“Extending from April 26, 1826, to December 31, 1826, this journal covers the most fateful months of Audubon’s of poignant career—his journey to England and Scotland in connection with the publication of The Birds of America.
Opening with the painter’s farewell to his wife, Lucy, and to West Feliciana, it records in intimate detail his painfully diffident encounters with the nabobs of Liverpool, Manchester, and Edinburgh in pursuit of means for publication. The climax is reached when Lizars, the aquatintist, vows that he will copy the incomparable water color studies on copper plate, a long step towards achievement of Audubon’s goal.
The 1826 journal is the most graphic, detailed, and significant of the Audubon journals, only five of which have survived willful or accidental destruction. This first unabridged, unbowdlerized publication of it is a major event for American art history. The many full-page pencil sketches, new to the public at large never until now published as a group, are of a genre not previously associated with the artist. Special and delicate, they enrich Audubon’s already formidable legacy.” (from the flap copy)
- Title: The 1826 Journal of John James Audubon
- Editor: Alice Ford
- Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
- Place: Oklahoma
- Year: 1967
- Edition: First Edition
- Length: 409pp
- Dimensions: 25” x 9.5”
- Condition: Black and blue cloth covered boards in very good condition, minimal wear. The dustjacket is in good condition. The colors are bright, with the spine only slightly faded. There is significant wear and tearing to the edges of the jacket. The is about a 0.5” x 1” piece missing from the top section of the back cover. The binding is tight. The pages are crisp and clean—no folds, tears, or extraneous marks. A black ink inscription is in the front endpapers: Frederick Hagan // Valentine's Day 1969." The same red ink stamp is on both the front pastedown and one of the front endpapers. The stamp bears the name “M.F. Roberts" above three Chinese characters.