Joy M. Kiser began her professional career as the librarian for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in 1995. In 2001, she moved to the Washington, DC area to become the librarian for National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). She now works as a writer/editor for the Federal Government.
"America's Other Audubon is an uncommon delight. This new volume is
an opportunity to discover an essential 'lost' treasure of American
natural history, as well as an invitation to deepen our own
connection with a wilder, natural world." -- Lyanda Lynn Haupt,
author of Crow Planet
"America's Other Audubon, an appropriately lavish large-format
volume full of Gennie, Virginia, and Eliza's gorgeous
illustrations, captures this extraordinary story of curiosity,
creativity, and entrepreneurship with the kind of rigor and passion
on par with the Joneses' own." -- BrainPickings
"Exquisite." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer
"I have been enjoying simply browsing and admiring this wonderful
book, for both the skill of the human artist and the intricacy of
the birds' constructions. The most remarkable thing is that this
work has been neglected for so long, and I'm very pleased to see it
now getting the recognition it deserves." -- David Allen Sibley,
author of The Sibley Guide to Birds
"If Audubon -- who had plenty of help, but who lives in the mind as
a solitary inventor -- is the Robinson Crusoe of nature art, then
the Joneses are the Swiss Family Robinson. America's Other Audubon
is a vital work of scholarly reclamation that will, I hope,
introduce a wide world to the remarkable Genevieve Jones and the
familial collaboration her life and death inspired. -- Jonathan
Rosen, author of The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of
Nature
"If Emily Dickinson had been an amateur naturalist and painter, she
would've been Genevieve Jones, whose life and work are lovingly
resurrected here. Inspired by Audubon's Birds of America, Jones,
the daughter of a country doctor, sought to create a book,
"Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio," to
complement his work. Jones died during the project -- at 32 from
typhoid fever -- but her family finished it. Just 90 copies were
made, but now a classic work of science and art, and a fascinating
19th-century life, have been returned to us." --- New York
Times
"Not since J. A. Baker's The Peregrine has there been such a moving
book about birds. The story of the gifted-but-doomed amateur, the
passion of the undertaking shake us. The beauty of the plates and
their accessibility, until now denied all except a few who owned
the rare original book, make this a rich gift to all who find
interest in the natural world." -- Annie Proulx, Pulitzer
Prize-winning author of The Shipping News
"One of the great triumphs of 19th century art and natural
history.... The introduction by Kiser offers a poignant and
abundantly fascinating snapshot of the Jones family." -- The
Columbus Dispatch
"Should be shelved in every birder's library next to Audubon's own
paintings." -- Buffalo News
"The lithographs in Joy M. Kiser's America's Other Audubon are
works of great beauty and scientific accuracy. But behind them is a
tragedy -- the story of a hugely ambitious undertaking begun in
heartbreak and completed in grief." -- Chicago Tribune
"The paintings are delicate and exquisite." -- Seattle Times
"The story behind these lithographs reminds us of the unsung
heroines of our natural-history literature. There will likely never
be a Jones Society, but [Genevieve] clearly had something of
Audubon in her soul, and more besides." -- Bill McKibben, author of
Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet
"These are exceptional and heretofore almost unknown late
19th-century color paintings of birds' nests and eggs by an obscure
Ohio family. Begun by Genevieve Jones, who died young, it was
eventually completed by her brother Howard, mother Virginia, and
friend Eliza Schulze. This book is essentially by them, a reissue
of an 1886 title of which only 90 copies were printed. Kiser, a
former librarian resurrected this work and contributes a compelling
introduction. The nest paintings, aside from their stunning
accuracy, are works of art in their own right.... These paintings
charm and delight.... Highly recommended." -- Library Journal
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