Nests and Eggs

The Nelson E. Jones Family's
Illustrations of Nests and Eggs
From the Rare Book Collection at the Smithsonian.

Catbird Nest
Illustrations of the nests and eggs of birds of Ohio was published in the small town of Circleville, Ohio, over a period of eight years (from 1879 to 1886) through the dedicated efforts of the family and friends of a young woman named Genevieve Jones. Despite being produced not just by amateurs but largely by women, far from the publishing houses and intellectual centers of 19th-century America, the book was hailed as an extraordinary achievement from the moment its first few plates were published.