Audubon and His Journals, Volume 1Audubon, John James
History
Audubon and His Journals, Volume 1
Audubon, John James
Audubon, John James, 1785-1851 -- Diaries; Birds -- North America; Naturalists -- United States -- Diaries
[39] Of the great folios, parts i.-v., containing plates 1-25, were
originally published at successive dates (not ascertained) in 1827;
parts vi.-x., plates 26-50, appeared in the course of 1828,--all in
London. The whole work was completed in 1838; it is supposed to have
been issued in 87 parts of 5 plates each, making the actual total of
435 plates, giving 1065 figures of birds. On the completion of the
series, the plates were to be bound in 4 vols. Vol. i., pll. 1-100,
1827-30; vol. ii., pll. 101-200, 1831-34; vol. iii., pll. 201-300,
1834-35; vol. iv., pll. 301-435, 1835-38 (completed June 30). These
folios had no text except the title-leaf of each volume. The original
price was two guineas a part; a complete copy is now worth $1,500 to
$2,000, according to condition of binding, etc., and is scarce at any
price. The text to the plates appeared under the different title of
"Ornithological Biography," in 5 large 8vo volumes, Edinburgh,
1831-39; vol. i., 1831; vol. ii., 1834; vol. iii., 1835; vol. iv.,
1838; vol. v., 1839. In 1840-44, the work reappeared in octavo, text
and plates together, under the original title of "Birds of America;"
the text somewhat modified by the omission of the "Delineations of
American Scenery and Manners," the addition of some new matter
acquired after 1839, and change in the names of many species to agree
with the nomenclature of Audubon's Synopsis of 1839; the plates
reduced by the camera lucida, rearranged and renumbered, making 500 in
all. The two original works, thus put together and modified, became
the first octavo edition called "Birds of America," issued in 100
parts, to be bound in 7 volumes, 1840-44. There have been various
subsequent issues, partial or complete, upon which I cannot here
enlarge. For full bibliographical data see Dr. Coues' "Birds of the
Colorado Valley," Appendix, 1878, pp. 612, 618, 625, 629, 644, 661,
666, 669 and 686.--E. C.
[40] Referring to Mr. Robert Havell, of No. 77 Oxford St., London. His
name will be recalled in connection with _Sterna havellii_, the Tern
which Audubon shot at New Orleans in 1820, and dedicated to his
engraver in "Orn. Biogr." v., 1839, p. 122, "B. Amer.," 8vo, vii.,
1844, p. 103, pl. 434. It is the winter plumage of the bird Nuttall
called _S. forsteri_ in his "Manual," ii., 1834, p. 274. See Coues,
"Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Science," 1862, p.
543.--E. C.
[41] See previous note on p. 59, where it is said that plates 1-25
appeared in 1827, and plates 26-50 in 1828--in attestation of which
the above words to Victor Audubon become important.--E. C.
[42] It actually ran to 87 numbers, as stated in a previous note.
[43] See Episodes "Great Egg Harbor" and "Great Pine Swamp."
[44] Mr. Garrett Johnson, where Mrs. Audubon was then teaching.
[45] There has been much question as to the spelling of MacGillivray's
name, Professor Newton and most others writing it Macgillivray, but in
the autograph letters we own the capital "G" is always used.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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