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ALDROVANDI, Ulisse

Vlyssis Aldrovandi Philosophi Ac Medici Bononiensis. Historiam Naturalem in Gymnasio Bononiensi Progitentis, Ornithologiae Hoc Est De Avibus Historiae Libri XII. In Quibus Aves Describuntur, Descriptae legentibus delineatae ob oculos ponuntur, natura earum, mores &proprietates ita declarantur, vt facile quicquid de Auibus dici queat, hinc petipossit. Adiectus est Index geminus: alter capitum; alter rerum & Verborum

Frankfurt: Typis Wolffgangi Richteri, Impensis Ioannis Bassaei [volumes 1-2]; Typus Nicolai Hofmanni, Impensis Iohannis Treudelii [volume 3], 1630 [volumes 1-2]; 1613 [volume 3]. 3 volumes in two, folio in sixes (15 x 9 1/2 inches). Text in two columns. [11], 427, [14]; [6], 373, [14]; [8], 40, 33-209, [12] pp. 3 engraved titles, 50 full-page engraved illustrations (images in vol. 3 present as engraved plates without text on verso), each depicting several ornithological figures. (Tab. II in Lib. XIX trimmed along fore-edge into the image, the plate restitched into the text block, scattered staining and edge tears). Early ink annotations to the plates translating the Latin names into English. Contemporary speckled calf, covers double ruled in blind, rebacked to style with raised bands, spine in seven compartments.

An early edition of an important illustrated Renaissance ornithology, including several New World birds.

Aldrovandi's encyclopedic work, first published in Bologna between 1599 and 1603, was among the principal ornithologies of the Renaissance. Divided into twenty chapters, the work describes numberous birds, based on Aristotle's classifications, and include descriptions of plumage, structure, habitat, voice, and more. However, the work is particularly noted for its excellent illustrations. "The value of Aldrovandi's ornithology is enhanced by its many original illustrations, which are often good ... No effort or expense was spared in obtaining the pictorial material on which ... Aldrovandi spent all his fortune" (Anker). Among the illustrations are several early depictions of New World birds, including figures of the Cardinal and Wild Turkey.

Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605) was an Italian botanist, pharmacologist, and the author of several encyclopedic works on natural history. "This celebrated naturalist ... devoted his life to lecturing, collecting specimens, and in writing and illustrating numerous treatises on biological subjects" (Wood). He left his collections and library to the town of Bologna, which now reside in the University there. His manuscripts are also in Bologna, including the many woodcut blocks used to illustrate his works and the original drawings from which the blocks were cut.

This later German edition is comprised of volumes one and two of the 1630 edition with a third volume dated 1613; all are printed in Frankfurt. The later editions of his work are significant, as they contain more detailed copperplate engravings, rather than the woodcuts found in the early editions.

Anker, Bird Books and Bird Art, pp.11-12. Taxonomic Literature I, p.28. Wood, Vertebrate Zoology p.184. Nissen, IVB 18; OCLC 29838586.

#21968$6,000.00
 
 
AUDEBERT, Jean Baptiste (1759-1800) & Louis Jean Pierre VIELLOT (1748-1831)

Oiseaux dorés ou à reflets métalliques

Paris: Crapelet for Desray, [1800-]1802. 2 volumes, folio (20 x 13 inches). Half-titles, section titles, 2pp. list of subscribers. 190 fine engraved plates, printed in colours, by and after Audebert, printed by Langlois (all with the plate captions printed in gold, most with gold highlights to the birds, 1 plate double-page). Contemporary diced russia, expertly rebacked to style, spines in seven compartments with raised bands, black morocco lettering-piece in the second compartment, red morocco in the fourth, the others with elegant repeat neo-classical design, gilt turn-ins.

First edition, de luxe folio issue with the plate captions printed in gold: limited to 200 copies. A fine copy of 'one of the most beautiful books of its era' ('Fine Bird Books') and the best early work on humming-birds, jacamars, promerops, tree-creepers and birds-of-paradise

The 'colours of the birds and their handsome appearance have evidently been the cause of their selection for inclusion in the book. The plates ... are in beautiful colours ... [and] are among the best colour prints found in ornithology' (Anker). They were etched by Audebert from his own designs and those of the 'very best painters of Paris and London.' He received help with colouring from Louis Bouquet and with the printing in oil-colours from Langlois. The exact method used in the printing of the plates was of Audebert's own invention and envolved the extensive use of gold for both the captions and the highlights. As Fine Bird Books points out, it is these 'gold reflections of the plumage that renders this book unique and wonderful.' The plates include three plates of details, 19 of 'Colibris'; 50 of 'Oiseaux-Mouches'; 6 'Jacamars'; 9 'Pomerops'; 88 'Grimpereaux' and 15 'Oiseaux de Paradis'. The text is largely by Vieillot who saw the work through to completion using Audebert's notes following the latter's death in 1800

Anker 14; BM (NH) I, p.71; Balis 52; Buchanan Nature into Art 105; Cottrell 19; Ellis/Mengel 93; Fine Bird Books (1990) p.73; Nissen IVB 47; Ronsil 103; Zimmer 17

#18740$75,000.00
 
 
AUDUBON, John James (1785-1851)

Autograph manuscript, titled "The Ohio"

[Edinburgh: ca. 1830-31]. 3 pages (16 3/8 x 10 1/4 in.; 415 x 260 mm), comprising the autobiographical episode from The Ornithological Biography (Philadelphia: Dobson, 1831, pp. 29-32), numerous autograph emendations. Loose within a contemporary brown morocco-backed cream cloth covered box, black morocco lettering-pieces to spine. Provenance: Grace Phillips Johnson (sale by her heirs, Christie's, New York, 26 May 1977, lot 67); H. Bradley Martin (sale, Sotheby's, New York, 6 June 1989, lot 1).

Audubon's original manuscript of the section of his Ornithological Biography describing his voyage down the Ohio River: with distinguished provenance.

With the publication of the double-elephant folio Birds of America underway, Audubon set out to publish the five text volumes (to be titled Ornithological Biography) which were designed to accompany and explain the magnificent suite of plates.

Audubon was not sufficiently confident of his abilities to describe the birds to the level of scientific accuracy that his images warranted. With this in mind, he approached William Swainson, before finally hiring the young Scottish ornithologist William MacGillivray in October 1830 to write the technical aspects of the text. Audubon's anecdotal tales of the birds, their habits and haunts were then incorporated.

The present manuscript is Audubon's holograph draft of the first of these episodes: "To render more pleasant the task which you [the reader] have imposed upon yourself, of following an author through the mazes of descriptive ornithology , permit me, dear reader, to relieve the tedium... by presenting you with occasional descriptions of the scenery and manners of [America] ... and I cannot find a better subject with which to begin, than [the Ohio:] one of those magnificent rivers that roll the collected waters of her territories to the ocean" (Ornithological Biography, vol.I, page 29).

This draft has many variants from the final published version (see pp. 29-32 of vol.I of the Ornithological Biography), as well Audubon's idiosyncratic spelling and punctuation. It is clear that the "uncensored Audubon who speaks here is an adopted son of the western frontier " (introduction to the Bradley Martin sale catalogue).

In this extraordinary, lyrical and moving essay, Audubon recalls vividly his voyage down the Ohio River from Pennsylvania to Kentucky and laments the passing of the unspoiled beauty they had seen. Their passage began in October and they floated down a river bordered with brilliant autumn foliage. On nearing Kentucky, they were alarmed by "some loud & strange noise ... so resembling the Yells of Indian Warriors, that we pulled over our oars and made for the opposite Side as fast and quietly as possible ... however ere long our minds became more calmed & we plainly discovered that the singular uproar was nothing more than the produce of the meeting of an enthusiastic set of Methodists who had wandered this far and out of the common way for the purpose of holding one of their annual camp meetings under the shades of the finest of Beech trees."

He comments on his ambivalent feelings towards the advances of civilization, and closes the essay by reflecting on the valley's history in the two decades since that voyage and admits: "when these extraordinary changes have all taken place in so short a lapse as 18 Years I pause, wonder, and although I know all this to be fact; I can scarcely credit the reality." He pleads for the likes of Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper to record frontier life while it still exists: "Yes I hope to read ere I close my earthly career, accounts from these delightful writers of the progress of civilization in our western Country they will write of the Clarks, the Croghans, the Boons and many other Men of great and daring enterprise and they will analise as it were each component part of the country as it once existed and thereby immortalise it as it deserves to be for ever!"

Ironically, with his masterful prints and vivid descriptions such as the present manuscript, it is Audubon who has left the clearer record of the frontier wilderness in the early years of the United States.

J.J. Audubon. Orithological Biography [Edinburgh: 1831], vol.I, pp.29-32.

#24592$17,500.00
 
 
AUDUBON, John James (1785-1851)

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

Edinburgh & London [etc.]: Printed by Neill & Co. (Edinburgh) for Adam & Charles Black (Edinburgh) and R. Havell Jun., and Longman, Rees, Brown and Green (London), and various others, 1831-1834-1835-1838-"1849" [i.e.1839]. 5 volumes, octavo (10 x 6 1/4 inches). Half-titles, 15pp. prospectus for "Birds of America" at the back of vol.I (incorporating a 4pp. list of subscribers, as issued), 2pp. list of subscribers in vol.II, 1p. list of subscribers in each of vols.III-IV, 5pp. list of subscribers (pp.647-651) to "Birds of America" in vol.V, numerous woodcut text illustrations. Near-contemporary half red morocco over black/dark brown textured cloth-covered boards, spines in five compartments with semi-raised bands, lettered in the second, third and fourth compartments.

First edition in excellent condition, bound with the important prospectus for the "Birds of America."

The genesis of the present work is interesting: as early as November 1826, Audubon had begun thinking about the text which should accompany his engraved illustrations of birds. He noted in his journal: "I shall publish the letterpress in a separate book, at the same time with the illustrations and shall accompany the descriptions of the birds with many anecdotes and accounts of localities connected with the birds themselves ..." (M.R. Audubon Audubon and his journals 1897, vol.I, p.163). Audubon published the text separately because, according to British copyright law, had the letterpress accompanied the elephant folio engravings, Audubon would have been obliged to deposit a copy of the work in each of the nine copyright libraries in the United Kingdom. This would have placed a strain on the economics of the production of the elephant folio book.

Work on the text did not begin in earnest until the end of 1830, just as Havell was nearing the completion of the engraving of the first 100 drawings. Between 1831 and 1837 Audubon and his family made three trips to America. Audubon was back in London between 1837 and 1839, where he completed the descriptions of the last two volumes of the Ornithological Biography. On 20 November 1838, Audubon wrote to Bachman: "My fourth Vol. is finished and in 10 days I will have 200 copies of it at London where I hope you will be and receive several Copies to take over with you, for yourselves and others as then directed" (quoted by Fries, p. 111).

In addition to Audubon's text, the first edition Ornithological Biography is interesting for the inclusion of three lists of subscribers to the double-elephant folio, and also for the 15pp. prospectus (Fries's issue E, Ellis 100).

Ayer 20; Ellis 96 & 100; Waldemar H. FriesThe Double Elephant Folio The Story of Audubon's Birds of America (Chicago, 1973)pp.20, 21, [etc.]; Yale/Ripley 13; Zimmer 20

#23101$9,000.00
 
 
AUDUBON, John James (1785-1851)

The Birds of America

New York & Amsterdam: printed in Holland for the Johnson Reprint Corporation and Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1971-1972. 4 volumes, double-elephant folio (39 1/2 x 26 1/2 inches). Limitation leaf printed recto only in black, 4 general titles, 4 volume titles, 4 printed facsimiles of the original titles. 435 plates, printed in up to eight colours, after John James Audubon. Original brown half calf over green cloth-covered boards, upper covers with inset brown in calf panel lettered in gilt with author and title, the flat spines lettered in gilt with author, title and volume number.

[With:]
John James AUDUBON. A Synopsis of the Birds of America. New York & Amsterdam: 1972. 1 volume, octavo (8 11/16 x 5 1/4 inches). 2 titles. Original brown cloth, upper cover and spine blocked in gilt.

The 'Amsterdam Audubon': limited to only 250 copies, this number 176. A viable alternative to the original Havell edition, and one of only two full-size facsimile editions of the complete work ever published.

In October 1971, employing the most faithful printing method available, the best materials and the ablest craftsmen of their age, the Amsterdam firm of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Ltd., in conjunction with the Johnson Reprint Corporation of New York, set out to produce the finest possible limited edition facsimile of the greatest bird book ever printed: the Havell edition of John James Audubon's well-loved Birds of America.

The Teyler Museum in Haarlem, Holland made their copy of the original work available for use as a model. The Museum had bought their copy through Audubon's son as part of the original subscription in 1839. After long deliberation, the extremely complex but highly accurate process of colour photo-lithography was chosen as the most appropriate printing method. The best exponents of this art were the renowned Dutch printing firm of NV Fotolitho Inrichting Drommel at Zandvoort who were willing to undertake the task of printing each plate in up to eight different colours.

The original Havell edition was published on hand-made rag paper and the publishers were determined that the paper of their edition should match the original. Unhappy with the commercially available papers, they turned to the traditional paper manufacturers G. Schut & Zonen (founded in 1625), who, using 100% unbleached cotton rags, were able to produce a wove paper of the highest quality, with each sheet bearing a watermark unique to the edition: G. Schut & Zonen [JR monogram] Audubon [OT monogram].

The publishers and their dedicated team completed their task late in 1972 and the results of these labours were affectionately known as the "Amsterdam Audubon." 250 copies were published and sold by subscription, with the plates available bound or unbound. Given all this careful preparation, it is not surprising that the prints have the look and feel of the original Havell edition. As a bonus a careful type facsimile of the octavo Synopsis was also produced: this rare work was originally issued by Audubon as 'a systematic index ... a methodical catalogue of all the species' depicted in the plate volumes.

The Havell edition was expensive at the time of publication and this has not changed. The last complete copy to appear on the market sold for a staggering $8,802,500 in a sale in New York in March 2000. Currently, the increasingly rare individual plates from this edition, when they do appear, generally sell for between $2,500 and $150,000 depending on the image. The quality of the Amsterdam Audubon plates is apparent to any discerning collector and it is becoming ever clearer that they offer the most attractive alternative to the Havell edition plates, given the latter's spiraling prices.

The idea for his great work came to Audubon after his meeting with the distinguished ornithologist Alexander Wilson at Louisville in 1810, but it was not until 1826 that he felt ready to set sail for England in search of a publisher. In the intervening 16 years he had time both to perfect his style of drawing from specimens mounted on wires as an aid to composition, to assemble a remarkable portfolio of drawings, and, perhaps most importantly, to develop the single-minded determination that was to be so essential in his efforts to realize his ambition.

John James Audubon, the illegitimate son of French sea captain Jean Audubon and Mlle Jeannne Rabin, his Creole mistress, was born in Les Cayes, Santo Domingo on April 26 1785. His mother died soon after his birth and in 1791, Audubon was brought back to France to live at Nantes under the care of his father's wife, Anne Moynet. The arrangement was evidently a happy one, and both Audubon and his half-sister (Jean's illegitimate daughter by another mistress) were legally adopted in 1794. Audubon later wrote that he quickly came to both love and admire his adopted mother, though her indulgence of his preference for exploring the surrounding countryside to attending to his schoolwork, was perhaps largely responsible for his lack of formal education.

Audubon's first arrival in America was in 1803, when, following the loss of the family's fortune in Santo Domingo, his father dispatched him to eastern Pennsylvania. He was to stay with a Quaker lawyer, Miers Fisher, who had been acting as Audubon senior's business agent, and represent the family's interests in the development of the lead deposits which had been found on Mill Grove (a farm near Philadelphia, which had been bought, sight unseen, by Audubon's father). It was here that his early interest in drawing bird specimens grew, and here that he met and married (in 1808) Lucy Bakewell, the daughter of a neighbor. They set up home firstly in Louisville, and later Henderson, Kentucky.

The new species of birds to be found in the virgin wilderness of Kentucky supplied Audubon with a large number of subjects to both draw and hunt, and allowed him to develop the lifelike action-packed ornithological images that were to become the hall-mark of his work. Following his bankruptcy in 1820, Audubon decided to concentrate on his painting, and he set out for Louisiana with the intention of adding to the tally of species captured in his portfolio. During this period he worked as a traveling artist and drawing instructor, drawing birds from Mississippi as well as Louisiana and eventually settling with Lucy near New Orleans at a plantation called Bayou Sara.

By 1824 Audubon's plans for The Birds of America were coalescing. The work was to be issued in eighty parts of five plates per part, for a total of 400 plates (this was finally expanded to 435 showing some 1,065 different species in 87 parts) on large format paper: this was dictated by Audubon's determination that all the known species were to be shown, and that they should all be life-size. After unsuccessful attempts to get the work published in both Philadelphia and New York, in became clear that the only hope of publication lay in Europe, and Audubon sailed for England in 1826.

In England Audubon arranged a number of successful exhibitions of his drawings, where the "dramatic impact of his ambitious, complex pictures and a romantic image as 'the American woodsman' secured Audubon entry into a scientific community much preoccupied with little-known lands." Amongst the friends he made from this community, were William Swainson, a gifted ornithologist, who taught Audubon the niceties of technical ornithology, William MacGillivray, a brilliant Scottish naturalist-anatomist, who, later, was to contribute to and edit Audubon's Ornithological Biography, and Patrick Neill, printer and zoologist, who recommended William Home Lizars of Edinburgh as an engraver who would do justice to Audubon's work.. Lizars was so impressed with Audubon's work that he agreed to put aside the work he was doing for Prideaux John Selby and Sir William Jardine, Britain's foremost ornithologists of the time, and concentrate on the engraving and printing of Audubon's subjects. Lizars' involvement in the project began in 1827, but turned out to be short-lived: after producing only ten plates, all of which are represented in the present selection, Lizars' colourists went on strike and Audubon was forced to find another engraver.

This set-back proved to be only temporary, however, and Audubon quickly established an excellent working and personal relationship with both Robert Havell, senior, and his son, Robert Havell, junior. Havell senior died in 1832, but between 1828 and 1838 Havell junior was involved as engraver (or in the case of the Havell plates as re-toucher) of all 425 of the images that go to make up the highest achievement of ornithological art and the greatest of all bird books.

Cf. Anker 17; cf. Fine Bird Books (1990) p.73; cf. Fries The Double Elephant Folio (Chicago, 1973); cf. Nissen IVB 49; cf. Zimmer pp.18-20.

#17392$95,000.00
 
 
AUDUBON, John James (1785-1851)

The Birds of America . A selection of plates [... A selection of landscape plates]

Leipzig & London: printed in the German Democratic Republic for Edition Leipzig and the Ariel Press, 1972-1973. 2 volumes, double-elephant folio (38 5/8 x 26 5/8 inches). 2 printed facsimiles of the original titles bound as additional titles. 40 plates, printed in colours, after John James Audubon. Original bindings using complementary colours: half linen over paper-covered boards, titled on upper covers.

The 'Leipzig Audubon': limited to 1000 numbered sets signed by a director of the Ariel Press, of which only 250 sets (numbered between 751 and 1000) were offered for sale in the United States.

The "Leipzig Edition' includes a selection of Audubon's greatest images, offering a full-size alternative to the original Havell edition.The images included in vol.I are: White-throated Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, Blue-winged Yellow Warbler, Carolina Parrot, American Goldfinch, Painted Bunting, Red-shouldered Hawk, Passenger Pigeon, Le petit Caporal, Florida Jay, Pileated Woodpecker, Snowy Owl, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, American Sparrow Hawk, White-crowned Pigeon, Summer Wood Duck, Scarlet Tanager [and others], White-winged Crossbill, Band-tailed Pigeon, and Ten Woodpeckers. The 'landscape' images in vol.II are: Black-billed Cuckoo, Swallow-tailed Hawk, Willow Grous or Large Ptarmigan, Louisiana Heron, Tufted Auk, Red Phalarope, Purple Heron, Tropic Bird, King Duck, Harlequin Duck, Blue Crane or Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, Shoveller Duck, Long-tailed or Dusky Grous, Cock of the Plains, White Heron, Glossy Ibis, Louisiana Hawk, Scarlet Ibis, Western Duck.

This selection was printed in facsimile from the Meiningen State Museum copy of the original work printed by Havell. The Havell edition was expensive at the time of publication and this has not changed. The last complete copy to appear on the market sold for a staggering $8,802,500 in a sale in New York in March 2000. Currently, the increasingly rare individual plates from this edition, when they do appear, generally sell for between $2,500 and $150,000 depending on the image. The quality of the Leipzig Audubon plates is apparent to any discerning collector and it is clear that they offer an attractive alternative to the equivalent Havell edition plates, given the latter's spiraling prices.

Cf. Anker 17; cf. Fine Bird Books (1990) p.73; cf. Fries The Double Elephant Folio (Chicago, 1973); cf. Nissen IVB 49; cf. Zimmer pp.18-20.

#23550$3,750.00
 
 
AUDUBON, John James (1785-1851)

The Birds of America, from drawings made in the United States and their territories

New York & Philadelphia: E.G.Dorsey for J.J.Audubon and [vols.I-V] J.B.Chevalier, [1839-]1840-1844. 7 volumes, octavo (10 1/4 x 6 5/8 inches). Half-titles, 18pp. subscribers' lists. 500 hand-coloured lithographed plates after Audubon by W.E. Hitchcock, R. Trembley and others, printed by J.T. Bowen of Philadelphia (plates 1-135, 151-500) or George Endicott of New York (plates 136-150), numerous wood-engraved anatomical figures in text. (Plate 471 misbound in vol.VII between pp.280 and 281, some toning or spotting to text and tissue guards, and affecting about 30 plates in volumes II, III and VII). Contemporary dark green morocco half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, spines in five compartments with semi-raised bands, lettered in the second and fourth compartments, the others with simple elegant tooling in blind, marbled endpapers.

An attractive copy of the first octavo edition of "Audubon's Great National Work" with the plates remarkably free of the spotting that often mars this work. Importantly, this set also includes a full complement of the subscribers' lists, all the half-titles, and the two single pages of introductory remarks from Audubon (in volumes I and II).

This is the first complete edition and the first American edition, with the 'Black-shouldered Elanus' plate (no. 16) in its earliest state, and with plate 17 'Mississippi Kite' correctly numbered 17. Remarkably, all the 'peripheral' leaves are also present - the tendency has been to ignore these in the past, but, this seminal work cannot be considered complete without them. The work is one of the "most beautiful, popular, and important natural history books published in America in the nineteenth century... [also] representing the best of pre-Civil War American lithography and giving Audubon the opportunity finally to display his scholarship and genius to a large American audience for the first time" (Ron Tyler). The plates, here accompanied by the text for the first time, were reduced and variously modified from the Havell engravings in the double-elephant folio. Seven new species are figured and seventeen others, previously described in the Ornithological Biography but not illustrated, were also shown for the first time. Audubon may have been prompted to publish the reduced version of his double-elephant folio by the appearance in 1839 of John Kirk Townsend's rival Ornithology of the United States, or, as he writes in the introduction to the present work, he may have succumbed to public demand and his wish that a work similar to his large work should be published but `at such a price, as would enable every student or lover of nature to place it in his Library'.

The first edition of the octavo work is certainly the most famous and accessible of all the great American colour plate books, and now represents the only realistic opportunity that exists for collectors to own an entire collection of Audubon images in a form that was overseen and approved by the great artist himself. The octavo Birds of America was originally issued in 100 parts, each containing five plates. The whole story of the production of the book, with detailed information about every aspect of the project, is told by Ron Tyler in Audubon's Great National Work (Austin, 1993). The story Tyler tells of the difficulties of production and marketing are revealing of the whole world of colour printing in mid-19th-century America. The enormous success of the work was important to Audubon for two main reasons: first, it was a moneymaker, marketed throughout the United States on a scale that the great cost of the original Birds of America had made impossible. Second, by combining a detailed text with careful observations next to his famous images, he offered further proof that he was as good a scientific naturalist as the members of the scientific establishment who had scorned his earlier work.

Bennett p.5; Fries, Appendix A; Nissen IVB 51; Reese Stamped With A National Character 34; Ripley 13; Ron Tyler Audubon's Great National Work (1993) Appendix I; Sabin 2364; Wood p.208; Zimmer p.22

#23664$90,000.00
 
 
AUDUBON, John James (1785-1851)

The Birds of America, from drawings made in the United States and their territories

New York & Philadelphia: E.G.Dorsey for J.J.Audubon and [vols.I-V] J.B.Chevalier, [1839-]1840-1844. 7 volumes, large 8vo (10 x 6 1/2 inches). Half-titles, 18pp. subscribers' lists. 500 hand-coloured lithographed plates after Audubon by W.E. Hitchcock, R. Trembley and others, printed by J.T. Bowen of Philadelphia (plates 1-135, 151-500) or George Endicott of New York (plates 136-150), numerous wood-engraved anatomical figures in text.

[with:]
AUDUBON, John James (1785-1851) and Rev. John BACHMAN (1790-1874). The Quadrupeds of North America. New York: V.G. Audubon, 1849-1851-1854. 3 volumes, large octavo (10 3/16 x 7 inches). Two half-titles. 155 hand-coloured lithographic plates, finished by hand, by William E. Hitchcock or Ralph Trembly after John James or John Woodhouse Audubon, printed by J.T.Bowen (131) of Philadelphia or Nagel & Weingaertner (24) of New York. (Bound without the half-title to vol.II, vol.III with half title bound after the title and with the second contents leaf mis-bound at the end).

2 works in 10 volumes. Contemporary black morocco, the second work bound to match the first, covers with outer border with blind fillets and stylized floral corner-tool, the first work with decorative roundels in gilt, the roundel on the upper covers enclosing a large gilt letter 'D' on an onlaid section of matched black morocco, the second work with decorative scalloped ovals in gilt, the oval on the upper covers enclosing a large gilt letter 'D' on an onlaid section of matched black morocco, spines of both works in five compartments with raised bands, the bands flanked by blind fillets and highlighted with a gilt fillet, lettered in gilt in the second and fourth compartments, gilt turn-ins, the first work with black/brown marbled endpapers, the second with blue/red marbled endpapers, g.e. Provenance: "Blake" or "F.S. Blake" (penciled signature and inscription in vols.II and VII of first work, possibly a relative of one of four original subscribers surnamed Blake, and listed in vol.II of the first work).

A very fine set, bound from the original parts, of the first octavo editions of both of Audubon's great works.

The first work has become known as "Audubon's Great National Work": it is the first complete edition and the first American edition, with the Black-shouldered Elanus plate in its earliest state. It is also one of the "most beautiful, popular, and important natural history books published in America in the nineteenth century... [also] representing the best of pre-Civil War American lithography and giving Audubon the opportunity finally to display his scholarship and genius to a large American audience for the first time" (Ron Tyler).

The plates, here accompanied by the text for the first time, were reduced and variously modified from the Havell engravings in the double-elephant folio. Seven new species are figured and seventeen others, previously described in the Ornithological Biography but not illustrated, were also shown for the first time.

Audubon may have been prompted to publish the reduced version of his double-elephant folio by the appearance in 1839 of John Kirk Townsend's rival Ornithology of the United States, or, as he writes in the introduction to the present work, he may have succumbed to public demand and his wish that a work similar to his large work should be published but "at such a price, as would enable every student or lover of nature to place it in his Library."

The second work is the first edition, bound from the original parts, of the octavo edition of Audubon's final great natural history work, with plate 29 in its first state (drawn on stone by Trembly, printed by Nagel & Weingaertner). This work includes plates and descriptions of the quadrupeds of the United States including Texas, California and Oregon, as well as part of Mexico, the British and Russian possessions and Arctic regions.

Audubon's collaborator on the Quadrupeds was the naturalist and Lutheran clergyman John Bachman who had studied quadrupeds since he was a young man and was a recognized authority on the subject in the United States. The two began their association when Audubon stayed with Bachman and his family in Charleston for a month in 1831; this friendship was later cemented by the marriage of Victor and John W. Audubon to Bachman's daughters, Maria and Eliza. Audubon knew Bachman's contribution to the Quadrupeds would be crucial and endeavored to convince his friend to lay aside his fears about the project. Audubon was eager to begin what he felt could be his last outstanding achievement in natural history, but Bachman was more cautious and worried that they were entering a field where "we have much to learn." Audubon persisted in his efforts to get him to take part, and Bachman, `anxious to do something for the benefit of Victor and John [Audubon]', eventually relented, with the final condition that all of the expenses and all of the profits should go to Audubon's sons. By 1835, Bachman had become indispensable to the Quadrupeds project, writing most of the text and editing the entire work.

The first edition of the octavo Birds of America was overseen by Audubon himself and proved to be a great success, both artistically and financially. With this in mind, a similar edition of the Quadrupeds was envisaged from an early stage. The folio edition was published in 30 numbers between 1845 and 1854, and publication of the first octavo edition began in 1849 and was also completed in 1854. Unfortunately, Audubon did not live to see the completion of either of the Quadruped projects, and after his death in January 1851 the work was seen through to completion by his son John Woodhouse Audubon. The two editions of the Quadrupeds form a fitting memorial to the greatest natural history artist of his day.

First work: Bennett p.5; Nissen IVB 51; Ripley 13; Ron Tyler Audubon's Great National Work (1993) Appendix I; Sabin 2364; Zimmer p.22. Second work: Bennett, p. 5; Nissen ZBI 163; Reese Stamped With A National Character 38; Wood, p. 208.

#21929$125,000.00
 
 
AUDUBON, John James (1785-1851)

The Birds of America, from drawings made in the United States and their territories

New York: V.G. Audubon, 1856 [-1857]. 7 volumes, large octavo (10 3/8 x 6 3/4 inches). Half-titles. 500 lithographed plates coloured by hand with colour-printed backgrounds by J.T. Bowen after Audubon, wood-engraved illustrations in the text. (Occasional spotting, mostly to the first and last few leaves). Publishers deluxe full black morocco covers elaborately blocked in gilt with panels surrounding a central design of the title in gilt with integral decorative flourishes, spines in six compartments with raised bands, the second and fourth lettered in gilt, the others with repeat decoration in gilt, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, g.e.

A fine set of the second octavo edition of Audubon's Birds.

The second octavo edition was the first to be published after Audubon's death, by his son Victor, and the first to incorporate coloured backgrounds. Some of the plates for the present edition were redrawn, primarily when the original stones were broken or damaged.

The octavo edition of Audubon's Birds is certainly the most famous and accessible of American colour plate books. It served many purposes for Audubon. First, it was a moneymaker, successfully marketed throughout the United States on a scale that the great cost of the original double-elephant folio Birds made impossible. Second, it was another step toward proving himself as good a scientific naturalist as the "closet" naturalists who had scorned him, combining a detailed text with careful observations next to his plates. Third, it allowed a more reasonable arrangement by genus and species, than the headlong production the original project had followed. All of these steps were improvements, amply repaid by the book's success.

The octavo Birds was originally issued in 100 parts, each containing five plates executed by the Philadelphia lithographer, J.T. Bowen. Changes in subscribers and increased press runs created numerous states of plates as they were reprinted. The whole story of the production of the book, with detailed information about every aspect of the project, is told by Ron Tyler in Audubon's Great National Work (Austin, 1993). The story Tyler tells of the difficulties of production and marketing is revealing of the whole world of colour printing in mid-19th century America.

Anker 19; Nissen IVB 52; Ripley p.13; cf. Sabin 2364; Tyler Audubon's Great National Work (1993) Appendix 2.

#20851$60,000.00
 
 
AUDUBON, John James (1785-1851)

The Birds of America, from drawings made in the United States and their territories

New York: Published by V. G. Audubon, 1856. Volume VII only (of 7), large octavo (10 3/8 x 6 5/8 inches). Pp.[i-]vii[-viii], [9]-372. 79 hand-coloured lithographed plates (numbered 421-500). (Occasional light toning). Publisher's brown morocco, the covers elaborately panelled in gilt, the title blocked in blind in the central panel on both covers, spine in six compartments with raised bands, lettered in the second and fourth compartments, the others uniformly tooled in gilt, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, gilt edges (some scuffing to spine). Provenance: Alverda B. Hawk (early signature on first page of text).

A fine copy of the seventh volume from a set of the second octavo edition of Audubon's masterwork.

The 79 lithographed plates include the Pelicans, the Terns and Gulls, the Puffins and Guillemots, and the Divers, Grebes and Dabchicks. The final 14 plates depict the various species left out of Audubon's earlier large-scale work. Some of the more spectacular images include: 422.American White Pelican; 423 Brown Pelican, 465 Great Auk, and 476 Great Northern Diver - Loon.

The second octavo edition was the first to be published after Audubon's death, by his son Victor, and the first to incorporate coloured backgrounds. Some of the plates for the present edition were redrawn, primarily when the original stones were broken or damaged.

The octavo edition of Audubon's Birds is certainly the most famous and accessible of American colour plate books. It served many purposes for Audubon. First, it was a moneymaker, successfully marketed throughout the United States on a scale that the great cost of the original double-elephant folio Birds made impossible. Second, it was another step toward proving himself as good a scientific naturalist as the "closet" naturalists who had scorned him, combining a detailed text with careful observations next to his plates. Third, it allowed a more reasonable arrangement by genus and species, than the headlong production the original project had followed. All of these steps were improvements, amply repaid by the book's success.


Anker 19; Nissen IVB 52; Ripley p.13; cf. Sabin 2364; Tyler Audubon's Great National Work (1993) Appendix 2.

#24572$4,500.00
 
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