How comes it that Harlan has not money enough to pay his expenses in Europe? I shall remember the 20 £, and the exchange. Chamley, of New Castle, was never prompt pay; indeed, my dear Victor, were you fully acquainted with the great difficulties which I had to surmount and did surmount, it would give you less fear than you now feel or experience. We shall be glad to receive the Brushes that are, I hope, now under way for us. Mr. Miesson resides [at] No. 2 Rue Pigalle, on the east side of the grand Boulevards. Present my regards to Mr. Yarrell, and thank him in my name for his kind offer of eggs, and add that I shall have it in my power to present him with many which I think he has not found, that our two collections will most likely comprise the whole of those published in my 4 volumes. I fear that to give the eggs in the 2d. of Biography would render that volume too large, and again too costly, and that a few plates of eggs at the end of the large work will answer better.[51] The plates ought to be insured for at least 4 or 5 times the cost, for should they by an accident be destroyed, the amount of their cost would prove a poor remuneration, when compared with the time it would require to have them renewed. Attend to this as soon as you can. Henry Ward has rendered himself very obnoxious here. a letter came to Mr. B. on last evening from St. Augustine, to inquire how a certain amount left by him unpaid was to be settled. Mr. Bachman will inform you of the particulars.
Do forward the bound volumes as soon as possible, for with them I could at once make you a considerable remittance, which would enable you to prepare the Nos. of the 2d. Vol. for those who do not wish to have it complete. I am trying to receive some money on Act. of the 2d. Vol. through the mediums of Dr. Parkman, N. Berthoud, John Bellonis, Wm. Gaston, and will let you know the result. The Plate ... which you sent me is extremely well engraved, but let us keep to Havell as long as he behaves with propriety, and does good work.
I have now replied to your letter fully, except on what you say about my immediate return. The following are my views, but if after all, you say—come on, I shall do so. Our country is becoming more wealthy every day. Science is looked upon with more congeniality every year. Subscribers in this Dear Country of ours do not drop off unless they die. They pay punctually on demand, and to have more of them in this land than in Europe is a thing that may prove of the greatest importance to us. When I visited our woods on my first return from England, I was absent about 12 months. The Rathbones and Mr. Children wrote to me many times to return, or expect the work to fall. I went back to Europe before I was ready to go, and on my arrival there, to my surprise and joy, I found everything going on as well as usual; but I was again obliged to come to our Country to renew my researches, and improve my head, as well as my collection of drawings. I had then left no one like you in England. Now you, my Dear Son, are there; thank God for it! You prove to be a better man at carrying on the publication than myself, and to tell you more, I doubt if I could procure more subscribers there than yourself. I am truly desirous for your sake, and that of your dear Mother and Brother, to do all in my power for the completion of this great work. I wish to finish here all that is to be done both in the way of drawing, and increase of knowledge, in black and white, and also in Patrons, as much as possible, ere I return to Europe, where, when I do go, I must remain several years, if not until the completion of the engraving. I am growing old very fast; in 3 or 4 years my career as a traveller will be ended, and should I be obliged to renew my field-labours, it is doubtful if my constitution could bear it. One year now is equal to 3, 3 years hence. I receive much assistance from the Government, and have John to accompany me. I am still able to undergo some fatigue, and, as I have said, I am anxious, very anxious, to do all that can be done ere I return to Europe. Now the whole time which I conceive necessary to enable me to perform these desideratums cannot exceed 12 or 15 months. What pleasure it would be to us all, when I take your hand and press you to my heart, I should also have a list of 100 new names from America!; all the drawings and the manuscripts ready for the completion of this our wonderful undertaking. I would advise you to address a circular letter to all those who may be concerned in Europe, to acquaint them with what I call the necessity of my being in America, for the sole purpose of increasing the value of our publications, either Illustrative or graphical. This, and the constant improvement now exhibited to them with each new number of the work, could not fail, I think, to render them quiet, if not pleased, that I am now doing all I can for the advantage of the work. Tell them the facts, that I have greatly added to the Ornithology of the United States since my absence from Europe, that the number of species which I now have, and that are not given by Wilson or Bonaparte, combined, amounts to nearly one hundred, and that the Water Birds will be fully equal in point of interest and beauty, to any of the land Birds that are published. And, not the least part of this, my remaining in America has already [given], and will continue, to give me the power of portraying the habits of the Water Birds with more truth and completeness than has ever yet been done. Next, have extracts of my letter to you, before the world's eye, through the medium of Papers. Visit such of our friends, and ask them to say those things to their acquaintance; go on yourself, as you have done, and depend upon it, we shall all be greatly benefitted. In your most kind letter to John you mention with unexampled modesty what you are attempting to do in the way of self-improvement, but my Dear Victor, you cannot convey more thoroughly to us the march of your improvement than you have done by sending your letters, and the result of your actions, so well delineated as this is, and we all feel deeply gratified and most happy. Cruickshank is right; by drawing you are enabled to study the lights and shadows of bodies, again the beautiful mellowness with which, altho. all powerful in the effect, these blend themselves with each other. The reflective power of bodies will also strike your discerning attention, and when these combinations of the true Materia are well understood, the artist is a Master! Nature after all, has done all for us; she groups, and most beautifully, every thing that is presented to our eye or mind, so completely also, that if one observes a number of bodies, no matter what these bodies are, whether horses or apes, he sees at once the general elegance of their arrangement in contour, the force of the light and shadows, the mellowness existing between these, and as the eye passes on to the finishing of that natural picture, it at once pronounces it complete.
Do not forget to take from Kidd whatever pictures of ours he may have finished, and take good care of them. We have pretty nearly kilt G. Ord and Waterton with our Buzzard experiments. You say you wish you could see us at friend Bachman's; I assure you my pleasure at such an event would be equal to yours. We are indeed happy in having such a friend. Miss Martin, with her superior talents, assists us greatly in the way of drawing; the insects she has drawn are, perhaps, the best I've seen; at night we have some music and reading. When you receive Bird Skins, perhaps it would be as well to form a collection of each species in pairs, and variety of age or color.
24 Dec. We have just received yours of 18th. October. You are, my Dear Son, too low spirited respecting my immediate appearance in England. Cheer up, my beloved Victor! Believe me, when I repeat that our own Dear Country will support the efforts of us all, and will grant us more Patrons than the whole of Europe together; by the way of a nightcap, let me give you the name of Wm. J. Rees, of Sumpter district, Statesbury, South Carolina, who put his name to my list this afternoon at the moment when the Vultures lost their olfactory powers, for I daubed the imitation of a sheep, and the very first one that passed over the picture rounded and came to it.
Respecting Kidd, and his prospectus, depend upon it, nothing is to be feared from that quarter; that work is dead at the moment I write, and as to his publishing the intention of the pictures, it signifies nothing. All you have to do is to take all the pictures from him, by goodwill or otherwise, and give him no more originals to copy.
If I regret anything at this moment, it is that you should have kept the 20 volumes in London, when, if I had them in America, I should at once be enabled to make you a valuable remittance. Ship them, ensured, as fast as possible, and doubt not my disposing of them. Lewis Atterbury writes me to night that all the numbers 34, 35, which Havell has shipped, are injured greatly by salt water. I do not know yet if they were insured or not. I write to him this evening. Do not ship anything without insurance; it is better to lose time in this case than money. I will write again in a few days, and I shall forward you Water Birds in good time. God bless you, my dear fellow; keep up your spirits, and again may God bless you.
Ever your affectionate father,
J. J. Audubon.
Honest John Bachman, who had lived and worked with Audubon for months at a time, and who probably knew him better than did any one in America outside of the naturalist's own family, gave this account of his habits in 1834, when, at the age of forty-nine, he was still working at his best:
He rises at the earliest dawn, and devotes the whole of the day, in intense industry, to his favourite pursuit. The specimens from which he makes his drawings are all from nature; carefully noting the colors of the eye, bill, and legs; measuring, with great accuracy, every part of the bird. When differences exist, either in the sexes or young, several figures are given on the same plate; sparing no labour in retouching old drawings or in making new ones, in all cases where he conceives there may be a possibility of making an improvement. In this way, he has already succeeded in figuring nearly the whole of the birds necessary to complete his splendid and important work.