Books About Birds: Audubon: Journals

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The Missouri River Journals of John James Audubon John James Audubon Editor, introduction: Daniel Patterson University of Nebraska Press 2016 "Daniel Patterson is the first scholar to locate and assemble three important fragments of the 1843 Missouri River journals, and here he offers a stunning transcription and critical edition of Audubon’s last journey through the American West. Patterson’s new edition of the journals?unknown to Audubon scholars and fans?offers a significantly different understanding of the very core of Audubon’s life and work. Readers will be introduced to a more authentic Audubon, one who was concerned about the disappearance of America’s wild animal species and yet also loved to hunt and display his prowess in the wilderness. This edition reveals that Audubon’s famous late conversion to conservationism on this expedition was, in fact, a literary fiction. Maria Rebecca Audubon created this myth when she rewrote her grandfather’s journals for publication to make him into a visionary conservationist. In reality the journals detail almost gratuitous hunting predations throughout the course of Audubon’s last expedition."	Buy from amazon.co.uk

John James Audubon's Journal of 1826: The Voyage to The Birds of America John James Audubon Editor, introduction: Daniel Patterson University of Nebraska Press 2011 "The first accurate transcription of Audubon’s 1826 journal, this edition corrects many of the errors, both intentional and unintentional, found in previous editions. Such errors have obscured the figure of Audubon as a man struggling to realize his professional and artistic dreams. When Audubon embarked for Liverpool from New Orleans in 1826, he carried with him more than 250 of his watercolor drawings in a heavy case, a packet of letters of introduction, and many a good reason to believe that he was a fool to be gambling his family’s fortunes on so risky and grandiose a venture. These journal entries, conveying with energy and emotion Audubon’s experience of risking everything on a dream?“Oh, America, Wife, Children and acquaintances, Farewell!”?document an American icon’s transformation from a beleaguered backwoods artist and naturalist to the man who would become America’s premier ornithologist, illustrator of birds, and nature essayist."	Buy from amazon.co.uk

The Audubon Reader John James Audubon Editor: Richard Rhodes Alfred A Knopf 2006 "Audubon’s award-winning biographer, Richard Rhodes, has gathered excerpts from his journals, letters, and published works, and has organized them to appeal to general readers. Rhodes’s unobtrusive commentary frames a wide range of selections, including Audubon’s vivid “bird biographies,” correspondence with his devoted wife, Lucy, journal accounts of dramatic river journeys and hunting trips with the Shawnee and Osage Indians, and a generous sampling of brief narrative episodes that have long been out of print—engaging stories of pioneer life such as “The Great Pine Swamp,” “The Earthquake,” and “Kentucky Barbecue on the Fourth of July.” Full-color reproductions of sixteen of Audubon’s stunning watercolor illustrations accompany the text."	Buy from amazon.co.uk

Audubon: Writings And Drawings John James Audubon Library Of America 1999 "Here is the most comprehensive selection of Audubon's writings ever published, along with a spectacular portfolio of his drawings. The "Mississippi River Journal," the foremost record of an American artist's progress, details Audubon's first wilderness bird hunts; it is as fresh in its perceptions of the scenes and characters of the old South as of the forest and its creatures. Selections from his "1826 Journal" follow Audubon to Europe, where after years of relative obscurity and financial distress his abilities were finally recognized. Audubon's masterwork, the five-volume Ornithological Biography, is represented here by forty-five entries. Charming, haunting, and violent by turns, these vivid intimate portraits of the habits and habitats of American birds changed American nature writing forever."	Buy from amazon.co.uk

The 1826 Journal of John James Audubon John James Audubon Editor, introduction, notes: Alice Ford Abbeville Press 1987	Buy from amazon.co.uk

Audubon's Western Journal, 1849-1850 John James Audubon John Woodhouse Audubon University of Arizona Press 1984	Buy from amazon.co.uk

Audubon By Himself Editor: Alice Ford Natural History Press for the American Museum of Natural History 1968 A profile of Audubon based on his own writings.

The 1826 Journal of John James Audubon John James Audubon Editor, introduction, notes: Alice Ford University of Oklahoma Press 1967	Buy from amazon.co.uk

Audubon and His Journals, Volume One John James Audubon Editor: Maria Audubon Dover Publications 1960 A reprint of volume one of the 1897 edition.

Audubon and His Journals, Volume Two John James Audubon Editor: Maria Audubon Dover Publications 1960 A reprint of volume one of the 1897 edition.

Audubon's America Editor: Donald Culross Peattie Houghton Mifflin Company 1940 "The Narratives & Experiences of John James Audubon. Illustrated with facsimiles of Audubon's prints & paintings."

Audubon And His Journals Maria R. Audubon Zoological and other notes: Elliott Coues Charles Scribner’s Sons 1897 Published in two volumes. Comprises and biography of Audubon plus sections of his journals: The European Journals 1826-1829; The Labrador Journal 1833; and The Missouri River Journals 1843. Introduction: "In the brief biography of Audubon which follows, I have given, I believe, the only correct account that has been written, and as such I present it. I am not competent to give an opinion as to the merits of his work, nor is it necessary. His place as naturalist, woodsman, artist, author, has long since been accorded him, and he himself says: "My enemies have been few, and my friends numerous." I have tried only to put Audubon the man before my readers, and in his own words so far as possible, that they may know what he was, not what others thought he was."

The Life Of John James Audubon: The Naturalist Edited By His Widow Introduction: Jas. Grant Wilson G.P. Putnam & Sons 1870 Opening lines of the introduction: "In the summer of 1867, the widow of John James Audubon, completed with the aid of a friend, a memoir of the great naturalist, and soon after received overtures from a London publishing house for her work. Accepting their proposition for its publication in England, Mrs. Audubon forwarded the MSS., consisting in good part of extracts from her husband's journals and episodes, as he termed his delightful reminiscences of adventure in various parts of the New World. The London publishers placed these MSS. in the hands of Mr. Robert Buchanan, who prepared from them a single volume containing about one fifth of the original manuscript. The following pages are substantially the recently published work, reproduced with some additions, and the omission of several objectionable passages inserted by the London editor. Should Mrs. Audubon hereafter receive her manuscript, containing sufficient material for four volumes of printed matter, and including many charming episodes "born from his traveling thigh" as Ben Jonson quaintly expressed it, the American public may confidently look forward to other volumes, uniform with this one, of the Naturalist's writings."

The Life & Adventures Of John James Audubon Edited, from materials supplied by his widow, by Robert Buchanan Sampson Low, Son & Marston 1868 From the editor’s preface: "In the autumn of 1867, the present publishers placed in my hands a large manuscript called the "Life of Audubon," prepared by a friend of Mrs. Audubon's, in New York, chiefly consisting of extracts from the diary of the great American naturalist. It needed careful revision, and was, moreover, inordinately long. While I cannot fail expressing my admiration for the affectionate spirit and intelligent sympathy with which the friendly editor discharged his task, I am bound to say that his literary experience was limited. My business, therefore, has been sub-editorial rather than editorial. I have had to cut down what was prolix and unnecessary, and to connect the whole in some sort of a running narrative, and the result is a volume equal in bulk to about one-fifth of the original manuscript. I believe I have omitted nothing of real interest, but I am of course not responsible in any way for the fidelity of what is given. The episodes, wherever they occur, I have given pretty much in full, as being not only much better composed than the diary, but fuller of those associations on which Audubon rests his fame."