Buffalo Museum to Sell Rare Audubon Books

The Buffalo Museum of Science plans to auction a rare four-volume set of John James Audubon’s “Birds of America” and expects to raise as much as $2 million, officials said.

The books, known as a “double elephant folio” edition because of the 40-by-30-inch plates, were printed in London between 1827 and 1838 with 435 copper plates made from the naturalist’s paintings. Each was then hand-colored by other artists using Audubon’s original paintings as a guide and sold originally for $1,000 a set.