Audubon the Naturalist: A History of His Life and Time. Vol. 1 (of 2)Herrick, Francis Hobart
History
Audubon the Naturalist: A History of His Life and Time. Vol. 1 (of 2)
Herrick, Francis Hobart
Audubon, John James, 1785-1851
[157] When it passed into the equally worthy hands of Mr.
Joseph Y. Jeanes, of Philadelphia. Mr. Jeanes purchased from
the estate of Mr. Edward Harris, 2d, directly or indirectly,
and at different times, about 110 of these early originals;
others were dispersed, four of early date being in the Museum
of Harvard University. Mr. Jeanes also possesses a large
section of the Audubon-Harris correspondence, which extended
over nearly a quarter of a century, and of which little
has been published; to his kindness I am indebted for the
privilege of reproducing some of the drawings, as well as
numerous extracts from the letters, in the present work.
[158] Audubon said that some of the originals of _The Birds of
America_ were "made as long ago as 1805," which may well have
been the case, but the earliest date which has been preserved
on the drawings is that of July 1, 1808, for "Rathbone's
Warbler," later recognized as an immature form of the Summer
Warbler. The Carbonated Warbler was drawn May 7, 1811.
Seven bear the date of 1812, namely: Yellow-rumped Warbler,
April 22; Le petit Caporal, April 23; Wood Pewee, April 28;
Blackburnian and Bay-breasted Warblers, May 12; Chestnut-sided
Warbler, May 17; and Cuvier's Wren, June 8.
[159] For a list of Audubon's early dated drawings see
Appendix II. Through the courtesy of Mr. Jeanes, I am able
to reproduce a fuller series of Audubon's early drawings of
French and American birds than has hitherto been published,
and have chosen the subjects to illustrate the development of
his style.
[160] See Vol. I, p. 125.
[161] _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p.
354.
[162] See Appendix II.
[163] See Appendix I, Document No. 11.
[164] This diary was first brought to my attention by Mr.
Ruthven Deane, and for permission to reproduce it I am
indebted to the kindness of a great-grandson of Ferdinand, Mr.
Welton A. Rozier, of Saint Louis. Mr. Rozier writes that the
original French notes have been mislaid or lost, but that they
were closely followed in this translation, whenever complete.
Though numerous verbal changes have been made in the present
draft, these have not altered the meaning in any respect.
Ferdinand Rozier's narrative begins as follows:
"I left Nantes, France, in company with John James Audubon,
on Saturday, the 12th day of April, 1806, bound for the
city of New York, U. S. A., on an American ship named the
_Polly_, commanded by Captain Sammis, and arrived at New York
on Tuesday, the 27th day of May. While on the voyage across
the ocean our vessel was stopped, overhauled, searched, and
robbed by an English privateer, named the _Rattlesnake_, which
detained us a day and a night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account