THE AUK: 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF 

 ORNITHOLOGY. 



Vol. XXV. October, 1908. No. 4. 



THE COPPER-PLATES OF THE FOLIO EDITION OF 



AUDUBON'S 'BIRDS OF AMERICA/ WITH A 



BRIEF SKETCH OF THE ENGRAVERS. 



BY RUTHVEN DEANE. 

 I. 



The engraving of the copper-plates for the elephant folio edi- 

 tion of the 'Birds of America' occupied the time between 1827 and 

 1838 when the 435 plates were completed. These plates were 

 afterwards sent to America and stored in a warehouse in New York 

 City. In 1845 many of these plates were seriously damaged by 

 fire. In a letter from Spencer F. Baird to Audubon, dated Carlisle, 

 Penn., August 4, 1845, he writes: "It is with the sincerest regret 

 that I see by the papers that your copper-plates were injured or 

 perhaps ruined by fire which occurred a few weeks ago." 



Miss M. R. Audubon informs me that in 1851-52 when her 

 grandfather's new house was built, a fire-proof vault, detached 

 from the other buildings, was put up for them, and there they 

 remained until the deatL of her father in 1862, when they were sold. 



Under date of February 10, 1908, j\Iiss Grace H. Dodge writes 

 me that the plates Avere stored in the warehouse of Phelps, Dodge 

 and Company, New York, about 1865, and at that time her father, 

 the late William E. Dodge, had them sorted and presented a num- 

 ber of those that Avere in the best state of preservation to several 

 ?olleges, museums, friends and members of his family. 



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