OTTAWA, March 17, 2005 -- On March 23, letter-writers, collectors and art aficionados can share a piece of the most expensive book in the world... for as little as 50 cents. In March 2000, a copy of John James Audubon's Birds of America fetched $8.8 million at Christie's Auction House, the highest amount of money ever paid for a book. Canada Post is proud to issue five stamps featuring images from Birds of America, that commemorate the presence of the wildlife artist John James Audubon in Canada almost 175 years ago. The stamps will be launched at a special ceremony on March 23 at the Legislative Library of New Brunswick. The Legislative Library is home to one of only five publicly owned copies of Birds of America. In 1852, the Director of the New Brunswick Legislative Library had the foresight to purchase a copy for the library's collection. Robert Gowan paid 800 pounds at Little & Brown's in Boston for the 5 foot by 3 foot book, which displays life-size portrayals of birds, some of which have since become extinct. John James Audubon (1785-1851) is considered by many experts to be one of North America's foremost wildlife artist. His formative Birds of America, a collection of 435 life-size prints completed between 1820 and 1838, is still a standard today's artists aspire to. Though not many people know of Audubon's work done in Canada, his depictions of Canadian birds are considered by many to be his finest work. Audubon painted the birds in his Canadian collection during three separate journeys north, the first in 1831 (while sailing along the coast of Newfoundland), the second during a family trip in 1832, and the third time during a more extensive trip in 1833. Audubon stayed in Fredericton as a guest at Government House in September 1832. The design of the Audubon stamp series posed a special challenge: it was decided that, out of respect for the artist and to preserve the integrity of the original paintings, only minor adjustments should be made to their original format. This was achieved by developing stamp formats which were as close as possible to the proportions of the originals. Again this year, designer Rolf Harder established a typographic framework that would discreetly support Audubon's work. The colour bars, containing the word "Canada" (on the right) are screened values of the solid colours used for the denominations on the left, enhancing the feeling of softness. At the same time the colour bars subtly link with the colours in the illustration. While the bars are kept apart from the illustrations to avoid any interference, they permit the introduction of an additional colour to enhance the stamps' overall appearance. Finally, the birds' names are layed on the warm white backgrounds of the paper as if they were part of the originals. The birds featured on the stamps are: Horned Lark, Piping Plover, Stilt Sandpiper, Willow Ptarmigan (all of them 50 cents) and the Double-Crested Cormorant (85 cents). Available for sale at post offices across the country on March 23, 2005, the domestic-rate stamps measure 48 mm x 27.5 mm, with the U.S. rate stamp measuring 48 mm x 39.5 mm. The domestic rate stamps will be sold in a pane of 16 stamps, the 85-cent stamps in booklets of six. Lowe-Martin printed six million gummed stamps, using lithography in 10 colours for the domestic-rate stamps, and one million self-adhesive stamps, using 7-colour lithography plus varnish on the U.S. rate stamps. The stamps are printed on Tullis Russell Coatings paper. The stamps are general tagged on all four sides. The Official First Day Cover will read FREDERICTON, NEW BRUNSWICK. Additional information about Canadian stamps can be found in the Newsroom section of Canada Post's website, and downloadable high-resolution photos of the Audubon stamps are in the Newsroom's Photo Centre. Stamps and Official First Day covers will be available at participating post offices, can be ordered online by following the links at Canada Post's website www.canadapost.ca, or by mail order from the National Philatelic Centre. From Canada and the USA call toll-free: 1-800-565-4362 and from other countries call: (902) 863-6550. - 30 - For further information: Cindy Daoust Ottawa, Ontario Tel.: (613) 734-4258
