You were elected in November last a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, on the nomination which I had the honor to submit to that body. Owing to a change in the secretaryship a delay arose in preparing your diploma, which will however be forwarded in a few days.
Upon balancing his accounts with The Birds of America at about this time, Audubon thought it was truly remarkable that $40,000 should have passed through his hands for the completion of the first volume.
Who would believe that once in London I had only a sovereign left in my pocket, and did not know to whom to apply for another, when at the verge of failure; above all, that I extricated myself from all my difficulties, not by borrowing money, but by rising at four o'clock in the morning, working hard all day, and disposing of my works at a price which a common labourer would have thought little more than sufficient remuneration for his work? To give you an idea of my actual difficulties during the publication of my first volume, it will be sufficient to say, that in the four years required to bring that volume before the world, no less than fifty of my subscribers, representing the sum of fifty-six thousand dollars, abandoned me! And whenever a few withdrew I was forced to leave London, and go to the provinces, to obtain others to supply their places, in order to enable me to raise the money to meet the expenses of engraving, coloring, paper, printing ...; and that with all my constant exertions, fatigues, and vexations, I find myself now having but one hundred and thirty standing names on my list.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 60.
[2] Ornithological Biography ([Bibl. No. 2]), vol. iv, p. 222.
[3] Elliott Coues, Key to North American Birds, 4th ed., p. xxi (Boston, 1890).
[4] Audubon, in Audubon County, Iowa, in Beeker County, Minnesota, and in Wise County, Texas, as well as Audubon, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in which his old farm, "Mill Grove," is situated. Audubon Avenue is the first of the subterranean passages which lead from the entrance of Mammoth Cave, and is noted for its swarms of bats. Audubon Park, New York City, between the Hudson River and Broadway and extending from 156th, to 160th Streets, embraces a part of "Minnie's Land," the naturalist's old Hudson River estate, but is a realty designation and is now almost entirely covered with buildings (see [Chapter XXXVI]).
[5] The Audubon Monument Committee of the New York Academy of Sciences was appointed October 3, 1887, and made its final report in 1893, when this beautiful memorial was formally dedicated. Subscriptions from all parts of the United States amounted to $10,525.21. The monument is a Runic cross in white marble, ornamented with American birds and mammals which Audubon has depicted, and surmounts a die bearing a portrait of the naturalist, modeled from Cruikshank's miniature, with suitable inscriptions, the whole being supported on a base of granite; the total height is nearly 26 feet, and the weight 2 tons. It was presented to the Corporation of Trinity Parish by Professor Thomas Eggleston, and received by Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix. The cemetery has since been cut in two by the extension of Broadway; the monument is in the northerly section, close to the parish house of the Chapel of the Intercession.