Plate 5. Double Elephant Folio.
One of the earliest Double Elephant Folio plates, published in 1827. One of five engraved, colored, and printed by W. H. Lizars of Edinburgh, before Audubon changed publishers and moved his operation to London.
Audubon thought this was a new species, naming it Bonaparte Fly Catcher, but it is now recognized as an immature Canada Warbler.
The magnificent botanical is the ripe seed pod and leaves of Magnolia grandiflora. It is attributed to Joseph Mason. Audubon hired his talented young student to accompany him on a flatboat from Cincinnati to Louisiana, arriving in New Orleans on New Year’s Day of 1821. Mason worked for Audubon for the next two years.
