4 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
Cuvier, which later proved of the greatest value. The 
savants who gathered about him at the meeting of the 
Royal Academy of Sciences, over which Cuvier pre- 
sided, exclaimed, “Beautiful! Very beautiful! What 
a work!”, but “What a price!”, and acknowledged that 
only in England could he find the necessary support. 
Audubon concluded that he was fortunate in having 
taken his drawings to London to be engraved, for the 
smaller cost of copper on that side of the Channel was 
an item which could not be overlooked. Little did he 
dream that commercial greed for the baser metal would 
send most of his great plates to the melting pot half 
a century later. No doubt he was right also in con- 
cluding that had he followed certain advisers in first tak- 
ing his publication to France, it would have perished 
“like a flower in October.” It should be added that 
King Charles’ subscription expired with his fall two 
years later, while that of Cuvier ended with his death 
in 1832. 
Audubon was one of those rare spirits whose post- 
humous fame has grown with the years. He did one 
thing in particular, that of making known to the world 
the birds of his adopted land, and did it so well that 
his name will be held in everlasting remembrance. His 
great folios are now the property of the rich or of those 
fortunate institutions which have either received them 
by gift or were enrolled among his original subscribers, 
and wherever found they are treasured as the greatest 
of show books. The sale of a perfect copy of the Birds 
at the present day is something of an event, for it com- 
mands from $3,000 to $5,000, or from three to five times 
its original cost. All of Audubon’s publications have 
not only become rare but have increased greatly in price; 
they are what dealers call a good investment, an experi- 
