Rare Audubon Birds of America Volumes Go on Display in Glasgow

An exhibition spotlighting one of the world's most valuable rare books has opened in Glasgow. Two volumes of Birds of America by John James Audubon are on show to the public at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (RCPSG), which has owned the art treasures for two centuries.

The college purchased the two first-edition volumes in 1838 for £48, equivalent to the annual wages of a skilled labourer at the time. There are thought to be just 120 complete volumes known to have existed and a library in Liverpool recently revealed its copy was insured for £7.5m.

It is rare for the public to be able to glimpse the book which contains life-size, meticulously hand-coloured images of more than 200 species of birds native to North America in the early 19th Century. The book, which recently featured as a major plot device in Mackenzie Crook's BBC comedy Small Prophets, is seen by experts as the "absolute pinnacle of ornithological art".

Each page measures 3ft (99cm) by 2ft (66cm) and, due to its size, it takes at least two people to turn the page without damaging it. Because of this only one of the plates can be displayed at a time.

The idea of the exhibition was born two years ago when Claire McDade, the heritage lead at RCPSG, spotted the two volumes of the book in the college's library. She said: "I remember being astounded to discover we had this world treasure right here.

"I made it my mission to tell people what was special about what was fondly known as the bird book.

"It's a real pleasure to be able to welcome members of the community to the college to let them see this important work of art for themselves."

The scale, materials and labour made the book expensive to produce, so Audubon made an effort to sell copies in advance of printing. In 1826, he crossed the Atlantic to promote his book in the UK and his first stop was Edinburgh, which contained many wealthy individuals and institutions.

McDade says institutions purchased the book because, during the enlightenment, their members had a "great curiosity" about the wider world. When in Scotland's capital, Audubon got involved with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He gave lectures on bird dissection and the famous naturalist Charles Darwin, who was a medical student in Edinburgh at the same time, was in attendance.

It was also in Edinburgh that Audubon found his first UK publisher, William Home Lizars. Audubon, who was born in Haiti and grew up in France, moved to Pennsylvania where he lived on his father's plantation.

McDade says the work of slaves and indigenous people of America contributed to creating the book. "The college acknowledges very much the harm caused by racism and the fact that the books that we are celebrating were also made by people who were being harmed and damaged by Audubon," she added.