AUDUBON'S GREATEST TRIUMPH 201 



that he had raised an imperishable monument to commemorate 

 his own renown. All anxieties and fears which overshadowed 

 his work in its beginning had passed away. The prophecies of 

 kind but overprudent friends, who did not understand his self- 

 sustaining energy, had proved untrue; the malicious hope of 

 his enemies, for even the gentle lover of nature has enemies, — 

 had been disappointed ; he had secured a commanding place 

 in the respect and gratitude of men ; he had secured a treasure 

 of rich and glowing recollections, to warm his own heart in his 

 declining years, and to kindle enthusiasm in his children's chil- 

 dren. . . . 



On the other hand he had lost an employment which for 

 years had kept all the powers of body and mind in healthy 

 though intense exertion ; whatever else he might do, the great 

 work of his intellectual life was finished. . . . His trumpet of 

 victory at the result must have given an uncertain sound, 

 partly exulting in his success, and partly lamenting that his 

 great work was finished. 



It has often been asked, how many complete sets 

 of Audubon's folio of The Birds of America were dis- 

 tributed, and how many are in existence today. No 

 definite answer can be given to either question. His 

 final lists, appended to the last volume of his "Biog- 

 raphies" in 1839, and reproduced in Appendix III to 

 the present work, gave the number of standing names 

 as 161 (calling for 166 copies), of which 79 (with 84 

 copies) pertained to Europe, and 82 were American; 

 inasmuch as 118 subscribers had dropped off, with in- 

 completed sets on their hands, this brought the total 

 number of original patrons at that time to 279, and the 

 number of copies which had been originally ordered to 

 284. On the other hand, the following advertisement, 

 evidently from the hand of Audubon himself, appeared 

 in The Athenceum, under date of "London, November 



