26.     AUDUBON, J[ohn] J[ames]. Mephitis Mesoleuca, Licht. Texan Skunk. Natural Size [at top] N^o. 11. | Plate LIII. [below] Drawn from Nature by J.J. Audubon, F.R.S. F.L.S. | Lith^d. Printed & Col^d. by J.T. Bowen, Philad^a 1845. Philadelphia, 1845. Hand-colored lithograph. Image: 53.3 x 47 cm; image and text: 59.1 x 47 cm; overall sheet size: 69.3 x 54.5 cm. Light browning and a few minor chips at blank margins, otherwise fine, old stab holes at left blank margin where previously bound in a book. Matted, maple frame, and under Plexiglas.

     First edition. This print will be included in Ron Tyler’s forthcoming work on nineteenth-century lithographs of Texas, in which he comments:

Audubon captured the Texan Skunk alive near the battlefield at San Jacinto. He placed it in a pack on one of his mules and, because the scent was so strong, assumed that the skunk remained with him throughout the day. It was only when he arrived at the evening’s campsite that he realized that the little skunk, like the Large-Tailed Skunk before, had escaped during the day.”

     This particular type of skunk is the only one with distribution throughout Texas.

($500-1,000)

Auction 22 Abstracts