204 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



hands of the publishers and booksellers, Messrs. C. S. 

 Francis & Company, of 554 Broadway, New York, who 

 in 1856 had charge of the sale of all of Audubon's 

 works, 24 and was later purchased by Dr. W. Gurdon 

 Russell, of Hartford, Connecticut, who presented it to 

 Trinity College, July 10, 1900. 25 



After recording the facts of the case, so far as they 

 have been ascertained, the following extract from the 

 minutes of a meeting of the New York Historical So- 

 ciety, held October 3, 1865, will be read with interest: 26 



The Librarian presented the following copy of a manu- 

 script memorandum preserved in the first volume of Audu- 

 bon's Ornithological Biography, formerly belonging to the late 

 J. Prescott Hall, 27 and now in possession of David G. Francis, 

 Esq. : 



24 Eight in number, the aggregate cost of which was then $1,624: The 

 Birds of America, with its letterpress, was offered at $1,000; library, or 

 octavo edition, with reduced plates, in 100 Parts, at $100; The Quadrupeds 

 of North America, 2 vols., folio, with 3 vols, text, in 8vo., $300; text of the 

 same, according to binding, from $31 (paper) to $40 (full Turkey mor.) ; 

 Birds and Quadrupeds, library ed., 10 vols., 650 plates, $150 to $160, accord- 

 ing to style; Synopsis of Birds of America, $4; The Viviparous Quadrupeds 

 of North America, 3 vols., text only, $9. See Mrs. Horace St. John, 

 Life of Audubon (Bibl. No. 71), in advertisement inserted in volume. 

 These prices were similar to those that prevailed during the lifetime of 

 the naturalist. 



According to Mr. Ruthven Deane, Audubon's account books show 

 that on January 8, 1840, a box was sent to Dr. George Parkman, of Boston, 

 containing a set of The Birds of America, in full binding, at $1,075; a 

 set of the same, half bound, at $950; and the "Biographies" at $37. 



The highest recorded price of The Birds of America is believed to be 

 $4,350, which the Kemble set brought at auction at Philadelphia, in 1906 

 (See Prices Current for 1906); the highest price paid for a single plate, 

 that of the Turkey Cock (Plate No. 1) upwards of $140; and the highest 

 price asked for the octavo edition of the Birds (in original parts), $750. 

 The Quadrupeds in 2 vols., original folio, now brings about $500. 



25 Ruthven Deane (Bibl. No. 225), loc. cit. 



26 For a copy of this minute, the substance of which was published 

 in 1877 (See Bibliography, No. 179), I am indebted to the present 

 librarian, Mr. Kelby. 



"Jonathan Prescott Hall (1796-1862), eminent lawyer and jurist, was 

 at one time district attorney for the southern district of New York, and 

 author of Reports of Cases in the Supreme Court of City of New York — 



