PREFACE ix 
fessor Gustay G. Laubscher, who happened to be in Paris, 
engaged in investigating Romance literary subjects, kindly 
consented to go to Couéron for the purpose of inspecting them. 
Monsieur Lavigne had already prepared for me, and still held, 
a number of photographs of the most important manuscripts, 
which are now for the first time reproduced, and, with the 
aid of a stenographer, in the course of two or three days they 
were able to transcribe the most essential and interesting parts 
of this voluminous material. But at that very moment sinister 
clouds were blackening the skies of Europe, and my friend 
was obliged to leave his task unfinished and hasten to Paris; 
when he arrived in that city, on the memorable Saturday of 
August 1, 1914, orders for the mobilization of troops had 
been posted ; it was some time before copies of the manuscripts 
were received from Couéron, and he left the French capital 
to return to America. 
These documents came into the hands of Monsieur La- 
vigne through his wife, who was a daughter and legatee of Ga- 
briel Loyen du Puigaudeau, the second, son of Gabriel Loyen du 
Puigaudeau, the son-in-law of Lieutenant and Mme. Jean Audu- 
bon. Gabriel Loyen du Puigaudeau, the second, who died at 
Couéron in 1892, is thought to have destroyed all letters of the 
naturalist which had been in possession of the family and 
which were written previous to 1820, when his relations with 
the elder Du Puigaudeau were broken off; not a line in the 
handwriting of John James Audubon has been preserved at 
Couéron. 
In June and July, 1914, Dr. Laubscher had repeatedly 
applied to the French Foreign Office, through the American 
Embassy at Paris, for permission to examine the dossier of 
Jean Audubon in the archives of the Department of the 
Marine, in order to verify certain dates in his naval career 
and to obtain the personal reports which he submitted upon 
his numerous battles at sea, but at that period of strain it 
was impossible to gain further access to the papers sought. 
Having told the story of the way in which these unique 
and important records came into my possession, I wish to ex- 
