the study: royal octavo edition The Quadrupeds of North America
The octavo edition of The Quadrupeds of North America (the word "Viviparous" was dropped from the title of the smaller work) was the creation of Audubon's sons, Victor Gifford Audubon and John Woodhouse Audubon. Using the text supplied by the Reverend John Bachman for The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, the Audubons reduced the drawings from the folio edition using the camera lucida and published the work in fascicles (parts). Each fascicle included five plates interleaved with the text corresponding to that animal. These were sent to subscribers in tan wrappers. It is extremely unusual to find these parts intact in their original wrappers; they are even more rare than original parts from the octavo Birds. The plates issued were similar to the folio versions, although the smaller format could require simplifications in the backgrounds and could introduce distortions in the drawings of the animals. In terms of the order of plates, the parts were almost identical to that of the folio with a few exceptions. Plate #109 Mexican Marmot Squirrel included the animals from Imperial Folio Plate 109 Californian Marmot Squirrel and Imperial Folio Plate 124 Mexican Marmot Squirrel. This corrected an error in the Imperial Folio caused by depicting the young and adult of a single species as two separate species. Finally, the six octavo-sized plates included in the Imperial Folio supplement were incorporated into the third volume of the octavo edition as follows -- Plate 124 became the Mountain Brook Mink while the other five plates became the entirely new Part 31. Part 31 was comprised of
The original 31 parts were issued from 1849 to 1854. This drawn-out schedule contrasts with the relatively speedy production of the octavo edition of Birds of America, 100 parts of which were issued from late 1839 to mid-1844. The limiting factor for the quads was the pace at which Bachman produced the text. As was discussed on the Imperial Folio study page, Bachman faced many difficulties in writing the text including illness and lack of reference materials. Both Maria Martin Bachman (Bachman's sister-in-law and later second wife) and Victor Audubon played critical roles in the shaping of the text, the last volume of which was not completed until March of 1852, over a year after John James Audubon's death. It would be two more years before the last octavo edition volume was published. This extended period of time is perhaps partially responsible for the confusion surrounding publication dates of the early octavo editions of the Quadrupeds of North America. Because of Audubon's cloudy mental state, it is possibly he was not even aware of the project, and he was almost certainly not involved in making any of the business or aesthetic decisions. At least one decision relating to the appearance of the quadruped plates established a standard for all subsequent Audubon projects. The use of a background tint on the quadruped plates presaged the use of a tint in the second and all later editions of the octavo Birds of America. When John Woodhouse Audubon began issuing a new folio edition of The Birds of America (the chromolithographs of the Bien Edition), a lightly colored background was standard for bird images that lacked a landscape setting. Of all the octavo quadruped plates we have seen, we have only found two lacking the background tint in at least one state. These are the Nagel and Weingaertner versions of the last two plates of fascicle No. 1, Plate IV Florida Rat and Plate V Richardson's Columbian Squirrel. The three other plates of this fascicle all include landscapes with tinted backgrounds; Plates IV and V are the first plates of the series that do not involve a landscape. Stylistically, these plates remind us of the many plates of the first octavo edition of The Birds of America that depict the birds in a vignetted tree. To the best of our knowledge, subsequent states of these plates appear to include the background tint, as do all states of all other octavo quad plates. The lack of tint might be due to an error of omission on the part of the printers, or it could be that the decision to add the tint to all plates was taken after the first version of Plates IV and V was printed. The decision to add the tint proved very important in terms of the aesthetic quality of all future editions of Audubon's works. Even the folio-sized Bien Edition includes a pale background wash on plates that lack a landscape setting. The decision to use a tint would appear to have been among the most critical in deciding the overall look of Audubon's work as it was presented to the public following completion of the Imperial Folio in 1848. Given the fact of Audubon's incapacity, it seems likely this decision was made by Victor and John Woodhouse Audubon with little or no input from their father.
The octavo quadrupeds proved a popular work, and the large array of dates associated with the various volumes suggests the Audubons may have published volumes almost continuously through the 1850s. Collecting Issues The octavo edition of The Quadrupeds of North America had an estimated 2000 subscribers to the first edition, about twice that of the more expensive Birds of America. Although the lion's share of artistic and scientific credit for this work must accrue to John James Audubon and John Bachman, from a business standpoint, The Quadrupeds was primarily the work of Audubon's sons. As such, it may have been their greatest success. Aside from the Bien Edition, there is less information available about the publication history of the octavo quads than of any of Audubon's other works. In discussing this work, it is essential to be clear about the differences between states and editions. We quote the definitions provided by the American Historical Print Collectors Society's online dictionary. Edition is defined as "all the impressions published at the same time or as part of the same publishing event. A first edition print is one which was issued with the first published group of impressions." State is defined as "all the impressions pulled without any change being made to the matrix. A first state print is one of the first group of impressions pulled. Different states of a print can reflect intentional or accidental changes to the matrix." (In the case of Audubon octavos, the matrix is the lithographic stone.) Both definitions go on to distinguish between plates and editions by concluding, "There can be several editions of a print which are the same state, and there can be several states of a print in the same edition." In the case of the octavo quads, nobody has yet established a systematic relationship between state and edition. A dedicated researcher might be able to establish a chronology of subtle changes in state over time for certain plates. For example, we have noted changes in Plate 47 American Badger in terms of both landscape details and the shape of the badger's tail and body. The two states we identified were both credited to J. T. Bowen. It is possible that a review of many octavo sets would suggest a date when Bowen's shop made the changes in the stone. Or it might not. Nagel & Weingaertner versions of the plates from the early numbers show up irregularly in both first and later editions. In comparing Volume I of any two first edition sets, one would be likely to find discrepancies among the first 31 plates -- some would be credited to Nagel & Weingaertner in one set and to J. T. Bowen in the other. We have seen at least one Nagel & Weingaertner plate reported by the seller to from an 1870 edition of the quads. Knowledgeable dealers seem to agree that once a plate loses its link to an original volume, there is no objective criterion that would allow identification of the edition from which the plate came.
The image above shows two states of the octavo version of Plate XXI (21) Gray Fox. In order to understand some of the differences between these plates, it is helpful to know that the title of the Imperial Folio plate was "Grey Fox" with no indication of the sex of the animal, whereas the folio letterpress referred to the animal as the "Gray Fox." The octavo plate on the left has a printer credit to Nagel & Weingaertner and uses the title "Gray Fox / Male." Above the fox's head there floats a feather. Often, the plates printed by Nagel & Weingaertner included a credit to R. Trembly as lithographic artist, but in the case of Plate XXI, there is no credit to the artist in the Nagel & Weingaertner state. To the right is a later state of the same plate credited to J. T. Bowen. This plate includes a credit to the lithographic artist William E. Hitchcock centered immediately below the image and above the title. The tail of the fox is bushier, causing it to obscure part of the fox's hindmost leg. Some of the rocks and other landscape elements appear to have been reworked so that a careful comparison reveals several minor differences. More noticeably, the feather above the fox's head is gone, and the plate has been retitled "Grey Fox" (without any indication of sex). Although change in the title is consistent with the Imperial Folio plate title, the octavo text maintained the spelling of gray as it was given in the folio letterpress. Thus, the change of spelling in the plate title had the paradoxical effect of restoring a discrepancy between the plate and the text. Although both plates show variations from the original folio plate, overall we think the Nagel & Weingaertner version is somewhat more faithful than the Bowen version. We have not done comparisons between the Nagel & Weingaertner and Bowen states of the other plates, but we hope to do so in the future. We often hear collectors and dealers make distinctions based on quality, and one may hear that later edition prints are less "well done" then the first edition counterparts, or that the coloring is inferior. In the end, a collector must rely on his or her own judgment in deciding the quality of an individual plate. Over time stones wore out and had to be reworked. This is especially true of the text that appears on the plates -- minor variations can be seen in the type of otherwise identical plates, and it is not unusual to see on the market plates missing the artist's credit, the printer's credit, or both. Whether this was the result of wear on the stone, poor inking, or was actually done on purpose (e.g., when only the printer's credit is missing), we do not know. The octavo edition of the quadrupeds was reprinted multiple times by the Audubons and possibly more than once by the Lockwood firm. Firm dates for each "edition" has not yet been established with certainty because of the large number of combinations of years found on the title pages of existing sets. One can also find volumes that lack any date on the title page although there is generally a dated copyright notice on the verso of all title pages (1849 for Volume 1, 1851 for Volume II, and 1854 for Volume III). The copyright date should not be mistaken for the publication date of a specific volume. Letterpress The letterpress included in the octavo edition of The Quadrupeds of North America was drawn with apparently no significant changes (except in most of the title pages) from the letterpress of The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (issued from 1846 to 1853 or 1854) and the supplement issued in 1854. Written by the Reverend John Bachman, the descriptions sometimes draws on information from Audubon's journals. Although the material reflects the lack of in-depth knowledge and understanding about the relationships between the animals covered, it is fascinating to read and gives some insight into the cultural values of the times. When buying prints, some dealers provide the original text pages from the letterpress (if available) or a photocopy. Unfortunately, the paper of the letterpress is often found in poorer condition than the prints (stained, foxed, etc.). It is therefore a good idea to store it so it is not touching your prints. see a set of octavo quad plates
Last updated 10.10.06 |
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