Author: Francis Hobart Herrick

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-06

Total Pages: 562

ISBN-13: 9781330823972

Excerpt from Audubon the Naturalist: A History of His Life and Time The origin of the gifted ornithologist, animal painter, and writer, known to the world as John James Audubon, has remained a mystery up to the present time. In now lifting the veil which was cast over his early existence, I feel that I serve the cause of historical truth; at the same time it is possible to do fuller justice to all most intimately concerned with the story of his life and accomplishments. The present work is in reality the outcome of what was first undertaken as a holiday recreation in the summer of 1903. While engaged upon a research of quite a different character, I reread, with greater care, Audubon's Ornithological Biography, and after turning the leaves of his extraordinary illustrations, it seemed to me most strange that but little should be known of the making of so original and masterful a character. As I was in England at the time some investigations were undertaken in London, but, as might have been expected, with rather barren results. After my return to America in the following year the search was continued, but as it proved equally fruitless here, the subject was set aside. Not until 1913, when this investigation was resumed in France, did I meet with success. Every man, however poor or inconsequential he may appear or be, is supposed to possess an estate, and every man of affairs is almost certain to leave behind him domestic, professional, or commercial papers, which are, in some degree, a mark of his attainments and an indication of his character and tastes. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.