AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY; OR, THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES: ILLUSTRATED WITH PLATES Engraved and Colored from Original Drawings taken from Nature
DateFebruary 12, 1811
Maker
Alexander Wilson
(1766-1813)
Publisher
Bradford & Inskeep
Printer
R. & W. Carr
MediumBlack and white line engravings colored by hand, text pages, bound with leather spines and marbleized boards
Dimensions11" (h) X 14" (h) X 3/4"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number2018-147,3
Label Text2018-147, 3- Volume 3Contains a Title page, Preface, an Index to the third volume, and
nine plates illustrating 37 species accompanied by text for each. For each bird, Wilson cited publications in which they had been previously illustrated.
Plate XIX
Mottled Owl
Meadow Lark
Black and White Creeper
Pine-Creeping Warbler
Plate XX
Louisiana Tanager
Clark's Crow
Lewis's Woodpecker
Plate XXI
Canada Jay
Snow Bunting
Rusty Grackle
Purple Grackle
Plate XXII
Swamp Sparrow
White-Throated Sparrow
Fox-Colored Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow (female)
Loggerhead Shrike
Plate XXIII
Belted Kingsfisher (female)
Black and Yellow Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Autumnal Warbler
Water Thrush
Plate XXIV
Painted Bunting (male and female)
Prothonotary Warbler
Worm-Eating Warbler
Yellow-Winged Sparrow
Blue Grosbeak
Plate XXV
Mississippi Kite (male
Tennesee Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Plate XXVI
Carolina Parrot
Canada Flycatcher
Hooded Flycatcher
Green Black-Capt Flycatcher
Plate XVII
Pinnated Grous
Blue-Green Warbler
Nashville Warbler
InscribedInscribed "John Ford" on inside of the front board.
Inscription on the front flyleaf of Volume 1, second issue, October 1, 1808:
"This Copy of the first two volumes of the ornithology was purchased in Paisley when procuring information and materials for the Biography of Wilson. on shewing them to Mr. Ord while at Jardine Hall in 1855, he recognized the hand writing of Wilson on the title of the 2nd volume and considered it as one of the very first copies of the work coloured by Wilson's own hand. The first copy he presented to his father, the second to his friend Bartram-- This Edition is remarkable also in plate VII, in the later editions the red bellied Woodpecker in plate VII was not considered fortunate in attitude was altered bu Mr Lawson as may be seen on comparing the annexed plate copied from the second edition with that in this volume. The attitude of the head was erased and reengraved-- the Insect on the Branch on which the cedar Bird is perched added
Jardine Hall
oct. 3d 1855"
ProvenanceVolumes 1 and 2 were presented to William Bartram (the inscription is in volume 2). Presumably Bartram was presented with the first issue of volume 1. The two copies of volume 1 and 2 were then owned by William Jardine (see the inscription in on the endpaper of volume 2). Volumes 3-9 are inscribed "John Ford." The entire set, including the Bonapart volumes, the original watercolor, and 2 manuscript letters were owned by Dr. Evan Morton Evans (1870-1955) and his son Daniel Webster Evans (1907-1966). The most recent owner, prior to being purchased by Colonial Williamsburg, was New York collector Gilbert Butler.
