Books

3 volumes, large 8vo, 155 hand-finished lithographed plates by J. T. Bowen from drawings on stone by W. E. Hitchcock and R. Trembley, after J. J. and J. W. Audubon; occasional light spotting. Publisher's panel-stamped brown morocco, spine gilt-lettered, a.e.g.; some wear to joints and spine ends. With ticket of C. H, Bender's Bindery and Blank Book Manufactory, Albany, NY. First octavo of Audubon's final great natural history work, with plates and descriptions of the quadrupeds of the United States including Texas, California and Oregon, as well as part of Mexico, the British and Russian possessions and Arctic regions. Audubon's collaborator on the Quadrupeds was the naturalist and Lutheran clergyman John Bachman, who had studied quadrupeds since he was a young man and was a recognized authority on the subject in the United States. The two began their association when Audubon stayed with Bachman and his family in Charleston for a month in 1831. This friendship was later cemented by the marriages of Victor and John W. Audubon to Bachman's daughters Maria and Eliza. The Quadrupeds was first published in a folio format. The octavo edition, issued in response to the success of a similar edition of The Birds of America, contains all the original 150 plates, with five of the six supplemental plates, reduced by means of the camera lucida. It was first prepared for the press and published by Audubon's sons, John W. and Victor, shortly after their father's death in January 1851. With the completion of the third volume in 1854, the quartet of natural history works as envisaged by Audubon was complete. The present set of the Quadrupeds has an interesting provenance, having been owned by Harmon Pumpelly (1795-1882). Pumpelly was a prosperous merchant and businessman in Albany NY. During his later years he lived and traveled widely in Europe. Although he had little formal education, Pumpelly was an omnivorous reader from a very early age. He continued to read widely and collect books right up to the very end of his long life. References: Bennett p.5; Nissen ZBI 163; Reese, Stamped with a National Character 38; Sabin 2638; Wood p. 208 Provenance: Harmon Pumpelly (armorial bookplate, signature in light ink on each title-page).

'Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America' is another notable work by John James Audubon, initially intended to complement 'The Birds of America'. It provides detailed illustrations and descriptions of North American mammals.