Lot 279
  • 279

Audubon, John James

Estimate
16,000 - 22,000 USD
bidding is closed

Description

  • The Birds of America, from Drawings made in the United States and their Territories. New York: George R. Lockwood, (1870) — & John Bachman. The Quadrupeds of North America. New York: George R. Lockwood, [1870]
  • paper, ink, leather
Together, 2 works in 11 volumes, large 8vo (10 3/8 x 6 5/8 in.; 264 x 168 mm). Half-titles, Birds with 500 tinted lithographed plates and Quadrupeds with 155 tinted lithographed plates, all after J. J. and J. W. Audubon by W. E. Hitchcock and R. Trembly, printed and finished by hand by J. T. Bowen of Philadelphia; text of Quadrupeds spotted and browned, plates of both works and text of Birds very clean and bright. Publisher's uniform blind-stamped brown morocco, spines gilt in six compartments, salmon-coated endpapers, gilt edges. Slight rubbing to extremities, glue stains to margins of endpapers. Accompanied by a duplicate of the text only of the Birds, 8 volumes bound in 4. Early twentieth-century half maroon morocco over marbled boards, extremities a bit worn, ex-Newberry Library, with bookplates, blind-stamps, and supralibros.

Literature

Ayer/Zimmer 25-26; Ellis/Mengel 105; Nissen TVB 52n; Tyler, Audubon's Great National Work, 129, Appendix n. 8-9

Condition

Together, 2 works in 11 volumes, large 8vo (10 3/8 x 6 5/8 in.; 264 x 168 mm). Half-titles, Birds with 500 tinted lithographed plates and Quadrupeds with 155 tinted lithographed plates, all after J. J. and J. W. Audubon by W. E. Hitchcock and R. Trembly, printed and finished by hand by J. T. Bowen of Philadelphia; text of Quadrupeds spotted and browned, plates of both works and text of Birds very clean and bright. Publisher's uniform blind-stamped brown morocco, spines gilt in six compartments, salmon-coated endpapers, gilt edges. Slight rubbing to extremities, glue stains to margins of endpapers. Accompanied by a duplicate of the text only of the Birds, 8 volumes bound in 4. Early twentieth-century half maroon morocco over marbled boards, extremities a bit worn, ex-Newberry Library, with bookplates, blind-stamps, and supralibros.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

The present edition of the Birds belongs to one of two reprinted by George Lockwood between 1870 and 1871. "These editions were bound in eight volumes rather than seven, and were printed, where possible, from the same stones and stereotype plates that had been made in the 1840s and 1850s" (Tyler). Some time after 1870, the stones from which the octavo editions were printed were destroyed by a fire in a Philadelphia warehouse.