19.     AUDUBON, J[ohn] J[ames]. Arvicola hispidus, Say & Ord. Cotton Rat. Natural Size. [at top] N^o. 6. | Plate, XXX. [below] Drawn from Nature by J.J. Audubon, F.R.S. F.L.S. | Lith. Printed & Col^d. by J.T. Bowen, Philad^a. 1843. Philadelphia, 1843. Hand-colored lithograph. Image: 37.1 x 59.5 cm; image and text: 43 x 59.5 cm; overall sheet size: 50.2 x 64.8 cm. Very fine. Matted, maple frame, and under Plexiglas.

     First edition. This print will be included in Dr. Tyler’s forthcoming work on nineteenth-century lithographs of Texas. Only Audubon and his sons could have made such a common creature seem to possess a certain elegance by the inclusion of a flowering vine in the foreground, and in the background a clapboard farmhouse with smoking chimney and a rolling agricultural landscape with split-rail rick rack fence.

($400-800)

Auction 22 Abstracts