Modeled on similar projects at The British Library and the National Library of Medicine, The University of Michigan's “PictureIt” site
puts some of the most beautiful and sought‐after items in our collections into the hands of readers worldwide –
virtually.
The first of our treasures accessible in this way is volume one of John James Audubon’s Birds of America. Our
eight‐volume, double‐elephant folio edition of Audubon’s magnificent work was the first purchase by the
Regents for the University Library. The Regents paid $970 – an extraordinary expenditure in 1838 – for the set, a
significant act of faith for a university that had yet to offer a single class or construct its first building.
Audubon's original work is on permanent display in the The Audubon Room.
Found at The Proverbial Lonewolf Librarian
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