23.     AUDUBON, J[ohn] J[ames]. Dycoteles Torquatus, F. Cuv. Collared Peccary. 4/7 Natural Size. Male. [at top] N^o. 7 | Plate XXXI. [below] Drawn from Nature by J.J. Audubon, F.R.S. F.L.S. | Lith., Printed & Col^d. by J.T. Bowen, Philad^a. 1844. [Philadelphia, 1844]. Hand-colored lithograph. Image: 41.9 x 58.3 cm; image and lettering: 48.6 x 58.3 cm; overall sheet size: 53.5 x 68.9 cm. Light yellowing at blank margins, otherwise fine. Matted, maple frame, and under Plexiglas.

     First edition. The caption on the print states that the artist was J.J. Audubon, but the print was probably done by J.W. Audubon. The print is included in Dr. Ron Tyler’s preliminary study of nineteenth-century Texas lithographs. Dr. Tyler states that Audubon was among the early trained artists to visit Texas.

     The javelina, or collared peccary, currently known as either Tayassu tajacu or Dicotyles tajacu, is about three feet long and dark grey in color with a white band around its throat. It weighs about fifty-five pounds and was once thought to be a pig. See Handbook of Texas Online: Javelina.

     Audubon drew the collared peccary from a specimen he collected in Texas.

($1,000-2,000)

Auction 22 Abstracts