AUDUBON'S LETTERPRESS 439 



No sooner had Audubon begun to write than it was 

 learned that "no less than three editions of 'Wilson's 

 Ornithology' were about to be published, one by 

 Jameson, one by Sir W. Jardine, and another by a Mr. 

 Brown." The outlook could not be considered encour- 

 aging, but this intelligence only nerved him to greater 

 effort, and he was determined to push his own publica- 

 tion with such unremitting vigor as to anticipate them 

 all. " Since I have been in England," he wrote in his 

 journal, "I have studied the character of Englishmen 

 as carefully as I have studied the birds in America, 

 and I know full well that in England novelty is always 

 in demand, and that if a thing is well known it will not 

 receive much support." Audubon worked continuously 

 at his Biography, rising before the dawn and writing all 

 day, while the able worker at his side carried his efforts 

 far into the night, and in three months the first volume 

 was ready for the printer; Mrs. Audubon meanwhile 

 copied their entire manuscript to be sent to the United 

 States in order to secure the American copyright. 

 When this work was offered to the publishers at Edin- 

 burgh, however, not one of them, said the naturalist, 

 would offer a shilling for it, but this did not deter him 

 from publishing it at once and at his own expense. 4 On 

 March 13, 1831, he wrote: "The printing will be com- 

 pleted in a few days, and I have sent copies of the sheets 

 to Dr. Harlan, and Mr. McMurtie, at Philadelphia, and 

 also one hundred pounds sterling to Messrs. T. Walker 

 & Sons, to be paid to Dr. Harlan to secure the copy- 

 right, and have the book published there." 



4 The first volume of the Ornithological Biography in the European 

 edition bears the imprint of "Adam Black, 55 North Bridge, Edinburgh;" 

 in the four subsequent volumes this was changed to "Adam and Charles 

 Black," while the entire work was printed by "Neill & Co., Printers, Old 

 Fish Market, Edinburgh." See Bibliography, No. 2. 



