"WILD TURKEY" from Bien facsimile ed. of Audubon's The Birds of America; Melagris Gallopavo Linn. Male American Cane Miegia Macrosperma

Italy: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013. Limited Edition Reproduction. Color printing. Near Mint. John James Audubon. Folio (13 1/2" x 20 1/2"), "Wild Turkey" printed in color on quality medium-weight paper with original date of 1858 reproduced in plate. It has been carefully removed (by another party) from the outstanding, limited slipcased edition of John James Audubon's Birds of America in chromolithographs by Julius Bien, which was produced by Joel Oppenheimer, a distinguished dealer of bird prints in Chicago. For anyone interested in one of the more famous plates in the Bien edition of John James Audubon's, Birds of North America, this may serve to whet his or her appetite. This plate has been carefully removed from the fine limited edition published by W. W. Norton in Italy under the auspices of Joel Oppenheimer, a distinguished dealer of bird prints. The edition of Birds of America by Julius Bien and John Woodhouse Audubon was discontinued due to the onset of the Civil War. As a result, fewer than 150 sets have survived, and original Bien "Wild Turkey" chromolithographs cost thousands of dollars. This is a fine and very inexpensive color reproduction of the colorful bird Benjamin Franklin thought ought to be our national bird instead of the eagle. A few tiny rough spots along the inner margin of the plate where it was disbound (by another).