30 Harris, Uncolored Prints of Audubon. [j^ 



attended the publication of the drawings of the great naturalist 

 and that without the cooperation of a talent capable of the 

 task of faithful, intelligent, and artistic reproduction, the work 

 would have failed of its ultimate purpose. 



Audubon at first entrusted the engraving of his plates to W. H. 

 Lizars, one of the greatest engravers of bird-portraits of his time. 

 His results however did not satisfy Audubon's demands, and after 

 five plates had been done the work was taken from his hands and 

 given over to Robert Havell Jr., of London. This Ha veil, the last 

 of a long line of artists and workers in copper-plate, was the sole 

 engraver of all the Audubon plates, save the five referred to, and 

 three of these were later retouched by him. That the elder Havell 

 engraved any of the plates is clearly disproved in the article above 

 quoted. 



Havell's work at all times fully met the rigid requirements of 

 Audubon, who on more than one occasion expressed with enthusi- 

 asm his entire satisfaction in the quality of Havell's engraving. 



Late in 1838, after the last part of 'The Birds of America' had 

 issued and when Havell was dismantling his plant preparatory to 

 removal to America, he wrote to Audubon for instructions relative to 

 the manner of packing "five perfect sets" and certain "loose sets." 

 This reference to loose sets presumably included all the trial proofs 

 worthy of preservation, together with all other prints that had 

 accumulated during the twelve years of work, and, for one reason 

 or another, had not been colored. Audubon's reply 1 to this inquiry, 

 under date of February 20, 1839, indicated that he did not know the 

 nature of these loose sets but he states particularly that he wanted 

 them saved. A prolonged search of all available sources of infor- 

 mation has failed to disclose another reference to these loose sets. 

 There is no reasonable doubt, however, that they were all shipped 

 to Audubon, since those that have been preserved to the present 

 day are directly traceable to him or his descendants. No record 

 of their number seems to have been kept by either Audubon or 

 Havell. I am informed by Mr. Williams that the only prints 

 brought to this country by Havell, aside from the superb set colored 



1 Dean, Ruthven. The Copper-Plates of the Folio Edition of Audubon's 'Birds of 

 America,' With a Brief Sketch of the Engravers. Auk, Vol. XXV, No. 4, 1908. 



