America's Other Audubon
"America's Other Audubon is an uncommon delight. This new volume is an opportunity to discover an essential 'lost' treasure of American natural history, as well as an invitation to deepen our own connection with a wilder, natural world." -- Lyanda Lynn Haupt, author of Crow Planet"These are exceptional and heretofore almost unknown late 19th-century color paintings of birds' nests and eggs by an obscure Ohio family. Begun by Genevieve Jones, who died young, it was eventually completed by her brother Howard, mother Virginia, and friend Eliza Schulze. This book is essentially by them, a reissue of an 1886 title of which only 90 copies were printed. Kiser, a former librarian resurrected this work and contributes a compelling introduction. The nest paintings, aside from their stunning accuracy, are works of art in their own right.... These paintings charm and delight.... Highly recommended." -- Library Journal"The story behind these lithographs reminds us of the unsung heroines of our natural-history literature. There will likely never be a Jones Society, but [Genevieve] clearly had something of Audubon in her soul, and more besides." -- Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet"The paintings are delicate and exquisite." -- Seattle Times"The lithographs in Joy M. Kiser's America's Other Audubon are works of great beauty and scientific accuracy. But behind them is a tragedy -- the story of a hugely ambitious undertaking begun in heartbreak and completed in grief." -- Chicago Tribune"Should be shelved in every birder's library next to Audubon's own paintings." -- Buffalo News"One of the great triumphs of 19th century art and natural history.... The introduction by Kiser offers a poignant and abundantly fascinating snapshot of the Jones family." -- The Columbus Dispatch"Not since J. A. Baker's The Peregrine has there been such a moving book about birds. The story of the gifted-but-doomed amateur, the passion of the undertaking shake us. The beauty of the plates and their accessibility, until now denied all except a few who owned the rare original book, make this a rich gift to all who find interest in the natural world." -- Annie Proulx, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Shipping News"If Emily Dickinson had been an amateur naturalist and painter, she would've been Genevieve Jones, whose life and work are lovingly resurrected here. Inspired by Audubon's Birds of America, Jones, the daughter of a country doctor, sought to create a book, "Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio," to complement his work. Jones died during the project -- at 32 from typhoid fever -- but her family finished it. Just 90 copies were made, but now a classic work of science and art, and a fascinating 19th-century life, have been returned to us." --- New York Times"If Audubon -- who had plenty of help, but who lives in the mind as a solitary inventor -- is the Robinson Crusoe of nature art, then the Joneses are the Swiss Family Robinson. America's Other Audubon is a vital work of scholarly reclamation that will, I hope, introduce a wide world to the remarkable Genevieve Jones and the familial collaboration her life and death inspired. -- Jonathan Rosen, author of The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature"I have been enjoying simply browsing and admiring this wonderful book, for both the skill of the human artist and the intricacy of the birds' constructions. The most remarkable thing is that this work has been neglected for so long, and I'm very pleased to see it now getting the recognition it deserves." -- David Allen Sibley, author of The Sibley Guide to Birds"Exquisite." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer"America's Other Audubon, an appropriately lavish large-format volume full of Gennie, Virginia, and Eliza's gorgeous illustrations, captures this extraordinary story of curiosity, creativity, and entrepreneurship with the kind of rigor and passion on par with the Joneses' own." -- BrainPickings