On September 28, 2011, the Library hosted a gathering of members of the Sherwin family to celebrate a gift made by John Sherwin, Jr., in 1947. Mr. Sherwin donated a collection of works by Audubon to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and we wanted to highlight these special books for his relatives.We pulled out the first volume of Audubon's Birds of America, and everyone gathered around to get a close-up view of the first plate, the Wild Turkey.
It takes two people to carefully turn the pages. Everyone was impressed by the brilliant colors and the details of each plate.
In addition to the Birds of America, we also looked at the accompanying Ornithological Biography. The first volume of our set contains an inscription by the original owner: the Rev. Patrick Bronte, the father of the Bronte sisters who went on to become famous authors.
Robert Havell was the engraver of Audubon's Birds of America. After he retired, he moved to the Hudson River Valley in New York, where he enjoyed sketching and painting his surroundings. As part of the original gift to the Museum in 1947, John Sherwin, Jr., also donated Robert Havell's personal sketchbook. It is truly a rare book since there are no other copies of this particular sketchbook in existence. The book itself is very fragile, so it is kept in a beautiful enclosure.
The pages must be handled very carefully. Our guests really enjoyed seeing this very unique book!
After looking at the Birds of America and Havell's sketchbook, we moved on to Aububon's other major work: The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. Audubon began this three-volume work toward the end of his life, and it was finished by his son, John Woodhouse Audubon. We were all amazed by the detail in each of the plates.
Finally, it was time to put the giant volume of Birds of America back in the display case. As you can see, it is very heavy!
Thank you to the Sherwin family for giving us a reason to celebrate the works of Audubon! Thanks also to: Chace Anderson, Board President, for his enthusiasm for all things Audubon and for organizing the evening; Harvey Webster, Director of Wildlife Resources, for regaling us with stories of Audubon's life on the frontier; Carole Camillo, Registrar, for helping with the crucial page-turning and case-opening; Andy Jones, Director of Science and Curator of Ornithology, for his ornithological expertise; Dr. Evalyn Gates, Museum Director, for her support of the Library and Rare Books collection; and Laura Dempsey, Photographer, for capturing the event in such a professional and artistic manner.