When Lady Isabella Hertford sought to brighten up her 1820s dining room, cutting colourful birds out of a handy book must have felt like an inspired idea. The decision could in fact have cost £7.3 million ($14.8 million). For the book she chose was not just any old ornithology survey, but a rare copy of John James Audubon's famous Birds of America. His ornate sketches of exotic birds from around the world now adorn the walls of Temple Newsam House in Leeds, in a decorating decision which has now lasted for nearly 200 years. The full story of Lady Hertford and her Chinese Drawing Room will now be told, after the curators spent...
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