AUDUBON, John J. Autographed letter signed ("John J. Audubon"), to Charles C. Little, of Little & Brown Boston, New York, 1 Feb. 1841.
1 page, 4to, glue stain on verso on verso showing through at center and crossing portion of signature, portion of sheet reinforced along left margin on verso with some show-through, creased at folds. Acknowledging receipt of payment for $200 and reporting: "I can scarcely yet say when you will receive No. 25 as one of the Stories containing 2 plates of that No. broke while printing-It will come to you however very soon and will be a lovely Number!" He mentions Little's partner salesman James Brown's progress through the South and sends his hopes "that the grand business he will do may compensate him for all his traveling labours." The letter concludes sending his regards to his Boston friends associated with his own project: Dr. George Parkman, Dr. George Shattuck and George Bancroft. At the time of this letter, Audubon was working on his revised, smaller-format version of his great work, The Birds of America, but the subscription referred to here seems more likely to relate to the double elephant edition. The Little, Brown & Co. copy containing 102 individual plates plus the title page for the first volume and two duplicate plates was purchased by the Boston Public Library in Dec. 1875.
Property from the Robert L. McKay Collection, North Tustin, California
