Dr. J. Delano and Caroline Mixon of Flowery Branch, Ga., donated six limited edition     books concerning the works of naturalist John James Audubon to the Brenau University Trustee Library - a gift that enhances the value of the Mixons´ previous gift anthology of the 19th century naturalist´s "Birds of America" prints.

Brenau is one of only 13 libraries in the United States that have in their libraries copies of this four-volume, leather-bound double elephant folio 1985 commemorative edition of Audubon´s work. The Mixons gave the complete four-volume set, which contains 435 full-sized prints, to the Brenau library in 1993.

The six volumes the Mixons recently donated are the accompanying text volumes published by Abbeville Press and the Audubon Society. They include the five-volume collection of Audubon´s personal commentary about his works and noted Audubon researcher Waldemar H. Fries´ one-volume bibliographic history of the double elephant folio. Although these limited-edition volumes are not the massive double elephant folio size, they are bound in the same green leather and have the same marbleized endplates.

"These books add value to the library´s Audubon collection and to researchers´ capabilities," said Marlene Giguere, dean of library services at the university. "We are extremely grateful to the Mixons for making this possible."

"The new additions enhance our understanding of Audubon´s work because we can read his own notes and observations about each of the images in the four volume set," Giguere explained. For example, for the first plate - the Wild Turkey - there is "a 17-page entry about the migration pattern of turkeys, geographic locations, mating habits, predators, as well as a detailed physical and technical description of the actual bird depicted in the plate. Audubon also discusses his personal sightings and encounters with turkeys. It is particularly interesting to read his comments and imagine his voice when looking at the print."

Abbeville Press produced 350 sets of the "Birds of America" collection in 1985 to celebrate the bicentennial of Audubon´s birth. Pages in the books measure 39½ inches by 28½ inches and each volume weighs about 60 pounds. The colorful images were printed on museum-quality paper in an exacting process that involved about three times the number of color separations as required by normal color printing.

According to experts, many of the Abbeville volumes no longer exist because they were disassembled and individual prints sold off to collectors, some for thousands of dollars each, which increases the value of the complete volumes in the Brenau Library that much more.

The recently acquired companion volumes will be housed in the special collections department of the library along with the double elephant folio volumes. All are available for student and public viewing by arrangement with and under supervision of library staff.

The Mixons presented their latest gift to the library Sept. 15 at a special program built around the original four-volume work. More than 100 people attended the presentation entitled "Across the Divide: Audubon, Art and Science," by Brenau art history professor Mary Beth Looney and biology professor and avian veterinarian Louise Bauck.

For more information, contact Giguere at 770-534-4722 or by E-mail at mgiguere@brenau.edu.

Here are the complete names of the latest additions to the Trustee Library´s Audubon book collection:

Volumes 1-3, " Ornithological Biography, or An Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America; Accompanied by Descriptions of the Objects Represented in the Work Entitled The Birds of America, and Interspersed with Delineations of American Scenery and Manners," originally printed in 1831, 1834 and 1835 respectively. Reprinted 1985.

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Volumes 4-5, "Ornithological Biography, or An Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America; Accompanied by Descriptions of the Objects Represented in the Work Entitled The Birds of America, Together With an Account of the Digestive Organs of Many of the Species, Illustrated by Engravings on Wood," originally published in 1838 and 1849. Reprinted 1985.

"The Double Elephant Folio: the Story of Audubon´s Birds of America," by Waldemar H. Fries, originally published in 1973, reprinted 1985.