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AUDUBON, John James (1785-1851) and Rev. John BACHMAN (1790-1874)
The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America
New York: H.Ludwig [vols.I & II] or R.Craighead [vol.III] for J.J. Audubon, 1846-1851-1854. 3 volumes, quarto (11 x 7 ½ inches). Half-titles in vols.I and III, 6pp. subscribers' lists in vols.I & II. Original purple cloth, paper title labels on spines (labels rubbed with some loss, spines faded and chipped as usual). Modern cloth box, morocco lettering piece. Provenance: Henry William Ravenel (1814-1887, inscription on title of vol.I, subscriber).
First edition, with the second expanded issue of volume III, of the text issued to accompany the Imperial folio edition of the "Quadrupeds." The Henry Ravenel copy and a good set of this surprisingly rare text to Audubon's final great natural history work, providing descriptions of the quadrupeds of `the British and Russian possessions in the north, the whole of the United States and their territories, California, and that part of Mexico north of the Tropic of Cancer' (Introduction). The subscription lists include 296 names subscribing for 304 copies.
Henry William Ravenel was born on the Pooshee plantation, St.John's, Berkeley County, South Carolina in 1814. His interest in botany flourished whilst at South Carolina College and brought him into contact with a number of the most eminent naturalists of the day including Asa Gray and John Bachman. Ravanel came to be recognized as an authority on the fungi of the United States and his best known published work on the subject appeared in two series between 1853 and 1882. Ravenel's name appears as a subscriber in the list at the end of vol.I.
Audubon's collaborator on the Quadrupeds was the naturalist and Lutheran clergyman John Bachman who had studied quadrupeds since he was a young man and was a recognized authority on the subject in the United States. The two began their association when Audubon stayed with Bachman and his family in Charleston for a month in 1831; this friendship was later cemented by the marriage of Victor and John W. Audubon to Bachman's daughters, Maria and Eliza. Audubon knew Bachman's contribution to the Quadrupeds would be crucial and endeavored to convince his friend to lay aside his fears about the project. Audubon was eager to begin what he felt could be his last outstanding achievement in natural history, but Bachman was more cautious and worried that they were entering a field where `we have much to learn'. Audubon persisted in his efforts to get him to take part, and Bachman, `anxious to do something for the benefit of Victor and John [Audubon]', eventually relented, with the final condition that all of the expenses and all of the profits should go to Audubon's sons. By 1835, Bachman had become indispensable to the Quadrupeds project, writing most of the present text and editing the entire work.
In issuing the text separately to the volumes of plates, Audubon was continuing a practice that he had begun in Britain with The Birds of America. With this earlier work had the text been bound in, the British Copyright Act of 1709 would have required him to deposit a complete set of the plate volumes with each of the nine copyright libraries. The text and plates were therefore printed and bound separately in a successful effort to avoid this expensive necessity. The present set includes the second issue of volume III. This includes 90 more pages of text than the first issue (which is dated 1853). In addition the title, p.104, and the preliminaries and indices are all reset. It also sometimes includes 6 additional small format plates (numbered 124, 151-155). These plates are not always present, and although apparently called for by the text (e.g. p.255 for plate CLI) they were clearly only an option.
Bennett p.5; Nissen ZBI 162; Sabin 2367
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#2913 $7,500.00 
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