museum of Art, where it has been fully restored and is being exhibited in its entirety for the first time. The museum explains how North Carolina got such a deal:
In 1845, Gov. William Alexander Graham charged Joseph Cogswell, headmaster of a Raleigh school and a former librarian, with finding rare and precious books that would enrich the state. By the next year, Cogswell had tracked down an edition of the original “Birds of America” in a bankruptcy sale.
The four-volume book was kept in the State Library until 1974, when it was transferred to the art museum. Twenty-five plates were separated and exhibited in Raleigh and in other museums.
In 2002, the museum embarked on a five-year conservation project to rebind and treat the book, which had begun to deteriorate from handling. An old mending had to be fixed, and the bindings had crumbled. The museum brought in a paper specialist to help.
Restoring the document cost far more than the original purchase price - about $120,000 - but a bequest from the N.C. State Art Society and individual donors picked up the tab.