An impressive companion for Audubon

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America’s Other Audubon

By Joy M. Kiser

Think ‘bird illustrations’ and what immediately comes to mind? For many, it is the name John James Audubon and his masterful renderings for Birds of America(1827–38). There is, however, an almost equally impressive body of work that was conceived as a companion to Audubon’s work, but has remained – until now – almost completely unknown. Even more intriguing is the story of this book’s creation, which reads like a 19th-century novel.

Amateur naturalist and artist, Genevieve Jones, began Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio in 1876.  Gennie, as she was called, began collecting nests and eggs as a child, searching out and gathering them as she travelled the countryside with her father, the local doctor. Like many others in the late 19th century, the Jones family collected specimens as a means of studying and appreciating the natural world. To help her identify her finds, Genevieve searched for a reference, but found that no book describing the eggs and nests of American birds had ever been written.  Perhaps that was when she first conceived of filling that gap.

In school, Genevieve excelled in mathematics, science and languages, and was a gifted artist and musician. Just as she shared her appreciation of nature with her father and brother, she shared a talent and love for painting with her mother.  Over the years, the family would discuss the idea of a book on eggs and nests, but nothing resulted. Then, at age 29 (on a diversionary trip to Philadelphia to mend a broken heart), Genevieve saw an exhibition of the paintings from Audubon's Birds of America. As impressed as she was, she couldn’t help but notice the omission of nests and eggs. She felt spurred to supply the missing material.

Genevieve’s brother, Howard, now a country doctor like his father, volunteered to gather the nests and eggs, and write the field notes. Dr Jones would bear the initial expense of the project, while selling subscriptions to cover the costs. Genevieve enlisted a childhood friend and artist, Eliza Shulze, to help her draw and hand-colour the illustrations. Like Audubon’s, the illustrations would be life-sized and printed using the finest paper and paints.

What followed this ambitious start is a remarkable story of how the Jones family created and published their book, despite financial and personal hardships, including Genevieve’s own death. In America’s Other Audubon, librarian and writer Joy Kiser reveals the history of the book’s initial creation and publication, and traces her own discovery of it and her determination to bring it to a wider world.

The main body of the book consists of 68 exquisite colour plates. Both the artistic quality and the scientific accuracy displayed in these illustrations are remarkable. Calipers were used to take precise measurements and a magnifying glass to examine details, and the overall character of the nests, eggs and plant materials shows informed observation as well as accomplished artistic technique and expression. The variation of line and shade, and subtlety of colour, bring these charming nests and eggs to life, giving one a fuller appreciation of the artistry and ingenuity of nature.

Sadly, Genevieve completed only five of the illustrations before she succumbed to typhoid fever at the age of 32. Her drawings include the nest of the Wood Thrush (Plate II, also illustrated on the front cover) with its brilliant blue eggs, and the particularly detailed depiction of the Indigo Bunting’s nest (plate IV) with its body of fine grasses and cobweb ornament. After Gennie’s death, her mother, Virginia, decided to complete her daughter’s book as tribute to her. Although a talented artist, she also had to become an astute scientific observer in order to create lithographs as exacting as those of her daughter. Genevieve’s brother Howard contributed illustrations of the eggs of birds whose nests were too large or inaccessible to collect. So consistent is the style and quality of the work, one would not realize that several hands did the illustrations. As an amateur naturalist, I also appreciate Howard’s field notes and astute observations, as well as his key to identifying the eggs.

Only 90 copies of the Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio were ever published, but it comes as no surprise that both experts and amateurs received the book enthusiastically. The editors of the leading ornithological journals of the day praised the beauty and scientific veracity of the book. Other subscribers included President Rutherford B. Hayes, and another amateur naturalist, Harvard college student Theodore Roosevelt.

The work conceived by Genevieve Jones and completed by her family is no less remarkable today for its artistic and scientific value, and should be widely appreciated in both contexts by anyone with an interest in nature or natural illustration.

America’s Other Audubon  by Joy M. Kiser is published by Princeton Architectural Press, 2012. 192 pp. 68 colour & 4 mono illus. ISBN 0-978-1-61689-059-9