Audubon, John James (1785-1851) and John Bachman (1790-1874). The Quadrupeds of North America. New York: V.G. Audubon, 1849, 1854, 1854.

3 volumes, 8vo (260 x 168 mm). 155 hand-colored lithographed plates by W.E. Hitchcock and R. Trembly after original drawings by John James Audubon and John Wodehouse Audubon (some offsetting, spotting throughout, some tissue guards replaced, minor repair to p. 81 of third volume.) Publisher's deluxe 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 (light rubbing to extremities). Provenance: C.S. Francis & Co., New York (booksellers' ticket); Walter Phelps Bliss (1870-1924), American businessman and Katharine Baldwin Bliss (1870-1961), his wife (their joint ownership bookplate).

Mixed edition set: Volumes I and III are FIRST OCTAVO EDITIONS; volume II is a second octavo edition. Issued in response to the success of the octavo edition of The Birds of America, the first octavo edition of 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.

Audubon, John James (1785-1851) and John Bachman (1790-1874). The Quadrupeds of North America. New York: V.G. Audubon, 1849, 1854, 1854.