3 volumes, 8vo (265 x 177 mm). Half-titles, 155 hand-colored lithographed plates by W.E. Hitchcock and R. Trembly after original drawings by John James Audubon and John Wodehouse Audubon. (Lacking vol. III half-title, slight marginal toning, minor offsetting and occasional spotting, slight chipping to a few plates not affecting image, plate CXLII with a stain just crossing into image.) Publisher's brown morocco elaborately decorated in blind, sides with central lozenges with title lettered in blind, spines with raised bands, gilt-lettered and decorated in blind, edges gilt (spines darkened, some minor scuffing and slight wear with a few repairs to joints, hinges starting with a few gatherings in vol. III starting to spring). Provenance: C.S. Francis & Co., New York, Booksellers (their ticket to front pastedowns).

FIRST OCTAVO EDITION. Issued in response to the success of the octavo edition of The Birds of America, the first octavo edition of the Quadrupeds was published shortly after the publication of the first imperial folio edition of 1845 and 1848. In addition to the 150 plates present in the 3 imperial folio volumes, the first octavo edition includes 6 additional plates and the text from the 1854 supplement, with all the plates reduced by Audubon's sons using a camera lucida. John Woodhouse Audubon claimed credit for 18 paintings previously attributed to his father in the imperial folio edition. Bennett, p. 5; Nissen ZBI 163.