Each year, all 430 prints from Audubon's Birds of America are shown in the Addlestone Library. Two different prints are shown from Monday through Friday for a total of 10 prints per week.

Audubon spent about 25 years drawing and painting birds to produce what is generally considered the finest color-plate book every published and one of the finest sets of engravings ever produced. He was the first artist to paint birds in life-like poses, to paint them in their natural surroundings, and to paint and reproduce them life-sized.

The Birds of America was published in four volumes from 1827-1838, and each illustration was watercolored by hand to match Audubon's original painting. Approximately 200 sets were published, and the College of Charleston has one of about 100 sets that have survived intact. It is one of the finest sets known to exist, and it is protected to prevent fading.

The College's set was contributed by John Henry Dick, who illustrated a book on the birds of India published by Oxford University Press, a book on the birds of China published by the Smithsonian Institution, and numerous other publications. He collected more than 100 rare books with watercolored engravings or lithographs of birds, and he contributed his collection to the College Foundation.

On each Monday, two full-page prints are shown; on each Tuesday, two half-page prints; and on each Wednesday through Friday, smaller prints. To help prevent fading, prints are not be shown on weekends, on holidays, or during the summer.

(For more information, contact Special Collections, Addlestone Library, College of Charleston; 953-8016.)