Audubon, John James | First octavo edition of Quadrupeds, in the original wrappers

Audubon, John James

The Quadrupeds of North America. New York: V.G. Audubon, 1849-1854

31 original parts, 8vo (268 x 182 mm). 155 hand-colored lithographed plates by W.E. Hitchcock and R. Trembly after J.J. and John Wodehouse Audubon; occasional foxmarks or minor stains, plate 9 (no. 2), 26-30 (no.6), 98-100 (no. 20) loose. Vol. 1 title and half-title bound at front of no. 1, vol. 2 title at end of no. 20 and vol. 3 title and half-title at end of no. 31; indexes in parts 10, 20 and 31; occasional pale offsetting from plates on to text, no. 2 with pin puncture in outer margin, nos. 15, 18, and 24 with pale stain in lower right margins throughout. Original printed wrappers; a few chips to fore-edges, a few stains, heaviest on no. 7, spines chipped and with losses, no. 19 with part number changed in ink manuscript; housed in a cloth folding case.

First octavo edition, in the original wrappers, an original subscriber's copy containing the 150 plates from the folio edition and five of the six plates from the 1854 supplement to that work.

REFERENCE:

Bennett 5; Nissen ZBI 163; Sabin 2638

PROVENANCE:

Valentine (original subscriber, partially printed note laid into no. 1, New York, 8 October 1853, paying V. G. Audubon "For the 'Quadrupeds of North America"; penciled name on front wrapper of no. 10, ink on no. 12) — Christie's New York, 3 December 2010, lot 283