Note 168 — Chapter XXXII · AUDUBON'S GREATEST TRIUMPH
Reading edition
Eight in number, the aggregate cost of which was then $1,624: The Birds of America, with its letterpress, was offered at $1,000; library, or octavo edition, with reduced plates, in 100 Parts, at $100; The Quadrupeds of North America, 2 vols., folio, with 3 vols. text, in 8vo., $300; text of the same, according to binding, from $31 (paper) to $40 (full Turkey mor.); Birds and Quadrupeds, library ed., 10 vols., 650 plates, $150 to $160, according to style; Synopsis of Birds of America, $4; The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, 3 vols., text only, $9. See Mrs. Horace St. John, Life of Audubon (Bibl. No. 71), in advertisement inserted in volume. These prices were similar to those that prevailed during the lifetime of the naturalist.
According to Mr. Ruthven Deane, Audubon's account books show that on January 8, 1840, a box was sent to Dr. George Parkman, of Boston, containing a set of The Birds of America, in full binding, at $1,075; a set of the same, half bound, at $950; and the "Biographies" at $27.
The highest recorded price of The Birds of America is believed to be $4,350, which the Kemble set brought at auction at Philadelphia, in 1906 (See Prices Current for 1906); the highest price paid for a single plate, that of the Turkey Cock (Plate No. 1) upwards of $140; and the highest price asked for the octavo edition of the Birds (in original parts), $750. The Quadrupeds in 2 vols., original folio, now brings about $500.