(Natural History) 3 Vols. Audubon, John James. The Quadrupeds of North America. New York: V.G. Audubon. 1856. 8vo. Publisher's brown morocco, elaborately blind-stamped lettering and foliate panels within double fillets to sides, spines tooled in blind with raised bands and gilt lettering, all edges gilt, volumes I and III with marbled endpapers; pp. xvi + 383; pp. 334; pp. v + 348; 155 hand-colored plates printed by J.T. Bowen; signature of John James Audubon mounted on first free leaf, with portrait of Audubon mounted on verso of front free endpaper; binding slightly rubbed to edges and joints. A very good set.
The third edition and the last to be produced by the Audubon family. The title page of Volume III bears the date of 1860, the year in which Roe Lockwood took over publication of Audubon's works from his sons, but it still gives the publisher as "V.G. Audubon" suggesting that this volume was produced before the deal with Lockwood. Originally issued in 31 parts to subscribers, this edition was also sold in book form.
Audubon's sons, Victor Gifford and John Woodhouse Audubon, decided to issue this octavo edition of the enormous folio Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1845-1848), with the same text by John Bachman, during the last years of their father's life and first published it in 1849. The work had been a real family affair, with the ailing John James and son John Woodhouse dividing the artwork between them and Victor providing most of the backgrounds, while Bachman, also ill, was greatly aided in writing his text by his sister-in-law Maria. There were a number of difficulties in finishing the work, not least the fact that Audubon's advancing age hampered him on his field trips on the Missouri river. There was little existing data on American mammals and Audubon did not provide as much new information as Bachman had hoped for, making it difficult to complete the text. In the end, John Woodhouse travelled to Texas and then to the museums of Europe to glean the necessary data. The result of this collaborative effort was a work that is as much a scientific as an aesthetic triumph, the founding text of the serious study of North American quadrupeds.
This octavo edition, so much more approachable in size and price than the imperial folio work, brought a level of commercial and artistic success for the two brothers and saw them keeping their father's legacy alive. Audubon died in 1851 after struggling with Alzheimer's Disease and it is highly unlikely that he had much input, either artistic or commercial, into this edition. This means that the decision to use a tint for the background of these plates, a practice that became standard in all subsequent Audubon productions, was probably down to the sons alone.
Wood p. 208; Nissen IZB 163.