engraver[1] has in his hands all the drawings wanted to complete this present year, and those necessary to form the first number of next year. I have finished the two first years of publication, the two most difficult years to be encountered." To Victor he writes from Camden, N. J., July 10, 1829: "I shall this year have issued ten numbers, each containing five plates, making in all fifty.[2] I cannot publish more than five numbers annually, because it would make too heavy an expense to my subscribers, and indeed require more workmen than I could find in London. The work when finished will contain eighty numbers,[3] therefore I have seventy to issue, which will take fourteen years more. It is a long time to look forward to, but it cannot be helped. I think I am doing well; I have now one hundred and forty-four subscribers."
All this summer and early fall, until October l0th, Audubon spent in the neighborhood of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, working as few can work, four hours continuing to be his allowance for sleep. Six weeks in September and October were spent in the Great Pine Swamp, or Forest,[4] as he called it, his permanent lodgings being at Camden, N. J. Here he writes, October 11, 1829:
"I am at work and have done much, but I wish I had eight pairs of hands, and another body to shoot the specimens; still I am delighted at what I have accumulated
- ↑ Referring to Mr. Robert Havell, of No. 77 Oxford St., London. His name will be recalled in connection with Sterna havellii, the Tern which Audubon shot at New Orleans in 1820, and dedicated to his engraver in "Orn. Biogr." v., 1839, p. 122, "B. Amer.," 8vo, vii., 1844, p. 103, pl. 434. It is the winter plumage of the bird Nuttall called S.forsteri in his "Manual," ii., 1834, p. 274. See Coues, "Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Science," 1862, p. 543.—E. C.
- ↑ See previous note on p. 59, where it is said that plates 1-25 appeared in 1827, and plates 26-50 in 1828—in attestation of which the above words to Victor Audubon become important.—E. C.
- ↑ It actually ran to 87 numbers, as stated in a previous note.
- ↑ See Episodes "Great Egg Harbor" and "Great Pine Swamp."
