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of John James Audubon First Day Covers
John James Audubon was born on April 26, 1785
in Les Cayes Saint-Domingue (Haiti)
John was the illegitimate son of a French
merchant, planter, and slave trader and a Creole woman of Saint-Domingue, John
and his illegitimate half-sister (who was also born in the West Indies) were
legalized by adoption in 1794, five years after their father returned to
France. Young Audubon developed an interest in drawing birds during his
boyhood in France. At age 18 he was sent to the United States in order to
avoid conscription and to enter business. He was educated in France and
in 1803 came to the Audubon estate, “Mill Grove,” near Philadelphia. There
he spent much time observing birds and making the first American bird-banding
experiments. In 1808 he married Lucy Bakewell, whose faith and support were
factors in his eventual success. Between 1808 and 1820 he lived mostly in
Kentucky, frequently changing his occupation and neglecting his business to
carry on his bird observations.
He began painting portraits for a livelihood and descended the Mississippi to
New Orleans, where for a time he taught drawing. From 1823 to 1828 his wife
conducted a private school, in which he taught for a short time, in West
Feliciana parish, La. In 1826 he went to Great Britain in search of a
publisher and subscribers for his bird drawings, meeting with favorable
response in Edinburgh and London. The Birds of America, in elephant folio
size, was published in parts between 1827 and 1838, with engravings by Robert
Havell,Jr. The accompanying text, called the Ornithological Biography (5 vol.,
1831–39), was prepared largely in Edinburgh in collaboration with the
Scottish naturalist William MacGillivray, who was responsible for its more
scientific information. Extracts from Audubon's contributions, edited in 1926
by F. H. Herrick as Delineations of American Scenery and Character, reveal his
stylistic qualities and furnish many pictures of American frontier life.
Audubon worked on a smaller edition of his great work and also, in
collaboration with John Bachman, began The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North
America, which was completed by his sons Victor Gifford Audubon and John
Woodhouse Audubon (plates, 30 parts, 1842–45; text, 3 vol., 1846–54).
During these years his home was on the Hudson River in the northern part of
Manhattan island. While his drawings and paintings of bird life may not wholly
satisfy both the critical artist and the meticulous scientist, their
achievement in both areas is considerable. They remain one of the great
achievements of American intellectual history and have gained wide popularity,
having been reprinted many times.
John James Audubon died on January 27, 1851 in
New York, NY.
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