The Birds of America (octavo edition)

A genuine second octavo edition did not appear until 1856, issued by Audubon's son Victor G. Audubon after Audubon's own death in 1851, with further reissues -- including several through the Roe Lockwood & Son firm -- continuing into the 1870s until the original lithographic stones were destroyed in an 1870 fire. The most reliable check across these reprintings is the sky behind each bird: first-edition plates carry no colored background tint, while second and later editions add a stone-printed blue-green (occasionally beige) tint.