ORNITHOLOGICAL BIOGRAPHY, OR AN ACCOUNT OF THE HABITS OF THE BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Audubon, John James:
Edinburgh. 1831-1839. Five volumes. A few in-text illustrations. Half title in each volume. Large thick octavos. Contemporary three quarter pebbled calf and marbled boards, spines gilt. Bindings rubbed, worn along the edges and hinges, front hinge of first volume repaired. A bit of scattered, light foxing. Overall, a very good set. This is Audubon's text, designed to accompany the elephant folio edition of THE BIRDS OF AMERICA, giving sketches of the birds described therein. Of great interest are Audubon's accounts of his travels and adventures in the American hinterland, scattered through the volumes as part of the bird descriptions and as separate anecdotes. Includes accounts of his experiences in the Florida Keys, along the Mississippi, and in Louisiana and Kentucky in the 1820s and '30s. Audubon published the text separately from the double elephant folio plates in order to avoid a stricture of the British Copyright Act of 1709, which would have required him to deposit a set of the plates with each of nine depository libraries in the United Kingdom. The publication date on the titlepage of the fifth volume is incorrectly printed as "1849." One of the classic texts of American natural history. HOWES A389, "aa." MEISEL III, p.406. SABIN 2366. CLARK II:179 (ref). SERVIES 1532,1677,1743,2120,2302.
(Item ID: WRCAM39919) $7,500.00