CHAPTER XXXII
AUDUBON'S GREATEST TRIUMPH
Extension of his work—Financial panic and revolt of
patrons—New western collections—His "Book of Nature"
completed—Work on the letterpress in Edinburgh—Vacation
in the Highlands—Commissions to Harris—Parting
address to the reader—Dissolution of the Havell
engraving establishment—The residuum of _The Birds of
America_—Robert Havell, engraver, and his family—Lizars'
first edition and the Havell reissues of plates—Brief
manual for collectors—Appreciations—Total edition of
_The Birds of America_—Past and present prices—The
Rothschild incident.
After Audubon's return to England in the summer of 1837, the completion
of his _magnum opus_ occupied but two years. Certain now of the
ultimate success which would crown his efforts, he worked with a
furious ardor, determined not only to execute his original plans, but
to extend them, if necessary, to include every bird which had been
discovered in America, or, at least, in the United States.
Audubon wrote Thomas Brewer in September that, for some unexplained
cause, a large part of his collections made in Texas had probably
been lost; when writing on October 29, the box containing all
the eggs collected on the Gulf of Mexico had not come to hand. He
continued:[145]
I authorize you to offer and to pay as much as _five
dollars_ for an old _raven_, in the flesh, and perfect
as far as _internals_ are concerned. European writers
who a few years since were all agog to prove that our
apparently analogous species were identical with those
of Europe have suddenly "faced about," and pronounce our
birds to be quite distinct species, and of course now
say that our raven is indeed our raven! and all this
because I proved that the _Corvus corone_ of Europe
existed not in America. All this induces the present
_natural_ student of nature to have his eyes and all his
senses fully open, and to see into things further than
we can into grindstones....
Charles Bonaparte, who has just this moment left me,
has kindly proffered me his new North American species,
and I hope to figure them all, thereby rendering my
work the more complete, if not quite perfect, as far as
truly well-known species are now thought to exist in the
limits of our country, or indeed those of North America.
When writing his young friend again, on November 18, he implored him to
proceed
with all possible industry, in procuring the birds of my
list, in rum. I hope you will have a pair of pied ducks
(_Fuligula labradora_) for me. Send me all the drawings
of eggs you can so that they reach me here by the 1st to
10th of March next. If the birds arrive in London by the
middle of April, it will do.... I send you inclosed the
copy of an advertisement of my work, which I wish you to
hand over to our most generous friend George Parkman,
Esq., M.D., and ask him to have it inserted in one or
more of the Boston newspapers as soon as convenient.
Again, on the 22nd, he admonished his friend not to send his "drawings
of eggs by _letter_," but to forward all such to N. Berthoud, "and ask
him to send them by captains of London packets. The postages are very
heavy these hard times, and I am not a _prince_."
Although Audubon's "Prospectus" called for only eighty parts of 400
plates, by 1837 the number of new discoveries had multiplied to such
an extent that he faced the dilemma of either enlarging his work or
issuing it in an incomplete state. In the summer of that year large
numbers of his British patrons discontinued their subscriptions, a
result, no doubt, of the disastrous panic which had driven many into
bankruptcy, and still more refused to take any plates in excess of
the stipulated number. To alleviate this anticipated difficulty, he
had already begun to admit composite plates, on which from two to six
different kinds of birds were grouped together, much in the older style
which he abhorred; but, in spite of this concession and omission of the
eggs, colored figures of which he had hoped to give at the end, he was
obliged to add seven parts, thus swelling the total number of large
plates to 435, which represented 489 supposedly distinct species of
American birds.
When Audubon was facing such protests in England, Dr. J. K.
Townsend[146] returned to Philadelphia with a second great collection
from the Far West. How eager he was, at this psychological moment, to
gain access to these ornithological treasures is clearly shown in the
following letter[147] to Edward Harris:
_Audubon to Edward Harris_
[Outside address] TO EDD HARRIS Esqr.
Moorestown New Jersey
9 miles from Philadelphia Pennsylvania
U. S. A.
Duplicate
LONDON, _Oct. 26th., 1837_.
I have this moment received your dear letter of the 4.
instant, for the contents of which, I do indeed most
truly thank you, but the most important point contained
in it, Dr. Spencer is now at Paris quite well and happy.
I have not heard of his supposed intentions to visit
Russia, at least not until you have shown yourself
in Europe for awhile. When will you come? I have not
received one single letter from Dr. Morton since my
return to England, and have been the more surprised at
this, because I look upon _him_ as a worthy good man and
as one whom, since my last visit to him, I cannot but
consider as my friend.
The return of Dr. Townsend to our happy land has filled
me with joy, and trebly so when you tell me that he is
as friendly disposed to me as I ever have been towards
him. I congratulate you my dear friend, in the step
which you have so kindly taken in my favour, by first
selecting all such Bird-skins as you or Townsend have
considered as new, and also in having given freedom
to Dr. Morton to pay Dr. Townsend Fifty Dollars
for the skins selected by you, under the _prudent_
considerations or restrictions talked of in your letter.
May I receive all the Bird skins very soon, for depend
upon it, now or never is for me the period to push on
my publication. If I have any regret to express it is,
that Townsend or Dr. Morton or yourself did not at once
forward to me the _whole_ of the Bird skins brought
latterly by Townsend, for I can assure you that it has
become a matter of the _greatest niceity_ to distinguish
the slight though _positive_ species lines of
demarkation between our species of Birds—and if on this
reaching you, the least doubt exists amongst yourselves
respecting any one, why send it to me at once by the
very earliest conveyance. If by New York, with letter to
N. Berthoud to lose not a day, provided a packet, either
to _Liverpool_ or London, is ready to sail! Had Townsend
sent me the _whole_ of his disposible birds, I might now
have perhaps been able to have mad[e] him a remittance
in cash, which the single arrival of the German
Naturalists, who are now in California may hereafter
put an end to. Mention this to him, nay, shew him this
letter if you please and assure him that I am willing to
exert myself in his behalf. Indeed, I wish you to urge
him in forwarding me either his own manuscripts or a
copy of all such parts as appertain to Birds, as soon as
possible, knowing (I think) that he will not undertake
to publish them himself under his present (I am sorry
to say) embarrassed pecuniary circumstances. Tell him
that I want all about the habits of _any_ Birds which
he has written upon, especially, however, those found
from the beginning of his journeys until his return,
and appertaining to species belonging to our fauna or
otherwise. Their exact measurements, dates, localities,
migratories or vice versa inclinations, descriptions
of nests, eggs &c. periods of breeding; in a word all
that he can, or will be pleased to send me—and you may
assure Townsend, that all he will confide to me will be
published as coming from _him_, although I may think
fit to alter the phraseology in some instances. Tell
him to be extremely careful in naming his new species,
and that [if] he thinks of difficulties in this matter,
to leave it to me, as _here_ I am able to see all the
late published works (and they are not a few) and work
out the species with more advantage than any one can
at present in Philadelphia. Do not take this as egotism
far from it, it is in friendship and for his sake that
I venture on undertaking such an arduous task. I am
_exceedingly_ [anxious] to receive a letter from him
(for Nuttall, though an excellent friend of mine and
a most worthy man, will not answer me in time on this
subject) of _all_ the birds contained in the _plates_
now at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philada.,
_which he saw on the Rocky Mountains_, over those
mountains, _on the Columbia River_ and off _the coast_
of our _Western boundaries_. This I want much, and
if he would simply dictate to you plate 1, not there,
plate 2, there, plate 3 there &c. &c. this would amply
answer my purpose, and this I wish you not to neglect
to forward me _as soon as possible by duplicate_! Of
course I cannot speak upon any one of the new species of
which you speak until I have examined them all. To talk
of new species in London is a matter not now understood
in any part of America, and sorry will you be as well
as himself, when I assure you that out of the _twelve_
supposed to be, and published by Dr. Morton, from
Townsend's first cargo, not more than six are actually
undescribed, although I have taken upon myself the risk
of publishing _his_ names to the Birds on my plate, but
which of course I am obliged to correct in my letter
press. _The little beautiful owl_, I would venture to
say has been described by Vigors at least ten years ago,
&c. &c. Swainson never goes to bed without describing
some new species, and Charles Bonaparte, during his late
visit to London, has published as many as 20 of a night
at the Museum of the Zoological Society Insects &c. &c.
Stir, work hard, [be] _prompt_ in every thing. My work
_must_ soon be finished, and unless _all is received
here_ by the month of May next, why I shall have to
abandon to others what I might myself have accomplished.
God bless you, many happy years. We are all well, thank
God, just now. Remember me and us kindly to all around
and every friend and believe me ever your most truly and
sincerely attached friend,
JOHN J. AUDUBON.
TO EDWARD HARRIS, Esqre.
Addressed, care "Messrs. Rathbone, Brothers & Co.
Liverpool."
When you send to Liverpool.
If Townsend has brought Birds Eggs, ask him to send them
me. I will return all to him that he may want. I greatly
regret that you did not find me the _water_ Birds
of which you speak, as I might have perchance found
something new or curious among them. The Golden Eye Duck
especially, if any be had?
In reference to the new species of birds which had come into his hands,
Audubon said:
What was I to do? Why, to publish them, to be sure;
for this I should have done, to the best of my power,
even if every subscriber in Europe had refused to take
them. What! said I, shall the last volume of the "Birds
of America" be now closed, at a time when new species
are in my hands? No! And in spite of threats from this
quarter and that, that such and such persons would
discontinue their subscriptions (which indeed they have
done), and refuse to take the few numbers that would
have rendered their copies complete, my wish to do all
that was in my power has been accomplished.
Doubtless we should hesitate to blame many of Audubon's subscribers
for wishing to be relieved from an obligation which for a period of
ten years had cost them from $50 to $100 per annum, not to speak of
any who had met financial disaster in the panic of that day, but at
this juncture he really had no choice. When his eightieth Number,
originally intended to be the last, appeared in 1837, many important
kinds of birds, including ducks, swan, tern, and the Flamingo, as
well as grouse, warblers and woodpeckers, were still calling loud for
recognition. So generous of space had he been in the earlier phase of
his undertaking that twenty species were each shown on two distinct
plates, while in the end the need of compression compelled him to
introduce thirty-five composite plates.
Subscribers to _The Birds of America_ at the beginning had been
permitted to take a part or the whole, and many incomplete sets were
circulated, upwards of 120, as Audubon declared in 1839, having then
discontinued their subscriptions. Towards the end of his undertaking,
owing to the great expense and uncertainty involved, he was disinclined
to supply any but regular subscribers, as shown by the following
letter written from London, May 25, 1838, to William A. Colman of New
York:[148]
... We find that six of the plates you want are not
only largest figs, but some of them extremely full and
difficult to colour, and he [Mr. Havell] says that
our Printers and our Colourers would not undertake
to go throu them without charging a most extravagant
price. I have no extra plates whatever on hand, and
in consequence of this must be obliged to decline
furnishing you with them.
If at the conclusion of my publication I find any of
the plates you want they will be sent to you forthwith,
but I wish you not to calculate upon this until you hear
again from me, or from my sons on this subject.
My work will [be] entirely finished by the end of next
month, when our engraving and Printing establishment
will be broken up, and few will indeed there be copies
to be had by any one, who has not subscribed to the
"Birds of America."
Should you see any of my American subscribers who have
not as yet seen any portion of the work, please to
assure them that as soon as the fourth volume is quite
finished, and _bound_ according to their desires, their
copies will be forwarded at once to their respective
homes, or to whomsoever they have directed me to send
their copies.
On May 26 Audubon wrote Thomas M. Brewer that "Edward Harris, one
of the best men of this world," had reached his house "yesterday at
noon, after a pleasant passage of fourteen days and a few hours." "My
illustrations," he said, "will be finished on the 20th of next month,
and the fourth volume of text shortly afterward"; at the end he added:
"When I return to our beloved land, I intend to spend a full season
about the lakes in Northern Vermont, for, from what I hear, much
knowledge is to be acquired there and thereabouts." After returning to
New York in September of the following year, he again alluded to the
ramble he would like to take "along the borders of the famous lakes of
New Hampshire and Vermont," but was unable to bring it to pass at that
time.
To depart but slightly from the chronological sequence, the last to be
preserved of Audubon's letters to William Swainson,[149] written at a
time when his great work was drawing to a close, will be given at this
point:
_Audubon to William Swainson_
LONDON _11th Jan 1838_
MY DEAR MR SWAINSON,
The severe indisposition of my good wife which has
continued almost unabated now since I had the pleasure
of seeing you, is my excuse for not having ere this
answered your two notes, especially the last of the 8th
instant.—
Your box & contents came perfectly safe to hand, and
I think will soon again be in your possession in like
good order. I certainly should like to see the Buteo [?]
vulgaris to compare it with mine (that at the mouth of
the Columbia) and the one described by Nuttall before
the return from America of D. [Dr. John] Richardson
& of which it seems you were not aware.—I am glad
nevertheless that if differing from the European bird
of that name the Transatlantic bird will be honoured by
your own name.
Charles Bonaparte is at Paris & is to remain there. I
am well informed for about a fortnight.—He left London
in great haste and I assure you has left no parcels or
letters for you or anybody else either with us or with
Havell.—I am sorry that he should have disapointed you
& your dear Children but——.
I cannot say just now whether I have a specimen of
Muscicapa Trailli "the Prince" having two of my giving,
if however, I have another I will send it to you with
great good will & pleasure—As regards your queries
respecting several species of quiscalus or Crow black
birds You are correct for I have myself discovered two
in America one in the Floridas the other in the Arkansaw
River, both of which will be given in my work.—That more
exist I have no doubt especially further South and West.
You have described a swan in the Fauna Boriali Americana
under the name of the Cygnus Bewicki, but as your
measurements there and then given are very far from
those of the swan now known under the name of Old Bewick
I should feel obliged to you to let me know whether
the specimen you described from was the identical bird
procured by Captain Lyons, and of which that gentleman
described the nest? And again I should like you to tell
me whether you have seen the Clangula vulgaris of Linn.
that in the months of April & May?
Many thanks for all your kind wishes & may you and
yours enjoy the like return of many many new & happy
years.—Call upon us when you come to Town and believe me
my dear Mr Swainson ever sincerily
yours attached friend
JOHN J. AUDUBON
I have had the jawache for nearly one week & have not
been out of the house
4 WIMPOLE STREET
Audubon's day of greatest triumph came on June 20, 1838, when he
had the supreme satisfaction of seeing the last plate of his "Book
of Nature," _The Birds of America_, completed. Having been begun
virtually in the autumn of 1826, it was in press nearly twelve years.
The sumptuous character of this work, its commanding beauty, as well
as its surprising accuracy, considering all the obstacles of time and
circumstance, mark it, when combined with its letterpress, as one of
the most remarkable and interesting undertakings in the history of
literature and science in the nineteenth century. Unique as it was in
every detail of its workmanship, it will remain for centuries a shining
example of the triumph of human endeavor and of the spirit and will of
man. This is true in spite of any errors it may disclose, and even if
it be conceded that bare bones and plain photographs are more valuable
for elucidating the technicalities of science than the most artistic
productions of the pen, pencil or brush.
Audubon's labors in England, however, did not end with the completion
of his plates, for two volumes of his "Biographies" still remained to
be published. He was in London during the early summer of 1838, when
he recorded a visit from John Bachman, who had come to Europe for the
recuperation of his health. He was then obliged to hasten to Edinburgh,
where he was soon joined by both Bachman and Victor Audubon and later
by other members of his family. For the convenience of work he took
rooms near the museums, on the south side of the city, not far from
Lauriston Place and within easy reach of "The Meadows," a well known
recreation ground.
[Illustration: LIFE MASK OF AUDUBON MADE BY ROBERT HAVELL IN LONDON
BEFORE 1839, NOW IN POSSESSION OF THE MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOÖLOGY
OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
Published by courtesy of Dr. Samuel Henshaw, Director of the Museum
of Comparative Zoölogy.]
The following letter,[150] sent to his son John soon after his arrival
at the Scottish capital, and addressed "No. 4 Wimpole Street, London,"
abounds in interesting personal details, but the student of birds
would find more significant its clear statement of his relations
with MacGillivray; it shows us the anatomist at work, and Audubon as
his student and "secretary." "Under his kind tuition," he said, when
writing at a little later time, "I think I have learned something
of anatomy, which may enable me, at some future period, to produce
observations that may prove interesting...."
_Audubon to his Son, John_
EDINBURGH, _July 1st, 1838, Sunday_.
MY DEAREST FRIENDS
Your joint letter of the 27th Wednesday, did not
reach me until yesterday afternoon, probably because
the steamer which brought it did not leave London on
that evening on a/c of the coronation etc., Here the
festivals were poor beyond description, and although
scarcely anything was to be seen, the whole population
was on foot the entire day, and nearly the whole night,
gazing at each other like lost sheep.—No illuminations
except at two shops, Mr. Henderson's and another close
by him.—The fireworks at the castle consisted merely
of about one hundred rockets, not a gun was fired
from the batteries. MacGillivray & I went to see the
fireworks at 10 p.m., and soon returned disgusted.—His
museum (College of Surgeons) and the Edinburgh Museum
were thrown open _gratis_, and were thronged to excess
Upwards of 20000 in the first, and about 25000 in
the other; all was however quite orderly. The day was
showery; cloudy and dismal at times, but the evening was
clear and fine.—Mr. Hill's father died on the morning of
the 27th and I have not seen Alexander H., since. Many
thanks to Maria for her bunch of letters, and the few
lines of her own to me, I hope that everything will go
on well with you all.
We begin printing _tomorrow 2d of July, 1838!!_ remember
that Mesdames et Messieurs! and I intend to proceed
with all possible despatch and care. _All_ the birds in
rum will be inspected as far as internal or digestive
organs, trachea &c are concerned, and as I am constantly
present in the dissecting room, I think I shall know
something about the matter anon.—I am almost in hopes
to see Victor tomorrow night but cannot be sure. There
are somewhere at home the nests of the birds found on
the Columbia by Nuttall and Townsend, I believe that
of Bewick's Wren is among them; send them _all_, very
carefully packed. I want the journal of my first trip
to the Floridas, which was cut out of my large leather
journal, previous to going to Labrador, also a letter on
the habits of the Yellow-bellied Cuckoo, by a gentleman
at Charleston. If it cannot be found perhaps Maria will
recollect his name, being a friend of John Bachman,
if so send me that, _in full_ if possible. It is the
gentleman in whose garden I procured the small and large
cuckoos in the same nest.—
I have written fortyfour articles for my appendix and
will continue whenever I am not otherwise engaged, so
as to save time at last.—I am sorry for the death of
poor Wickliffe but glad that his brother was with him at
New York previously, and that we, at least, have done
all that we could for him. MacGillivray is quite well,
and works very hard, poor fellow—I am glad of John's
repainting the head by VanDyke, two copies of such
heads are valuable to him, besides his improving by so
working—When Victor has left for this place, John must
pay much attention to the colourers and call also at the
bookbinder. Havell ought to exert himself in having some
4th vols; delivered as soon as possible.
My last letter which was written last Sunday, was put
too late in the office, which closed on that day at
two o'clock, and did not therefore leave this till four
o'clock on Monday afternoon; this one will have a better
chance, for I will take it myself to the general office.
I have seen no one hardly since my last, I am indeed
as busily engaged as ever, and rarely go to bed before
eleven—being with Mr. MacGillivray until generally past
ten, describing etc., I rise at four or earlier, he at
ten; but I go to bed at eleven, he at two. I discovered
that he was adverse to the examination of the intestinal
canals etc., because many of my birds which are common
to both countries will be published before his 2d vol.,
can now possibly be; but as soon as I told him that I
had already said in my introduction, that the anatomical
structure was declared to be _his_, he was much pleased
and began on the instant.
Today is very dismal, and it will rain probably until
night; I wish we had here some of the warm weather of
which dearest Mamma speaks. I have had but one walk to
Arthur's Seat, but now and then I stroll to the meadows
which are close to me, and now look well.—From the
window of my sitting room I overlook the garden of Mr.
Frazer our printer, and now and then speak to him there,
I have not yet however visited him.—I will recollect the
Queen's farthing when next I see Professor Wilson, but
doubt much if he will recollect the least idea of it.
Has Charley written or said anything to Victor about the
review of the work; remember me to Healey.—
I suppose that the crown of England sits very quietly
down, and that all was very superfine. I have not so
much as seen a paper since I left you.
God bless you all, dearest friends, and take good care
of Mamma and Maria,
Ever your firmly attached father and friend
J. J. AUDUBON.
No. 7 Archibald Place,
Lauriston.
Audubon's fourth volume, the printing of which was announced in
this letter, was published in November, and at the conclusion of the
introduction he said:
I believe the time to be fast approaching when much of
the results obtained from the inspection of the exterior
alone will be laid aside; when museums filled with the
stuffed skins will be considered insufficient to afford
a knowledge of birds; and when the student will go forth
not only to observe the habits and haunts of animals,
but to procure specimens of them to be carefully
dissected.
These prophetic remarks, which were no doubt inspired by the studies
of MacGillivray, have found ample justification in the later history
of ornithology; to give a single illustration, it was through the aid
of anatomy only, in this instance, of the vocal organs, that modern
students have been able to define the true Passerine or Oscine birds,
as distinguished from all others, and as the highest representatives of
the avian class.
In the autumn of 1838, when Mrs. Audubon was still suffering from
impaired health, the naturalist paused in his work to indulge in a
short vacation, the first in many years. On September 14, he wrote to
Edward Harris, who was then in Scotland:[151]
_Audubon to Edward Harris_
EDINBURGH, _14 Sep'., 1838_.
MY DEAR FRIEND:
Not having heard anything from you in answer to my last,
I suppose that you may yet be away from Glasgow, but as
we ourselves are going off tomorrow to the "Highlands,"
with a view to be at Glasgow on Thursday next, I write
to you now, with the hope of meeting you _then_. Nothing
of importance has occurred here since my last, but _the
book_ has considerably swollen in its progress towards
completion.
We all unite in best wishes to you and I remain as ever
your most truly attached and sincere friend,
JOHN J. AUDUBON
We intend being home again on Saturday next.
[Addressed] To EDWARD HARRIS Esqr.
Comrie's Royal Hotel,
Glasgow.
With MacGillivray as guide, Audubon and his family visited Stirling,
Doun and Callander, where they "marched in a body to the Falls of
Bracklin, guided by a rosy-cheeked Highland lassie, stopping now and
then by the way to pick up a wild flower,—a blue-bell, a 'gowan,' or a
dog-rose, or to listen to the magpies and titmice." From Callander they
ascended to Loch Katrine, and explored the Trossachs, "admired by many,
chiefly or entirely on account of Scott's description of them"; at
the tavern there, said Audubon, "with that most curious innate desire
which there is in us of becoming older, for the purpose of enjoying
the morrow, I went to rest, anxious to see the morn, and discover what
existed beyond the crags that had bounded my view."
From the wild and beautiful scenes about Loch Katrine, which stirred
the naturalist's emotions and evoked the desire to remain until the
curtain of night had gradually and peacefully closed the landscape from
their view, they proceeded to the rocky shores of Loch Lomond, where
they found "a few small stone cabins, some fat bairns, abundance of
ale, and a sufficiency of capital whisky." After crossing to Tarbet
and examining both the head and the foot of the lake, they went on from
Balloch to Dumbarton by stage, and thence by steamer to Glasgow; there
they spent a few days, and returned to Edinburgh by way of Dumbarton
and Lanark. Steamers and coaches, slow as they then were, were all too
fast for Audubon on this journey, and he declared that if ever again he
visited the Highlands, it should be on foot, "for no man, with nerve
and will, and an admirer of the beauties of nature, can ever truly
enjoy the pleasures of travelling, unless he proceed in this manner."
Mrs. Audubon's health had not improved by the journey, for shortly
after their return she was again taken ill; she was placed in the
care of Dr. John Argyle Robertson, for whose efficient aid and "kind
and gentle treatment," said Audubon, "we can never cease to cherish
the most lively feelings of affection." "It is a curious part of
my history," he continues, "that during the whole of my sojourn in
Britain, none of the principal medical advisers whom we had occasion to
employ would receive any recompense from us."
By the 5th of November, 1838, but a few days after the issue of the
fourth volume of his "Biographies," the printing of the fifth and last
had already begun. The following letter[152] is interesting for its
personal details, and in showing that his confidence in the existence
of the "bird of Washington"[153] had not been shaken:
_Audubon to Edward Harris_
EDINBURGH _December 19th., 1838_.
MY DEAR FRIEND:
Your letter of the 13th. instant to Victor reached us
this morning, and glad were we all to hear from you.
My object in writing to you is, for the purpose of
assuring you that I feel great [pleasure] in preparing
a box of bird skins for you according to your desire. It
is true, however, that I am now on the eve of commencing
my synoptical arrangement of our birds, I shall not be
able to show you as many of my specimens [as] I could
otherwise have done, but you must take the will for the
deed. The Box will be taken as far as London by Victor,
who will leave us on the first of January. You will find
in it a list of the contents, and I trust such bird
skins as may answer your purpose well. Besides these
Victor will also attend to your request as soon as in
New York and will ship to you by way of Havre as you
direct.
I am glad that you should have seen what you conceive
to be the great rara avis F. Washingtonii. I am sorry
you could not have pocketed it, but who knows if it is
not left yet in store for you—and I to shoot a pair of
these noble birds at The West, and that, after having
satisfactorily examined its habits, its eggs, or its
young! _Bonaparte_, between you and I, is exceedingly
ignorant as regards our birds, as I found to my cost
when he was in London, and where he pumped me sadly too
much, but it is now over and I forgive him as I do all
others who have or who _may_ try to injure me.
John Bachman wrote to me that he had left in commission
to Trudeau, the purchase for me of a copy of Vieillot's
Oiseaux de l'Amérique Septentrionale, and also a copy
of Boié or Bojé work[154] on birds generally, but I have
received neither books or promises of them from Trudeau
as yet, perhaps you would undertake the task yourself,
and show to Havell as soon as possible, for I shall
be sadly in want of them in a few weeks more. I should
also like you to try to find Mr. Augustus Thorndike of
Boston, to whom Victor wrote a few days ago, with the
view to inquire from that Gentleman when he wished _his_
copy of the Birds of America to be delivered. Victor
addressed his letter to "his Hotel" or to the care
of the "American Embassy." We are not sure, however,
whether he is in Paris at present, and let me know what
discoveries you have made as regards this.—Victor will
remain ten days in London and wishes you, should you
write to him there, to put your letter _under cover_ to
_Havell_ and request him to _keep_ it. Victor will write
you from thence.
I cannot account why Trudeau has not written to me in
answer to my last, now full two months old? Should
you _perchance_ discover a specimen of the Bird of
Washington in Paris and purchase the same, I should like
you to send it to me _on loan_ to enable me to compare
it with mine, and the Immature of the _F. Albicilla of
Europe_!
I have got twelve sheets of the 5th. Vol. of Biographies
already printed, and I expect to have quite finished by
the 1st. of April next. I have decided on the _Trichas_
resembling _Sylvia Philadelphia_ of Wilson. It is
a distinct species, but what will probably surprise
you more, the _S. Agilis_ of the same author is also
perfectly distinct from either. All this you will
plainly see when you read their separate descriptions
and compare the three species.
I wish you would ask Trudeau whether _he_ recollects
the specimen of an Eagle send by Townsend in his first
collection, numbering 54 and which the latter has
lost, though he considered it as a new species. It was
procured in California. Townsend speaks sorrowfully of
the loss of this specimen. It never came under my eye,
did it come under yours? Ask Trudeau whether he ever saw
my Hirundo Serripennis in America. Bachman wrote to me
that Trudeau thought he had in the skins of Frederick
Ward. I think Trudeau will be pleased with the anatomy
of our birds, as it opens misteries hitherto unknown
in connection with the relative affinities of some
species toward others and assists in the formation of
groups &c., in what some day or other, will be called a
_Natural arrangement_!
I wish I could have spent a few weeks in Paris with you
and Trudeau, as I readily imagine that some new species
of North American birds, may yet be found there unknown
to the World of Science. I have written to Mr. Chevalier
and to Townsend, but will not, I dare say, hear anything
more of the former until through Victor, who intends to
see him very shortly after his arrival in America.
My Dear Wife is much better than when you saw her, and
I hope that when once again she has been safely landed
on our shores and enjoyed the warmth of our own Summers,
her health will be quite restored.
The _Little_ Lucy has grown as fat as butter, and the
rest of us are well.
We all unite in kindest best wishes to you and to
Trudeau, and I remain as ever, my Dear Friend,
Yours,
JOHN J. AUDUBON.
6 Alva Street.
In May, 1839, Audubon's fifth and last volume of the _Ornithological
Biography_, consisting of 704 pages, was issued. It was followed almost
immediately by _A Synopsis of the Birds of North America_, in which
the efficient aid of MacGillivray was again enlisted. On May 4 Audubon
wrote to Havell that this work was in press and would be ready in about
a month's time; again, on the 30th of June he announced that it was
finished and in the hands of the binder. With this methodical catalogue
of the birds of North America then known and described, to the number
of 491, fifty-two of which were new, Audubon's life and labors in
England were brought to a close.
The introduction to the last volume of his "Biographies" begins as
follows:
How often, Good Reader, I have longed to see the day
on which my labours should be brought to an end! Many
times, when I had laid myself down in the deepest
recesses of the western forests, have I been suddenly
awakened by the apparition of dismal prospects that
have presented themselves to my mind. Now, sickness,
methought, had seized me with burning hand, and hurried
me away, in spite of all my fond wishes, from those
wild woods in which I had so long lingered, to increase
my knowledge of the objects which they offered to my
view. Poverty, too, at times walked hand in hand with
me, and on more than one occasion urged me to cast away
my pencils, destroy my drawings, abandon my journals,
change my ideas, and return to the world.
Later on he says: "You may well imagine how happy I am at this moment,
when ... I find my journeys all finished, my anxieties vanished, my
mission accomplished;" and he concludes: "I have pleasure in saying
that my enemies have been few, and my friends numerous. May the God
who granted me life, industry, and perseverance to accomplish my task,
forgive the former, and forever bless the latter!"
Audubon's introductions to the five volumes of his "Biographies," from
which we have frequently quoted, are characteristic; in them he cheers
his subscribers, calls all his helpers and correspondents by name,
and takes the public into his confidence by recording the acts which
marked the steady progress of his work. Frequent appeals to the "good"
and "gentle reader" have gone out of fashion, but in this instance
they seem in keeping with the style and character of the man, and they
were not made in vain. Audubon's belief in his mission was so plainly
sincere, his power so manifest and his enthusiasm so ardent, that there
were few who did not gladly acclaim the extraordinary success of the
man who twelve years before had landed in Liverpool poor and unknown.
In the winter and spring of 1839, while Audubon was engaged in
Edinburgh and Victor was in America, the settlement of his business
affairs in London was entrusted mainly to Robert Havell, his engraver.
At that time Havell was also pulling up roots, for he had caught the
spirit of his patron and had decided to emigrate with his family to
the United States; this involved disposing of his stock and breaking
up his engraving and printing establishment at 77 Oxford Street.
Havell had acquired distinction as well as a competence through his
long engagement with Audubon, and being then in his forty-sixth year,
he doubtless looked to America as a field for the fuller expression
of his artistic aspirations and talents. How anxious Audubon was at
this juncture regarding the disposition of the residual stock of his
plates, his drawings, and his books, then in Havell's hands, is seen by
the following letter,[155] written at Edinburgh, in the winter of this
year.
_Audubon to Robert Havell_
EDINBURGH, _Feb. 20th, Monday, 1839._
MY DEAR MR. HAVELL
I perceive by the date of your letter of the 16th
instant that you must have been some days beyond my
expectations, in the receiving of my parcel to you, and
that on that account my letter of Saturday last crossed
yours of the same date. I thank you for what you say as
regards the balance in my favor at Wright and Co.
Does Henry sail from _London Docks_ or from
_Portsmouth_? and pray what is the name of the Captain
of the "Wellington"? I do not precisely understand what
you mean by the _loose sets_ which you desire to know
how they should be packed? let me hear what they are and
how many of them by return of mail. The _five_ perfect
sets I think might all go into one case, tinned as
usual and insured of course to the full amount of their
value, as well as all others and to which I pray you to
attend as if for your own self. It is impossible for me
to go to London at present and indeed I cannot exactly
tell when I will, and I trust to you entirely for the
seeing that all the volumes are fair and good and passed
through _your own_ inspection of them before they are
packed. No volumes of Biographies must be put in the
same boxes.
When you have disposed of your business, what will
you do with what you have on hand belonging to us?
This requires an answer from you at once. You have a
great number of volumes of Biographies, Pictures, &c.
&c., a regular list of which you ought to send me. I
cannot yet say when the 5th vol. of Biographies will
be finished, but will let you know as soon as I can.
I received yesterday morning a letter from a gentleman
who has procured a copy of the work through Mr. Eame the
bookseller, he says that he has called upon you to say
that he is missing _one plate_ and begs to have a copy
of the plate struck and remitted to Mr. Eame who will
pay you whatever price the extra trouble on this account
may amount to, but he does not say what plate it is,
and I therefor suppose that you do? If so as he is the
brother-in-law of Mr. Walker of Ravensfield Park, one
of our _good_ subscribers I would say do it for him! My
wife begs of you to save all the loose prints which were
returned to you by our son Victor, as well as any others
whatever, perhaps among them you might find one to send
Mr. Eame's subscriber?
On the 4th of this month the 'Great Western' was nearly
half way across the Atlantic!! Sir William Jardine has
published a capital review of the work! What a strange
world we do learn in! Be sure to let me know about the
original drawings at Henry's, if he has finished them,
where they are &c. &c. We all remain as usual with kind
good wishes to you all,
Your friend
JOHN J. AUDUBON.
6 Alva St.
[Superscribed]
ROBERT HAVELL Esq.
Engraver.
77 Oxford st
London.
How fully Audubon's injunctions in regard to his residual stock, and
particularly to scattered plates of the _Birds_, were followed, is
not known, but it is certain that a part of this residuum remained in
England, where it is occasionally turned up even at the present day.
In a considerable number of the original plates which were found in
a bookshop in New Oxford Street in August, 1912, twelve were in the
uncolored state, and several had the appearance of rejects; moreover,
in a collection of these plates received from England in 1910, there
were nine copies of the same subject, the Painted Bunting (No. 11,
Plate 53). Though a complete set of the plain plates is known,[156] and
a considerable number were probably dispersed in America, they are very
rare.
Audubon wrote to Havell again on the 13th of March, when he complained
of the gross mistakes made by the "idle rascals" who were employed in
filling orders in his shop, and who had so sadly mixed matters that no
less than twelve numbers of his _Birds_ had come back to him, some of
them containing one, three, and five copies of the same plate, instead
of a "Number," and mixtures of the most incongruous sort; he thought
that "a clever young man as a clerk was worth a hundred thick heads,"
and begged Havell again to send him "a correct list of what he shipped
to America on his account, and that list not made by any other person
than either himself or Mrs. Havell." His next injunction, on May 4,
was to insure his copper-plates of _The Birds of America_ for £5,000,
and to send them to either Victor Audubon or Mr. N. Berthoud, Number
2 Hanover Street, New York. At that moment Audubon was planning to
return to America with his family by the _Great Western_ on July 6. In
writing again on June 30, he remarked that he was not at all certain
that Havell, who was then visiting at his native Reading, in Berkshire,
would really sail on the 25th of July, since he had already postponed
the journey so many times; he added that it would not even surprise him
if his work on the _Quadrupeds_ of America might not be out before they
could fish and shoot together in his "native land."
Havell eventually came to America with his wife and daughter on the
ship _Wellington_, in September, 1839; they landed at New York after
the 15th of that month, and for a time were the guests of the Audubons
at Number 86 White Street. His brother, Henry,[157] who visited the
United States in 1829, returned at about this time and established a
print shop in Broadway, New York, but according to Robert's biographer,
his enterprise was ruined by a fire, when he went back to England and
he died there about 1840. After a brief residence in Brooklyn, Robert
Havell settled at Sing Sing, now Ossining, at a beautiful spot on
the Hudson, overlooking the Palisades, which he named "Rocky Mount."
There he devoted himself with characteristic energy to painting and
sketching, but he also engraved and published a number of excellent
views of his favorite river, the Hudson, as well as of New York and
other American cities. In 1857 he established himself at Tarrytown,
where he built a house and studio, and where in his later years he
produced many meritorious works in oils. "He never tired," says his
biographer, "of the great, broad, sweeping Hudson, and propped up in
bed, that he might gaze at will on this mighty river," he died at the
age of eighty-five, November 11, 1878.[158]
Havell has been described as quite the opposite of Audubon in many
of his characteristics, calm, deliberate, not easily discouraged, and
fully his equal in industry, perseverance and determination. Audubon
sometimes complained of his friend's lax business habits, but their
long sustained and cordial relations were never broken during life,
and their mutual debt was great. The engraver's first son, who lived
but a year, was named Robert Audubon, and the naturalist, who was
his godfather, held the child at its baptism at old St. James Church,
Oxford Street, in 1827. A descendant of Luke Havell, who was a drawing
master at Reading, uncle of Robert the second, possesses a silver
loving-cup which Audubon presented to his engraver upon the completion
of the second volume of his illustrations; it is inscribed "To Robert
Havell, from his friend J. J. A. 1834."
When we consider the size of Audubon's plates, which required for
the portrayal of his largest subjects, such as the Whooping Crane or
Wild Turkey, an area of no less than five square feet, it will be
seen that his engraver was compelled to adopt the most expeditious
methods. This and kindred difficulties were overcome by Havell's
skillful union of aquatint with etching and line engraving, but some
of his smaller figures, as the Snow Birds (Plate 13), appear to have
been etched in the usual way, with but slight use of either aquatint,
dry-point or burin. In aquatinting the plate was usually bitten to the
desired depth for the softer shading of feathers or foliage, or for
the entire expression of sky, water or landscape. Says George Alfred
Williams:[159]
Aquatint proper consists entirely of gradations of tone
produced by biting with aquafortis into the copper
through a resinous ground broken into a multitude
of fine granules, that render the personal touch
practically negligible, and in consideration of this we
can appreciate the exceptionally skillful use Havell,
Junior, made of the difficult process. The graining of
the aquatint grounds is produced by allowing fine dust
particles to settle upon the freshly prepared plate. It
is to these grainings of different degrees of fineness
that the engraver must look for the subtlety of the
tonal surfaces, but strength is obtained usually through
the use of the etched line. The chief limitation of the
aquatint process lies in the great difficulty of getting
more than a few differences of shade, as the ground
goes to pieces rather rapidly under successive bitings,
and the transitions from one tone to another are very
few, so that half tones are not readily obtainable.
It is in the economical use of these half tones that
Havell, Junior, achieved so much and thereby produced a
chiaroscuro seldom, if ever, equaled in aquatint.
Artists have sometimes frowned upon this combination of aquatint with
other forms of engraving, especially when executed with the burin, for
"like the permanent misery of a quarrelling married couple, they may
ruin everything with discord"; but any such lack of harmony, when not
overcome by Havell's skill, was usually completely subdued by the color
which was subsequently applied to the printed sheet. This is seen by
a comparison of the plain proof of such an elaborate plate as that of
the rattlesnake attacking the mocking birds (Plate xxi) with the result
attained in the finished impression. In replying to a criticism of
Havell's work in 1830, Audubon expressed his conviction that "no birds
were ever so beautifully and softly represented on copper," and any
hardness, which his plates rarely showed, was not due to aquatinting,
the inherent quality of which is softness. To quote our authority
again:
In Havell's hands aquatint gave the essential structure
of forms by a judicious use of the process called
"feathering." This he often did upon the bare copper
plate without a ground, allowing the acid to bite its
own granular surface. In this way he produced the soft
gradations and telling accents so necessary to the
portrayal of birds, but by a further judicious use of
line the accurate forms of both bird and plant life were
given with great force and delicacy.
When Audubon first proposed to present the Congressional Library at
Washington with a copy of his _Birds_, he asked Havell to do all the
coloring himself; Havell
colored his prints in the usual manner by flowing washes
of pure water-color tints over the monochrome proof
which was printed from the copper plate. In this phase
of the process the great charm of his genuine talent
for water-color painting asserted itself. Aside from
the first crude washes, put on by artists or colorists
employed for the purpose, he himself applied the salient
tones and all the more delicate tints.
Much misunderstanding has arisen in regard to the engraving and
publication of Audubon's earlier plates owing to the complex relations
which existed between Lizars, the two Havells of the same name,
and the naturalist himself; this involved the reissue of the first
two numbers of the work, and a confusing series of legends upon the
plates themselves, occasioned partly by a division of labor between
father and son, and by the death of Robert Havell, Senior, in 1832.
The errors into which some commentators have fallen, however, are
due to their examination of but one set of plates. The account which
follows is based upon a collation of complete copies at the British
Museum, the Radcliffe Library, Oxford, the Jardin des Plantes, Paris,
and the Boston Society of Natural History, and of numerous scattered
plates. Lizars engraved the first ten plates only of the large folio,
but before the summer of 1827 a considerable number of these early
impressions had been distributed. The Havells, as we have seen, started
the work anew, and Robert, the younger, retouched the greater part of
Lizars' plates, so that their reissue in London constitutes for the
bibliophile a second, and in some cases a third, edition. Moreover,
the plates which were eventually executed by the younger Havell, to the
number of 425, were repeatedly printed from to meet the requirements of
new subscribers; on such occasions errors were corrected, minor changes
in the artist's or engraver's name introduced, and the nomenclature
of the birds and plants more or less completely revised. Frequently
the Whatman water-marks, or, indirectly, Audubon's titles, postdate
the year of publication as printed on the plate itself. Conflicting
legends, particularly on the earlier plates, which have often puzzled
collectors, are mainly due to one or another of the conditions named.
Nearly every plate underwent alterations of some sort, but the various
legends show conclusively whether the print belongs to a first or a
subsequent impression. In the British Museum copy, the younger Havell's
first independent legend appears on Plate lxxvi (Virginia Partridge),
as "Engraved, Printed, & Coloured by R. Havell Junr. 1830." The word
"London" was later added, but was eventually discarded. After the
senior Havell's death in 1832, the son naturally dropped the suffix
from his own name; thereafter his brief designation of name and date
became gradually stereotyped. It should be noticed, however, that when
Robert Havell needed to reprint from plates which were executed before
his father's death, he would frequently remove only the "Junior," and
let the original date stand, so that legends like the following are not
uncommon: "Engraved, Printed, & Coloured by R. Havell, —— London—1831";
to avoid the lacuna, designation of place and date were, at times,
erased also. The naturalist's name underwent a different evolution on
the plates, but after 1830, the date of his election to membership in
the Royal Society, his designation gradually settled into the phrase:
"Drawn from nature by J.J. Audubon, F.L.S. F.R.S." (as in Plate lxxxi,
1830); accordingly, all plates which bear these titles, but an earlier
date, are second or later editions. The previous hints, with examples
to be given presently, will enable collectors to determine whether a
given plate is a first or subsequent impression.
[Illustration: _PLATE CCCI_
_Canvas backed Duck_
FULIGULA VALLISNERIA,
Steph. _1 2 Male, 3 Female_
View of Baltimore
Drawn from nature by J.J. Audubon F.R.S. F.L.S.
Engraved Printed & Coloured by R. Havell. 1836]
Lizars' first edition of plates, Numbers i to x, bore no dates, and,
so far as known, the first date of the entire series was "1828,"
which was added to Plate 31 (the White-headed Eagle), but was erased
from later issues. When Robert Havell, Junior, retouched Lizar's
engraving of the Turkey Hen (No. II, Plate vi), he added the date
"1829," but in a third or later edition the name was changed and the
date removed. This same date appears also on the retouched Plate ii,
of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and on that of the Purple Grackle or Crow
Blackbird (Plate vii). A curious error crept into the first impressions
of the former plate, which was mislabeled "Black-billed Cuckoo," a bird
then recognized as quite distinct.[160] Plates xxxi to lxxv (1828-29)
were all dated in the first issue, and bore the names of both Havells;
the legends are: "Engraved, Printed & Coloured by R. Havell & Son,
London, 1828," and "Engraved by Robt. Havell, Junr. Printed & Coloured
by R. Havell Senr. London, 1828," or "1829" (British Museum copy),
but when later printed by Robert, the younger, the dates were erased.
All subsequent dating of the plates was somewhat irregular until 1834
(Plate ccii), but from that point to the end of the series, the year
of issue was consistently added to each plate. Ornithologists are
specially interested in the time of publication, since forty-seven new
specific names occur on Audubon's large plates, and should date from
them and not from the letterpress which followed.
To illustrate what has been said of successive editions of Audubon's
plates, we shall give the legends of two or three of the most famous,
taken from copies in the British Museum and Boston Society of Natural
History libraries or from detached plates obtained in London, in 1903:
Plate i (1st edit., Lizars; Brit. Mus.).—"Great American
Cock Male—Vulgo (Wild Turkey) Meleagris Gallopavo. Drawn
by J. J. Audubon, M. W. S. Engraved by W. H. Lizars
Edinr."
Plate i (2nd or later edit., Havell; Boston Soc. Nat.
Hist.).—"Wild Turkey. Meleagris Gallopavo. Linn. Male
American Cane. Miegia macrosperma. Drawn from nature by
J. J. Audubon F.R.S., F.L.S. Engraved by W. H. Lizars
Edinr. Retouched by R. Havell Junr."
Plate vi (1st edit., Lizars; Brit. Mus.).—"Great
American Hen & Young, Vulgo, Female Wild
Turkey—Meleagris Gallopavo. Drawn from Nature by John J.
Audubon F.R.S.E. M.W.S. Engraved by W. H. Lizars Edinr."
Plate vi (2nd or later edit., Havell; detached
plate).—The same with the exception of "F.L.S.," added
to Audubon's name, and "Retouched by R. Havell. Junr.
London, 1829."
Plate vi (3rd or later edit., Havell; Bost. Soc.
Nat. Hist.).—"Wild Turkey, Meleagris Gallopavo. Linn.
Female and Young." (Artist's name apparently cut off
by binder.) "Engraved by W. H. Lizars. Retouched by R.
Havell. Junr."
Plate 31. (1st edit., Havell. Brit. Mus.).—"White-headed
Eagle, male. Falco Leucocephalus. Fish Fulgo—Yellow mud
Cat. Drawn from Nature & Published by John J. Audubon,
F.R.S.E., F.L.S., M.W.S. Engraved, Printed & Coloured by
R. Havell & Son, London, 1828."
Plate xxxi (2nd or later edit., Havell; Bost. Soc. Nat.
Hist.).—"White-headed Eagle, Falco Leucocephalus. Linn.
Male. Yellow Cat-fish. Drawn from Nature and Published
by John J. Audubon. F.R.S. F.L.S. Engraved, Printed &
Coloured, by R. Havell."
Plates which were wholly the work of Lizars have naturally become
extremely rare; they were evidently disregarded by Audubon when he
recorded on July 2, 1827, that he had given Mr. Children a proof
of his first number, which he called "the first in existence," and
declared that the two guineas then received was the first money that
had been returned to his hands. Lizars' initial number had actually
been finished in the previous winter, and a copy of this is recorded
as having been given to the daughter of Sir Walter Scott on the 9th of
March, 1827.
When Audubon had finally closed all his business affairs in Edinburgh
and London, late in the summer of 1839, he returned to America, with
the remaining members of his family, and settled in New York, where
he purchased a house at Number 84 White Street, then in the uptown
district.
An anonymous writer in the London _Athenæum_[161] in giving a final
review of Audubon's labors in 1839, paid this interesting tribute:
It seems but as yesterday that we were walking about
with a transatlantic stranger, picturesque enough in his
appearance and garb, to arrest the eye of every passing
gazer; a tall stalwart man, with hair sufficiently long
to qualify him to serve as a model to Gray's "Bard," and
trousers ample almost as petticoats of "good Harmony
cloth," so absorbed in the enthusiastic prosecution
of his gigantic plan—a life's labour—as to be heedless
of the singularity of those meteoric locks, and those
liberal nether garments. Some dozen of years, however,
have elapsed since that day; the American Woodsman's
hair—long since cut short—has grown white; his
magnificent undertaking is completed, and he is now on
the point of quitting England, to settle himself for the
remainder of his days whether by the side of a bayou, in
some forest clearing, or as an inhabitant of one of the
American cities which have learned to know his value,
report saith not.
We shake hands with the author, tendering him our hearty
congratulations on the completion of a task almost as
arduous as has ever been proposed to a literary man....
The confidential simplicity of Mr. Audubon's own
prefaces would make yet more personal leave-takings
and farewells, on the critic's part, natural and
graceful,—but it must suffice to say, that few have
quitted England, carrying with them a larger portion of
honest regard and sincere good wishes.
Possibly it was the same writer who gave this striking picture of
Audubon in the pages of the same journal, thirty years later:[162]
We can remember when his portfolio excited delight
in Edinburgh, London, and Paris, rivalling in smaller
circles a new Waverley novel. The man also was not a
man to be seen and forgotten, or passed on the pavement
without glances of surprise and scrutiny. The tall
and somewhat stooping form, the clothes not made by a
West-end but by a Far West tailor, the steady, rapid,
springing step, the long hair, the aquiline features,
and the glowing angry eyes,—the expression of a handsome
man conscious of ceasing to be young, and an air and
manner which told you that whoever you might be he was
John Audubon, will never be forgotten by anyone who knew
or saw him.
We will add to this the musings of an anonymous American writer[163] in
the _North American Review_ for the following year (1840):
It must have been with mingled and varied feelings
that Audubon published his concluding volume. He was
sure then that he had raised an imperishable monument
to commemorate his own renown. All anxieties and fears
which overshadowed his work in its beginning had passed
away. The prophecies of kind but overprudent friends,
who did not understand his self-sustaining energy, had
proved untrue; the malicious hope of his enemies, for
even the gentle lover of nature has enemies,—had been
disappointed; he had secured a commanding place in the
respect and gratitude of men; he had secured a treasure
of rich and glowing recollections, to warm his own heart
in his declining years, and to kindle enthusiasm in his
children's children....
On the other hand he had lost an employment which
for years had kept all the powers of body and mind
in healthy though intense exertion; whatever else he
might do, the great work of his intellectual life was
finished.... His trumpet of victory at the result must
have given an uncertain sound, partly exulting in his
success, and partly lamenting that his great work was
finished.
It has often been asked, how many complete sets of Audubon's folio of
_The Birds of America_ were distributed, and how many are in existence
today. No definite answer can be given to either question. His final
lists, appended to the last volume of his "Biographies" in 1839, and
reproduced in Appendix III to the present work, gave the number of
standing names as 161 (calling for 166 copies), of which 79 (with 84
copies) pertained to Europe, and 82 were American; inasmuch as 118
subscribers had dropped off, with incompleted sets on their hands, this
brought the total number of original patrons at that time to 279, and
the number of copies which had been originally ordered to 284. On the
other hand, the following advertisement, evidently from the hand of
Audubon himself, appeared in _The Athenæum_, under date of "London,
November 1, 1837," and was reprinted in America a few weeks later:[164]
The number of perfect copies at present subscribed
for does not exceed 190, of which upwards of 80 are
subscribed for in America; and the expense of getting
them up is so great, that not more than ten or fifteen
copies, above the number subscribed for, will be
prepared.
The Establishment necessary for its publication will
be broken up when the last Number is coloured; and any
application for the Work must be made to the Author, 4,
Wimpole—street, London; or Mr. R. Havell, Engraver, 77
Oxford—street, before the first of May next, as after
that time no subscription can be received.
Assuming that Audubon's final published lists, calling for 166 copies,
were correct, and that ten additional sets were prepared, this would
bring the total original number known to have been complete to 176,
which agrees with an estimate attributed to Victor Audubon, who once
expressed the belief that "about 175 copies" were in existence, of
which about 80 were in America.[165] It is probable, however, that of
the 118 persons who allowed their subscriptions to lapse, a number
completed their sets from the residual stock, which must have been
great, though the later plates would be the hardest to obtain; in this
event the number of perfect sets of Audubon's _Birds_ probably never
exceeded 190 or 200.
The proprietor of a well known Philadelphia bookshop[166] has stated
that during his experience as an antiquary, he has had personal
knowledge of forty or fifty copies of the folio edition of Audubon's
_Birds_ in America, and he thought it probable that a single New
England print dealer, in the course of twenty years, had broken up
thirty or forty volumes for the purpose of selling the plates. This
is not surprising, since from the sale of a single volume upwards of
$1,500 might be realized in this way, but no reputable dealer would now
think of breaking up an unimpaired set.
Mr. Ruthven Deane, who has compiled a careful record of copies of _The
Birds of America_ known to exist in the United States, recorded in
1908 that he had ascertained the resting-place of seventy-five sets
which, with few exceptions, were complete and in good condition. "A set
in the library of the Mechanics-Mercantile Institute, San Francisco,
California, which had been there for some thirty years, and another
set in the San Francisco Art Association, presented in 1894 by Mr.
Edward F. Searles, Methuen, Massachusetts, were both destroyed by
the disastrous earthquake and fire which visited that city April 18,
1906."[167]
Audubon's own copy of his _Birds_, the plates of which were naturally
selected with the greatest care, was sold by Mrs. Audubon after the
death of her last surviving son, in 1862, to John T. Johnson, of New
York, for $1,200; the subsequent history of these volumes has not been
traced. Havell brought with him to America a copy, every plate of which
is said to have been selected by himself, and it is undoubtedly one of
the finest sets in existence. It passed from the family's possession
to the hands of the publishers and booksellers, Messrs. C. S. Francis
& Company, of 554 Broadway, New York, who in 1856 had charge of the
sale of all of Audubon's works,[168] and was later purchased by Dr. W.
Gurdon Russell, of Hartford, Connecticut, who presented it to Trinity
College, July 10, 1900.[169]
After recording the facts of the case, so far as they have been
ascertained, the following extract from the minutes of a meeting of the
New York Historical Society, held October 3, 1865, will be read with
interest:[170]
The Librarian presented the following copy of a
manuscript memorandum preserved in the first volume of
Audubon's Ornithological Biography, formerly belonging
to the late J. Prescott Hall,[171] and now in possession
of David G. Francis, Esq.:
"This work is presented to J. Prescott Hall by his poor
Friend and sincerely attached servant
JOHN J. AUDUBON"
"New York April 4, 1844."
"Mr Audubon told me in the year 184— that he did not
sell more than 40 copies of his great work in England,
Ireland, Scotland, and France, of which Louis Phillippe
took 10.
"The following received their copies but never paid
for them: George IV., Dutchess of Clarence, Marquis of
Londonderry, Princess of Hesse Homburg.
"An Irish lord whose name he would not give, took two
copies and paid for neither. Rothschild paid for his
copy, but with great reluctance.
"He further said that he sold 75 copies in America, 26
in New York and 24 in Boston; that the work cost him
£27,000 and that he lost $25,000 by it.
"He said that Louis Phillippe offered to subscribe for
100 copies if he would publish the work in Paris. This
he found could not be done, as it would have required
40 years to finish it as things were then in Paris. Of
this conversation I made a memorandum at the time which
I read over to Mr. Audubon and he pronounced it correct.
"J. PRESCOTT HALL."
As regards the subscription of Rothschild the following account of
his interview with the famous banker has been recorded by Audubon
himself.[172] The naturalist, it appears, received a letter to Baron
Rothschild from the American banking-house of Prime, Ward & King,
and presented it in the summer of 1834. The banker was not in when
Audubon and his son, Victor, called upon him, but "soon a corpulent man
appeared, hitching up his trousers, and a face red with the exertion
of walking, and without noticing any one present, dropped his fat
body into a comfortable chair, as if caring for no one else in this
wide world but himself." When Audubon presented his credentials, the
banker asked: "Is this a letter of business, or is it a mere letter of
introduction?'" As Audubon had not read the letter, he was obliged to
answer rather awkwardly that he could not tell. "The banker then opened
the letter, read it with the manner of one who was looking only at
the temporal side of things, and after reading it said, 'This is only
a letter of introduction, and I expect from its contents that you are
the publisher of some book or other and need my subscription.'" Audubon
continues:
Had a man the size of a mountain spoken to me in that
arrogant style in America I should have indignantly
resented it; but where I then was it seemed best to
swallow and digest it as well as I could. So in reply
... I said I should be _honored_ by his subscription to
the "Birds of America." "Sir," he said, "I never sign
my name to any subscription list, but you may send in
your work and I will pay for a copy of it. Gentlemen,
I am busy, I wish you good morning." We were busy men,
too, and so bowing respectfully, we retired, pretty well
satisfied with the small slice of his opulence which our
labor was likely to obtain.
A few days afterwards I sent the first volume of my
work half bound, and all the numbers besides, then
published. On seeing them we were told that he ordered
the bearer to take them to his house, which was done
directly. Number after number was sent and delivered
to the Baron, and after eight or ten months my son made
out his account and sent it by Mr. Havell, my engraver,
to his banking-house. The Baron looked at it with
amazement, and cried out, "What, a hundred pounds for
birds! Why, sir, I will give you five pounds, and not a
farthing more!" Representations were made to him of the
magnificence and expense of the work, and how pleased
his Baroness and wealthy children would be to have
a copy; but the great financier was unrelenting. The
copy of the work was actually sent back to Mr. Havell's
shop, and as I found that instituting legal proceedings
against him would cost more than it would come to, I
kept the work, and afterwards sold it to a man with
less money but a nobler heart. What a distance there is
between two such men as Baron Rothschild of London and
the merchant of Savannah!