Memoirs, [ca. 1830].

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Audubon, John James, 1785-1851. Memoirs, [ca. 1830].

Memoirs, [ca. 1830].

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/46719435

Two memoirs: "The Eccentric Naturalist" and "Louisville in Kentucky". The first describes a visit to Audubon, in Henderson, Kentucky, by the naturalist Constantine S. Rafinesque. He writes in a humorous and informative but probably exaggerated manner about Rafinesque's appearance, eccentricities, and reactions when Audubon led him through an almost impenetrable canebrake. "The Eccentric Naturalist" was published in edited form in volume one of Audubon's Ornithological Biography, the five volume set of episodes that he wrote to accompany his Birds of America. Rafinesque's identity was masked in the published episode where he is referred to as "M de T" rather than "M de C" as in the manuscript account. In the second memoir, "Louisville in Kentucky", Audubon describes his coming to Louisville immediately after his marriage and the kindness shown to him and his bride by many of the leading families. He mentions those families; describes the location of the town on the Ohio River; and mentions his "favorite pursuits" of collecting, noting the habits of, and drawing wildlife. In the memoir "Alexander Wilson" Audubon recounts his meeting with Wilson in March 1810, and describes Wilson and Wilson's desire to procure subscriptions for his American Ornithology books, as well as his interest in Audubon's work. Originally two episodes, "Louisville in Kentucky" and "Alexander Wilson" were combined to form the text of "Louisville in Kentucky" and published in edited form in Audubon's Ornithological Biography. Lucy Audubon's handwritten transcription of a paragraph from Wilson's American Ornithology, vol. 9, has been pasted to the lower half of the last page.

2 items.

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