7 volumes, royal 8vo (258 x 161 mm). Half-titles, 500 HAND-COLORED LITHOGRAPHED PLATES after Audubon by W.E. Hitchcock, R. Trembly and others, printed and colored by J.T. Bowen, numerous wood-engraved anatomical diagrams in text. (offsetting, intermittent spotting, a few leaves with soiling, marginal repair not affecting text on p. 113-114 of vol. I, small repaired tear in gutter margin not affecting text on p. 29 of vol. IV.) Early 20th-century half brown morocco gilt (light wear to extremities, rubbing). Provenance: William V. Spencer, American publisher credited by Harvard University as the first to print a pro-Union patriotic envelope (ownership inscription).

FIRST OCTAVO EDITION. Audubon’s double-elephant folio edition of The Birds of America (1827-1838) established his reputation as the greatest ornithological artist of his time. Though that edition was published in London to ensure the quality of the plates, he employed the Philadelphia firm of J.T. Bowen to produce this more commercially viable edition under the close supervision of his sons whereby the folio plates were reduced by camera lucida and lithographed. This octavo edition is considered the "first and most desirable edition in this form published during the author’s lifetime, in one hundred parts" (Sabin). The original subscription price was $100, and its commercial success granted Audubon financial security. In addition to the original plate count included in the double-elephant folio edition, the octavo edition has 65 new images for a total of 500 plates, making it "the most extensive color plate book produced in America up to that time" (Reese). Ayer/Zimmer, p.22; Bennett, p.5; McGill/Wood, p.208; Nissen IVB 51; Reese 34; Sabin 2364.