John James Audubon's journal of 1826 details the months leading up to his creation of The Birds of America, one of the greatest works of natural history and art of the nineteenth century. The first accurate transcription of Audubon's 1826 journal, this edition corrects many of the errors, both intentional and unintentional, found in previous editions. Such errors have obscured the figure of Audubon as a man struggling to realize his professional and artistic dreams.

John James Audubon (1785-1851) is one of America's premier wildlife artists. His collection of 435 life-sized prints, The Birds of America, is often considered the greatest picture book ever produced. Daniel Patterson is a professor of English at Central Michigan University. He is the editor of The Missouri River Journals of John James Audubon (Nebraska, 2016) and Early American Nature Writers: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Patricio J. Serrano is the official translator of the English/Spanish Language at Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas-ESPE, in Sangolqui, Ecuador. John R. Knott is a professor emeritus of English at the University of Michigan and the author and editor of numerous works, including Imagining the Forest: Narratives of Michigan and the Upper Midwest.