America's Other Audubon

by Joy M. Kiser

America's Other Audubon chronicles the story of Genevieve Jones, her family, and the making of an extraordinary nineteenth-century book, Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio. At the age of twenty-nine, Genevieve Jones, an amateur naturalist/artist and daughter of a country doctor, visited the 1876 Centennial World's Fair in Philadelphia, where she saw Audubon's paintings in Birds of America on display. His artwork inspired her to undertake the production of a book illustrating the birds nests and eggs that Audubon neglected to include in his work. Her parents were reluctant to support the undertaking of such an ambitious and expensive project until Genevieve became despondent over a broken engagement. Concerned over her fragile mental state, they encouraged her to begin the book as a distraction. Her brother collected the nests and eggs, her father paid for the publishing costs, and Genevieve and her girlhood friend learned lithography and began illustrating the specimens. The book was sold by subscription in twenty-three parts. When part one of Genevieve's work was issued, leading ornithologists praised the illustrations, and Rutherford B. Hayes and Theodore Roosevelt added their names to the subscription list. One reviewer wrote: It is one of the most beautiful and desirable works that has ever appeared in the United States upon any branch of natural history and ranks with Audubon's celebrated work on birds. Then, suddenly, Genevieve died of typhoid fever after personally completing only five of the illustrations. Her family took up the completion of the work in her memory. They labored for seven years until the book was completed in 1886; collecting nests and eggs, drawing lithographs on stone, and hand coloring fifty copies of each illustration, and writing the field notes for each species of bird. Both the brother who collected the nests and eggs and wrote the field notes, and the mother who completed the drawings on stone and hand coloring, were stricken with typhoid fever two years after Genevieve's death and nearly died. In spite of serious damage to their health, they never gave up and labored until the book was finished. The father covered the publishing costs, which were higher than had been anticipated and were not covered by the subscription price, and ultimately lost his entire retirement savings completing the task in his daughter's memory. The mother lost her eyesight at the end of her life from the effects of typhoid fever and long hours of straining to draw and color the nests and eggs. But neither parent ever complained and considered their work on the book the most important accomplishment of their lives. When the mother's copy of the volume was exhibited on the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, it was awarded a bronze medal. Only 90 copies of the book were produced and fewer than 20 have been located today in libraries or in private collections. America's Other Audubon includes a foreword by the Curator of Natural-History Rare Books at the Smithsonian, Leslie Overstreet, a prologue and introduction by researcher and writer Joy M. Kiser (with archival photographs of the family and original advertisements and ephemera from the publication and sale of the book), the 68 original color plates of nests and eggs, plus selected field notes, a key to the eggs, and a key to the birds scientific and current common names (which have changed since the book first published in the nineteenth century). Joy Kiser has been friends with the Jones ancestors for fourteen years and has access to family photographs and documents that the general public has never seen. The Joneses story has never been fully told and no other author is better prepared to tell it.

Genres: Art, Birds, Nonfiction, Science, Nature, Biography, History

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 16, 2012

Reviews

[Quirkyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that fills in some of the areas that weren’t covered by Audubon in his bird books.

The creation of this book was a family project that took many years. Hopefully a biography will be written about the Jones family of Ohio.

I hope to find my own copy of this book to keep with all of my birding books.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bring on the full length biography. Of the entire family. Genevieve is obviously the one with the most romantic story, but everyone else had a fascinating story too. How did Virginia evolve herself into a nature artist? I loved how she added details that showed the plants near to the nest, the roses and thistles. The book opened my eyes to the wondrous variety of bird's nests.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily five stars and one of the best books that I have read this year.
One thing though, there are no drawings of birds in this book, only drawings of bird nests and eggs.
That though, is the reason that this huge project was undertaken.
It came about that a young woman was taken to the 1876 International "World's" Exposition in Philadelphia by her father on a family trip. There she saw the artwork of John James Audubon , admired it, but noted something missing, there were no drawings of bird nests or eggs.
She chose at that point to do those drawings. It took her and her family and one friend to finish that mighty task.
This is that story.
I will just add this. If I had the money, I would buy the rights to this book and produce a motion picture to tell this incredible story. This book was inspiring. It tells the story of a brilliant and bold embowered young woman , when women were held back. It is a love story, a family that loved each other. However, the story is told in about 30 pages of text. The rest of the book is a reproduction of the final production of the nests and eggs of all of the birds of Ohio- which is a large percentage of America's birds.
The quality of the drawings easily compares to the works of Mr. Audubon.

[Katharine Ott · Rating 5 out of 5]

"America's Other Audubon" - written by Joy Kiser and published in 2012 by Princeton Architectural Press. I feel fortunate that our local library (Lakewood Public) has a copy of this lovely book. I enjoyed paging through the intricate drawings of nests and eggs and the descriptions of their construction and where they were found. There are lots of local Ohio connections which make the book even more special. The Jones family who envisioned and saw this book to completion lived in Circleville, Ohio. Their daughter Genevieve was captivated by Audubon's work, but thought it incomplete and began work with her family and a friend on the project. Sadly she died of typhoid fever in 1879 at the age of 32, but her family persevered through their grief and finished the book. Her father, Nelson Jones, was a physician and naturalist and studied in Cleveland with local luminary Jared Potter Kirtland. Perhaps most importantly, in the mid 90s, Kiser, at that time a librarian at the Cleveland Natural History Museum, encountered their copy of the book and decided to bring it back to life. She did a wonderful job and I encourage bird and nature lovers to track it down.

[Tory Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an incredible masterpiece that can be enjoyed over and over. It is an oversized (coffee table) volume with a lustrous cover of creamy white with a turquoise spine. The front cover gives you a sneak peek of it's contents with an illustration by Genevieve Jones of the nest of a wood thrush. Jones was a young Ohio women whose goal was to create a companion to Audubon's Birds of America entitled Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio. Although Jones died of typhoid, her family continued to work on her dream and eventually published her project in 1886. Although the book is primarily illustrations of nests with short descriptions, anyone with an interest in nature will spend many a happy hour.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You are about to discover an extraordinary work of science and art and the equally extraordinary story of how it came into being." from the Foreward

The original book being covered is the Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio.

Originally selected as one of several coffee table art books to take on a relaxing trip (car trip, destination Wisconsin bluffs over the Mississippi River), it turned out quite fascinating in every aspect. The artistry of the nests and eggs are beautiful as is the history of how the original book came into being. The authors and illustrators involved are enthusiastic naturalists and their voices come through in the text, which is just as fun as the illustrations. Yes, there is plenty of anthropomorphism, but there is accuracy in their observations, and the prose is such a delight to linger over.

Carolina Wren (called the Great Carolina Wren in the original book) - "It is possessor of an exceedingly attractive voice, and being indefatigable in its efforts to be heard, is well known and much admired."

Gray Catbird - "At intervals throughout the day, from a favorite perch upon a pear tree, he would drop his tail and wings, loosen his feathers until they seemed to stand almost on end, and assuming a comical, semiquizzical look, pour forth volumes of as pure notes as ever came from a feather throat."

American Goldfinch - "As soon as the quarrels of mating are over and the next is seriously thought of, each pair attends strictly to family duties, being greatly attached to their home and young."

I learned some darling names and nicknames which I had not heard before. "Chewink" for Eastern Towhee and "Lettuce Bird" for American Goldfinch.

There is something for everyone to enjoy in this book.

[Nicholas & Megan Clinch · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The depth & beauty of a nest, therefore, seems to depend more upon the materials at hand, the experience, genius, and hurry of the workers, than upon any other circumstances, each pair of birds shaping their home after their own ideas.”

What a profound notion of domestic life. These prints are worthy of picture study. 💯

[Amanda Showers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book with a heartrendingly lovely backstory.

[Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book to savor. The introduction tells the remarkable story of the Jones family of Circleville, Ohio, who between them created, hand-painted and published lithographs of the nests and eggs of Ohio's birds in the second half of the 19th century. This is followed by reproductions of the original illustrations. It is certainly in a class with Audubon's Birds of America. A beautiful book.

[Kim]

Fascinating article, and I can't wait to read the book itself. http://www.brainpickings.org/index.ph...

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful companion to Audubon's "Birds of America". Beautiful hand-colored lithographs of nests and eggs and fascinating and touching story of how the book came to be.

[Laura Harrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisite. Everything a book can be.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was expecting a pretty book, but not the sweet sad family story that preludes it!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting

[Liz De Coster · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story behind the illustrations is really quite sad, but the illustrations are beautiful and the captions accompanying them are quite interesting and often charming.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing story of a family from southern Ohio. The artwork is outstanding.

[Candy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous, beautiful book. In a class all it's own. You have to see it and read it.

[Al Lloyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

great story, beautiful book