Ornithological Biography - photo 1

Ornithological Biography

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$ 27 720
Auction dateClassic
26.05.2022 10:00UTC -04:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
USA, New York
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Archive
ID 752911
Lot 103 | Ornithological Biography
Ornithological BiographyJohn James Audubon, 1831-1839AUDUBON, John James. Ornithological Biography, or an Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America. Edinburgh: Adam Black, 1831-1849 [i.e. 1831-1839].First edition, presentation copy, signed by Audubon for J. Prescott Hall, who records a scandalous Audubon anecdote in manuscript. Inscribed by the author on the half-title of volume one: "This work is presented to J. Prescott Hall Esq. by his poor friend and sincerely attached servant, John J. Audubon. New York April 4th, 1844." On the preceding flyleaf, Hall takes a full page to recount a story Audubon told him. The gist is neatly summed up by the New York Times headline of an article also tipped in, from 1907 "Unique Book to Be Sold.; Copy of Audubon's Work Records Fact that George IV. Didn't Pay Him." Further deadbeats are listed as well. Narratives of Personal Experience 6 ("The incidents of his life and travels on the frontier and in the wilds of the South and West give a vivid and exciting picture of his passionate quest and of the world of the young United States.")Five volumes, octavo (249 x 155 mm). Half-titles, wood-engravings, printed U.S. copyright notice pasted down on vol. 3 half-title (some dampstains, scattered marks). 16-page prospectus for the Birds of America, dated 1831, listing 180 subscribers (Fries edition E) bound in at end of vol. 1. Contemporary half morocco (well-rubbed, some chipping to spines, some dampstain, vols. 1 and 4 rebacked with original spines laid down). Provenance: Jonathan Prescott Hall, American judge, 1796-1862 (presentation inscription, lengthy manuscript note) – H.H. Ward (note recording purchase on 4 November 1865) – John P. Jepson, Brooklyn collector (his sale, Anderson Galleries, 10 June 1907, lot 40) – purchased at that sale by J. Ackermann Coles (bookplates, ownership inscriptions including on title which efface earlier inscriptions, stained letter from the President of the Illinois Audubon Society) – Newark Library (gift inscription from J. Ackermann Coles) – West China Union University Library, Chengdu (few library markings, call slips dated 1930 and 1931) – Evan Morton Evans, 1870-1955 (bookplates, his sale Parke-Bernet, 6 December 1955, lot 26) – Christie's New York, 9 June 1993, lot 9.
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