What: The Watkinson Library presents a lecture by Dr. Christoph Irmscher, Professor of English at Indiana University, on John James Audubon’s, “Birds of America.” Trinity owns an original copy of “Birds of America,” one of the rarest books in the world. (read more: http://goo.gl/bPLz5) The event is free and open to the public. www.trincoll.edu.

When: Thursday, November 3 ~ 5:00 p.m.

Where: The Joslin Family 1823 Room (Library, Level 2) on the campus of Trinity College

300 Summit Street, Hartford, Conn., 06106

Background:

Irmscher, Professor of English at Indiana University, edited the Library of America edition of Audubon's works, and writes on nineteenth-century American and Canadian literature, early American nature writing, and ecocriticism.

Birds of America is considered one of the rarest books in the world, with less than 120 copies in existence today. Published between 1836 and 1839, it includes 435 engravings that were hand colored and bound in four volumes. It is often referred to as the “Elephant Folio,” because of its remarkable size – over three feet tall and two feet wide – due to Audubon’s preference for illustrating each specimen to scale.