(28 October 2016) Mr. Pote Lee, Chairman of the iGroup (Asia Pacific) Ltd has donated to the National Library of China a copy of the 21st Century Edition of The Birds of America, a masterwork by the artist and ornithologist John James Audubon. The Birds of America has been hailed as a United States national treasure and counts among the 19th century’s greatest and most influential works. It is not only a valuable resource for the study of birds, but also a rare masterpiece of art. In 2010 a first edition of The Birds of America fetched £ 7,300,000 ($ 11,500,000) at auction making it one of the most expensive books in history.
iGroup worked with Dai Nippon Printing Company to reproduce this 21st Century Edition from an original copy of The Birds of America consisting of four volumes and 435 pages. An 80 megapixel camera photographed the images. It is printed on acid-free Japanese Takeo paper and took Japanese craftsman a few months to finish the printing and hand-made binding. The book is in Double Elephant Folio,100cm x 68cm wide and weighs more than 90 kg.
The donation ceremony was held 12 October 2016 in the National Library. Mr. Wang Dongbo, Assistant Director-General of the National Library of China, presided over the donation ceremony attended by colleagues from the NLC. Mr. Lee led a delegation from iGroup.
Mr Wang Dongbo (5th left) with Mr Pote Lee to his right at the donation ceremony.
Wang Dongbo, on behalf of the National Library Director-General Han Yongjin, welcomed the iGroup delegation and gave a general introduction about the National Library which currently has an area of about 280,000 square meters, ranking third in the world. It has a history of 107 years with more than 1,500 employees and more than 36 million collection resources. The ratio of Chinese resources to foreign language resources is about 6: 4. The goal of the library is to become the world’s largest collector of Chinese resources and the largest foreign language resources collector in China.
Mr. Lee, on behalf of the iGroup, was delighted to donate The Birds of America to the National Library of China. He said that the original edition of this book is nearly 200 years old. At that time there was no camera and no modern color printer. The author hand painted life size birds’ images on paper with watercolor which were then transformed into line engravings ready for coloring. It took more than 10 years to complete the printing of the entire book. It is thought that the first edition was printed in 170 to 200 sets. Those that survive are now owned by libraries and museums around the world with only thirteen in the hands of private collectors. Asia has only one set, at Meisei University. Australia has another set in the Melbourne Public Library.
To bring The Birds of America to life for the 21st century took nine months. An 80 megapixel camera photographed an original copy of The Birds of America. It was printed on special acid-free paper and bound by hand, each copy taking some four weeks to sew. One hundred sets were produced. “Our wish,” said Mr Lee, “is to donate one set to the National Library of China so that the Chinese public and future generations will be able to appreciate this work of art with two hundred years of history. Young people in particular will be astonished to discover how hard Audubon and his craftsmen worked to create this masterpiece.”
Mr Pote Lee (4th right) with Mr Wang Dongbo to his right admiring The Birds of America.
Thanking Mr Lee and the iGroup, Wang Dongbo stated that “On behalf of the National Library of China I am glad to receive The Birds of America donated by the iGroup. Many Chinese readers will be interested in this book, especially the younger generation. Considering its large size and preciousness, we will preserve it at our Classics Museum where it will be displayed to the public. Thank you iGroup for this generous donation.”
The iGroup is the leading academic and scientific information provider in the Asia-Pacific region with offices in 14 countries. Visit its website here, http://www.igroupnet.com/.
Details about The Birds of America 21st Century Edition, including many illustrations are here, http://audubon.igroupnet.com.
