September 2012 | Rebecca Rego Barry

Roger Tory Peterson at Auction

If you're even an occasional birder, you've no doubt owned one of Roger Tory Peterson's field guides. Coming to auction this weekend is a huge selection of Peterson's original artwork from those groundbreaking guides, directly from the estate of Roger Tory Peterson and Virginia Marie Peterson. The sale offers a major opportunity for collectors of bird books/art, wildlife photography, field guides, flora, fauna, and nature writing. Here is a sample of the auction's exciting lots:

49-small.jpgLot 49: Gouache, watercolor, pencil and ink on board with overlay, plate 18, Field Guide to Mexican Birds and Adjacent Central America, 1973. 15" x 11."

155e-small.jpgLot 155e: 1934 Field Guide Prototype. A Field Guide to Eastern Birds, A Bird Book on a New Plan, Roger Tory Peterson. This is an important mock-up prototype for Peterson's Field Guides. Including are two typed introductory pages of text indicating that this was to be published in the Spring of 1934. Full color mock-up cover. Approx. ten pages are printed, the remainder blank.

178-small.jpgLot 178: Galapagos Hawk. Latin: Buteo galapagoensis, Location: Galapagos Is. This is one of two hundred of Roger Tory Peterson's stunning photographic prints, each being printed for the very first time, Estate stamped and numbered 1/1.

In addition to Peterson's paintings and photography, the auction features Audubon prints, quite apropos to the subject matter. No bid estimates were published in the auction catalogue. Guernsey's will hold the auction this Saturday, Sept. 8, at The Arader Galleries in New York City.