[4] This "Great Volume," bound in fine Russia leather, was still in possession of the Bachman family in 1888, and is said to represent one of the earliest impressions of the plates, which Audubon had selected and used for exhibition purposes. See C. L. Bachman, [op. cit.], p. 101.
[5] This unique copy of The Birds of America bears the inscription:
To my worthy Friend
D d. Eckley, Esq., of [Boston]
this volume is given with
his sincere and good wishes.
John J. Audubon.
The plates thus dedicated were unbound, and apparently in their original covers, which consisted of plain brown sheets. They passed through the hands of Messrs. Burrows Brothers' Company, Cleveland, to Mr. Robert H. Sayre of South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and were originally received by the American dealers from the Messrs. Sotheran & Company of London. Possibly this was the set mentioned by Coues, who says "Trübner ... quotes the work with plain plates. I have never seen one in that condition" (Birds of the Colorado Valley, p. 612; [Bibl. No. 181]). After Mr. Sayre's death, his library was dispersed by public auction at Philadelphia, when this complete set of Audubon plates, though in an uncolored state, brought $3,200; see Public Ledger, November 9, 1907, and "Bohemian" ([Bibl. No. 207a]), Black Diamond Express, vol. iv, p. 3.
[6] Letter (No. 1) from Audubon to the editor of the Monthly American Journal of Geology and Natural Science ([Bibl. No. 34]), published in vol. i, p. 358 (1832); dated "St. Augustine, East Florida, Dec. 7, 1831." These letters, which were hurriedly written in the field, appeared in a short-lived and forgotten publication; they are here given in part on account of the general interest of the narrative.
[7] See Audubon's New Year's resolution against snuff, [Vol. I., p. 396].