Books

New York: John James Audubon, 1845. Hand-colored lithograph by J. T. Bowen of Philadelphia after Audubon. Sheet: (21 1/4 x 27 inches). The Black American Wolf from the first edition of Audubon's Quadrupeds, the greatest 19th-century illustrated natural history work to be produced in America: "As long as our civilization lasts, America will be in debt to this genius." [Peterson] The Black Wolf, a color variety of the Red Wolf, is now supposedly extinct east of the Mississippi River. Its former range included much of the central and southeastern United States. "Once when we were traveling on foot not far from the southern boundary of Kentucky, we fell in with a Black Wolf following a man with a rifle on his shoulders. The man assured us it was as gentle as any dog, and that he had never met with a dog that could trail a Deer better. We were so much struck with this and the Wolf's noble appearance that we offered a hundred dollars for it, but the owner would not part with it for any…

'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.