highlights
1. aUdUBon, John James the Quadrupeds of north america. New York: V.G. Audubon. 1849-54.
£15,000
8vo. 3 vols. contemporary full brown morocco with gilt fillets and panels to boards, spines divided into six compartments by raised bands with gilt lettering and tools, gilt turn-ins, all edges gilt; pp. viii + 384; pp. 334; pp. 348 + [3, contents]; 155 hand coloured plates printed by nagel & Weingaertner (Vol 1 only) and J.t. Bowen; spines a little sunned, occasional internal spotting, handsome binding very
good.Provenance: bookplates of thomas ludlow harison (1832-1899), landowner and builder of the historic harrison grist Mill in Morley, new York, to front pastedowns.
First edition, 1851 variant of title page to Vol i. originally issued in 31 parts to subscribers in an edition of around 2000. audubon’s sons, Victor gifford and John Woodhouse audubon, decided to issue this octavo edition of the enormous folio Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1845-48), with the same text by John Bachman, during the last years of their father’s life. the work had been a real family affair, with the ailing John James and John Woodhouse dividing the artwork between them and Victor providing most of the backgrounds, while Bachman, also ill, was greatly aided in writing his text by his sister-in-law Maria. there were a number of difficulties in finishing the work, not least the fact that audubon’s advancing age hampered him on his field trips on the Missouri river. there was little existing data on american mammals and audubon did not provide as much new information as Bachman had hoped for, making it difficult to complete the text. in the end, John Woodhouse travelled to texas and then to the museums of europe to glean the necessary data. the result of this collaborative effort was a work that is as much a scientific as an aesthetic triumph, the founding text of the serious study of north american quadrupeds.
this octavo edition, so much more approachable in size and price than the imperial folio work, was a great commercial and artistic success for the two brothers and saw them keeping their father’s legacy alive. audubon died in 1851 after struggling with alzheimer’s Disease and it is highly unlikely that he had much input, either artistic or commercial, into this edition. this means that the decision to use a tint for the background of these plates, a practice that became standard in all subsequent audubon productions, was probably down to the sons alone. Plates iV and V of the first edition, printed by nagel & Weingaertner and found in the present copy, are the only plates to lack this tint, which suggests that they pre-dated the decision to tint the backgrounds; subsequent issues were printed by J.t. Bowen and included the tint.
Wood p. 208; Nissen IZB 163.
2. Besler, Basilius. Flos solis prolifer. original copper engraving with later hand colour. 1st edition, pl.205, 535 x 406 mm. 1613.
£9,650
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