PLATE, SHEET AND IMAGE SIZES
USED FOR AUDUBON PRINTS

Plate size

Birds of America images were normally engraved on one of three, more or less standard copper plate sizes; 19½ x 12¼,  25½ x 20½ or 37¾ x 24½ inches. These dimensions are universally quoted as the "Plate Size".

Image Size

It is a common mistake to believe that the quoted plate size refers to the size of the image itself.  It does not.  At no time did Havell engrave to the very edge of the plate as this would have made it impossible to run the plate through the press without causing a inky mess. Most of Havell's engraving comes to within no more than 1 inch of the plate edge and in the case of the some of smaller birds there may be margins of as much as 3 inches.

"Image Size" is defined as the minimum rectangular outline of the image, including titles and text, plus a subjectively judged, clear margin of not less than about ½ inch all round.

Sheet Size

"Sheet Size" is the size of the paper on which the image is printed. All pages in the Havell edition of Birds of America were originally of the same size, approximately 26¼ x 38½ inches. It most cases this sheet size is inappropriate. We use a maximum sheet size of 24 by 36 inches as this comfortably accommodates all the images and is also a standard picture frame size. For each image size we offer the most appropriate sheet size, but on special request we can print any image on a 24 x 36 inch sheet, however, this will involve a higher price due to the increased handling, paper and postage costs.

Position on sheet

Where the image size is less than the sheet size, the image is centred on the sheet.

Paper Grade

All Audubon prints are produced using archive quality, UV resistant inks on Hahnemuhle^® white cotton rag, archive and museum quality, 188gsm, flat matt paper. This combination produces high definition images with the best likeness to the original prints (as they would have been on publication) and a Display Permanence Rating of up to 200 years.