Birds of the Pacific Slope by Grayson, Andrew Jackson - 1986

San Francisco: Arion Press, 1986. First Edition. Portfolio. Fine. Published by the Arion Press in 1986, this remarkable work includes 156 individual bird portraits in color by Andrew Jackson Grayson housed in a massive linen covered box which measures 20 by 26 inches. A separate bound volume, 'Birds of he Pacific Slope: A Biography of the Artist & Naturalist 1818-1869,' by Lois Chambers Stone includes species accounts and field notes by Andrew Jackson Grayson with current ornithological identifications to accompany the portraits. The portraits were produced from Grayson's sole surviving paintings preserved by the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. Limited to 425 sets, this is Set Number 125. Andrew Jackson Grayson was a self-taught ornithologist and artist who, inspired by James John Audubon's Birds of America, decided to continue where Audubon left off. For 17 years he lived and traveled throughout California and Mexico, collecting specimens and painting birds native to the lands west of the continental divide. Some are shown with elaborately painted backgrounds; many show their nests, preferred roosts, and diet.