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Ornithology from a Private European Collection
AUDUBON, John James (1785-1851)
The Birds of America, from Drawings made in the United States and their Territories. New York: J.J. Audubon, Philadelphia: E.G. Dorsey for J.J. Audubon, New York and J.B. Chevalier, Philadelphia, [1839-]1840-1844.
細節
AUDUBON, John James (1785-1851)
The Birds of America, from Drawings made in the United States and their Territories. New York: J.J. Audubon, Philadelphia: E.G. Dorsey for J.J. Audubon, New York and J.B. Chevalier, Philadelphia, [1839-]1840-1844.
A handsomely-bound set of the first octavo edition of The Birds of America: one of the most commercially successful 19th-century American colour-plate books. Audubon's fame was firmly established by the lavish double-elephant folio edition of The Birds of America produced between 1827-1838. For that work, Audubon had felt that there was no American printer capable of taking such a demanding project and so travelled to Britain to employ some of that country's finest engravers, William Home Lizars and Robert Havell. For the octavo edition, however, Audubon returned to the United States and employed the Philadelphia firm of J.T. Bowen to produce a more commercially viable edition of the work under the close supervision of his sons. The subscription price for the work was $100, making it an expensive work aimed at the country's wealthy, although its potential to reach a greater public far surpassed that of the double-elephant folio edition. The market success was immense, launching Audubon into financial security and firmly establishing his wide-ranging appeal as the greatest ornithological artist of his (or perhaps any) time.
To the original plate count included in the double-elephant folio edition, the octavo edition adds 65 new images for a total of 500 plates, making it ‘the most extensive color plate book produced in America up to that time’ (Reese). The plates were reduced by camera lucida and lithographed, with some of the backgrounds entirely changed or greatly modified. The original compositions are altered so that only one species is depicted per plate. The text itself is a revision of the Ornithological Biography, rearranged according to Audubon's ‘A Synopsis of the Birds of North America’ (1839). Bennett, p.5; Nissen IVB 51; Reese 34; Wood, p.208; Zimmer, p.22.
7 volumes, royal octavo (263 x 164mm). Half-titles. 500 hand-coloured lithographic plates after Audubon by W.E. Hitchcock, R. Trembly and others, printed and coloured by J. T. Bowen, wood-engraved anatomical diagrams in text, subscribers list in all volumes, leaf of publisher’s ads loosely inserted at beginning of vol. I (light variable spotting and browning, mainly affecting text leaves and tissue guards, a few plates evenly browned, slightly heavier and more noticeable towards the end of vol. I and in vol. II). 19th-century full crimson morocco gilt, covers finely tooled with gilt panels enclosing decorative design composed of foliate tools, scrolls, volutes and floral sprays enclosing larger rococo decorative stamps, spines with raised bands in 6 compartments, gilt-lettered in second and fourth compartments, the others with decorative borders with small rosettes at corners, gilt dentelles and edges, pale yellow glazed endpapers (some minor rubbing to extremities). Provenance: George W. Turner (of Elmscourt, or Elms Court, Natchez, Mississippi, inscriptions in all volumes dated 1850; presentation inscriptions in vols I, VI and VII to:) – Annie W. (presumably a relative of Turner) – Austin Smith (20th-century small red leather gilt booklabel) – Maggs Bros Ltd (cost code on rear pastedown).
The Birds of America, from Drawings made in the United States and their Territories. New York: J.J. Audubon, Philadelphia: E.G. Dorsey for J.J. Audubon, New York and J.B. Chevalier, Philadelphia, [1839-]1840-1844.
A handsomely-bound set of the first octavo edition of The Birds of America: one of the most commercially successful 19th-century American colour-plate books. Audubon's fame was firmly established by the lavish double-elephant folio edition of The Birds of America produced between 1827-1838. For that work, Audubon had felt that there was no American printer capable of taking such a demanding project and so travelled to Britain to employ some of that country's finest engravers, William Home Lizars and Robert Havell. For the octavo edition, however, Audubon returned to the United States and employed the Philadelphia firm of J.T. Bowen to produce a more commercially viable edition of the work under the close supervision of his sons. The subscription price for the work was $100, making it an expensive work aimed at the country's wealthy, although its potential to reach a greater public far surpassed that of the double-elephant folio edition. The market success was immense, launching Audubon into financial security and firmly establishing his wide-ranging appeal as the greatest ornithological artist of his (or perhaps any) time.
To the original plate count included in the double-elephant folio edition, the octavo edition adds 65 new images for a total of 500 plates, making it ‘the most extensive color plate book produced in America up to that time’ (Reese). The plates were reduced by camera lucida and lithographed, with some of the backgrounds entirely changed or greatly modified. The original compositions are altered so that only one species is depicted per plate. The text itself is a revision of the Ornithological Biography, rearranged according to Audubon's ‘A Synopsis of the Birds of North America’ (1839). Bennett, p.5; Nissen IVB 51; Reese 34; Wood, p.208; Zimmer, p.22.
7 volumes, royal octavo (263 x 164mm). Half-titles. 500 hand-coloured lithographic plates after Audubon by W.E. Hitchcock, R. Trembly and others, printed and coloured by J. T. Bowen, wood-engraved anatomical diagrams in text, subscribers list in all volumes, leaf of publisher’s ads loosely inserted at beginning of vol. I (light variable spotting and browning, mainly affecting text leaves and tissue guards, a few plates evenly browned, slightly heavier and more noticeable towards the end of vol. I and in vol. II). 19th-century full crimson morocco gilt, covers finely tooled with gilt panels enclosing decorative design composed of foliate tools, scrolls, volutes and floral sprays enclosing larger rococo decorative stamps, spines with raised bands in 6 compartments, gilt-lettered in second and fourth compartments, the others with decorative borders with small rosettes at corners, gilt dentelles and edges, pale yellow glazed endpapers (some minor rubbing to extremities). Provenance: George W. Turner (of Elmscourt, or Elms Court, Natchez, Mississippi, inscriptions in all volumes dated 1850; presentation inscriptions in vols I, VI and VII to:) – Annie W. (presumably a relative of Turner) – Austin Smith (20th-century small red leather gilt booklabel) – Maggs Bros Ltd (cost code on rear pastedown).
榮譽呈獻
Mark Wiltshire
Specialist