1851 Original Audubon 1st Ed Nuttall Cottontail Rabbit

Title: Worm-wood Hare

[Slyvilagus nuttallii nuttallii.  Bachman. or Nuttall's Cottontail]

Date: 1851

Medium: Stone Lithography on High Quality Wove Paper

Color: Original Hand Coloring with some gum arabic sheen

Dimension: image (no clear image border), paper (17 x 25.7 cm or 6 3/4 x 10 inch)

Credits (on the print): Drawn From Nature by J.W. Audubon, Lith. On stone by W E Hitchcock,  Printed and Col^d. by J. T. Bowen. Phil No. 18, Plate LXXXVIII from 1^st edition volume II of Quadrupeds of North America [1851]

Condition:

      The print is in excellent condition [i.e., clear and pristine image, strong and bright paper, vivid colors, no bend, no tear, slight but even age toning]. It was printed on high quality heavy wove paper with a blank verso. The print is nearly flawless with no apology. Photo in high resolution is presented for your convenience of identification and judging its high quality independently. 

Description:

      After his monumental work on Birds of North America, John James Audubon (1785 – 1851) assisted by his two sons (Woodhouse and Victor) and Rev. Bachman had set forth for another historical work that attempted to illustrate all the mammals of North America.  The result was the publication of The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America in 1845 – 48 in three volumes with 150 plates. And again following his success of publishing the octavo edition[s] of the Birds of North America, the Audubon family had decided to publish the equally charming octavo edition[s] of The Quadrupeds of North America.

     The octavo edition [total of 155 plates with descriptive text] of the Quadrupeds were initially issued via subscription at 5 parts each beginning at 1849 and finished in 1854 and subsequently bounded into three volumes. In all, three octavo editions of Quadrupeds of North America were published between 1849 – 1856 with overlapping time-frame that became a major headache for serious Audubon collectors for there is no objective way of distinguishing the loose prints from the three editions [other than some 31 of those from volume I, when bear the credits of Nagel & Weingaertner, can be authenticated as 1^st edition].

     The only way you can be “absolutely” [for there are evidence of mismatch by the Audubon staffs to begin with] certain about which edition a print came from is via its publishing year on title page [e.g., 1851 for volume II as 1^st edition, 1852 for Volume I as 2^nd edition, and 1856 for volume III as 3^rd edition etc ] and its fonts.

     The loose prints [including the current one] showing here were all derived from the same set of 1^st edition issued in 1851[volume 1], 1851 [volume II], and 1854 [volume III]. This is nice information to have in addition to the importance of its quality as shown. The title page is for your identification purpose only and will not be included in the package, but the descriptive text [when available] will be included with the plate.

      Please note the low starting price [e.g., trading at > $200 for the same print of lesser quality] with no reserve for this very nice and highly displayable item. Thanks for looking and Happy Bidding!

     It will be securely packaged flat and shipped via USPS priority mail with insurance (included in shipping and handling fee) for domestic address or USPS International Airmail Priority with registration for international address.

     Note that this item [and our other antique maps and prints] is absolutely and unconditionally guaranteed [with full 100% money back including shipping / handling and your return postage and with no-question-asked return policy] to be original [i.e., not a later copy or reproduction] and as described. Please take a look at our other related maps/prints items on eBay store or auction format.