The limits of imperial influence: John James Audubon in British North America
For two decades, John James Audubon (1785–1851) travelled widely and frequently while working on his illustrated natural history volumes – still highly prized today for their aesthetic and scientific merit: Birds of America (1827–1838) and Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1846–1854). Neither...
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credinunivpr:10.3366/anh.2020.0656 2023-11-12T04:21:22+01:00 The limits of imperial influence: John James Audubon in British North America Lindsay, Debra J. 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/anh.2020.0656 https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full-xml/10.3366/anh.2020.0656 en eng Edinburgh University Press https://www.euppublishing.com/customer-services/librarians/text-and-data-mining-tdm Archives of Natural History volume 47, issue 2, page 302-318 ISSN 0260-9541 1755-6260 Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous) History Anthropology journal-article 2020 credinunivpr https://doi.org/10.3366/anh.2020.0656 2023-10-19T13:45:44Z For two decades, John James Audubon (1785–1851) travelled widely and frequently while working on his illustrated natural history volumes – still highly prized today for their aesthetic and scientific merit: Birds of America (1827–1838) and Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1846–1854). Neither independently wealthy nor employed as a salaried scientist, the artist-naturalist with a flair for marketing financed his projects by selling subscriptions. Successfully marketing Birds to members of the British aristocracy, as well as to organizations and to artistic and intellectual elites, Audubon was reluctant to take Quadrupeds to Britain even though sales there were key to the financial viability of his work. Instead, in 1842 Audubon travelled to Canada (now Ontario and Quebec), the most populous region of British North America. The colony was, he calculated, a viable source of subscribers; however, he was wrong. Moreover, having travelled to British North America previously, he should have expected modest returns. Nonetheless, he was optimistic that this expedition would succeed where those to New Brunswick (1832) and Labrador and Newfoundland (1833) had failed. This paper examines why success eluded Audubon in the colonies, arguing that entrepreneurialism buttressed by patronage – a winning strategy in Britain – failed because there was a vast difference between metropolis and hinterland when it came to supporting the arts and sciences. Article in Journal/Newspaper Newfoundland Edinburgh University Press (via Crossref) Canada Newfoundland Archives of Natural History 47 2 302 318 |
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Open Polar |
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Edinburgh University Press (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
credinunivpr |
language |
English |
topic |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous) History Anthropology |
spellingShingle |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous) History Anthropology Lindsay, Debra J. The limits of imperial influence: John James Audubon in British North America |
topic_facet |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous) History Anthropology |
description |
For two decades, John James Audubon (1785–1851) travelled widely and frequently while working on his illustrated natural history volumes – still highly prized today for their aesthetic and scientific merit: Birds of America (1827–1838) and Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1846–1854). Neither independently wealthy nor employed as a salaried scientist, the artist-naturalist with a flair for marketing financed his projects by selling subscriptions. Successfully marketing Birds to members of the British aristocracy, as well as to organizations and to artistic and intellectual elites, Audubon was reluctant to take Quadrupeds to Britain even though sales there were key to the financial viability of his work. Instead, in 1842 Audubon travelled to Canada (now Ontario and Quebec), the most populous region of British North America. The colony was, he calculated, a viable source of subscribers; however, he was wrong. Moreover, having travelled to British North America previously, he should have expected modest returns. Nonetheless, he was optimistic that this expedition would succeed where those to New Brunswick (1832) and Labrador and Newfoundland (1833) had failed. This paper examines why success eluded Audubon in the colonies, arguing that entrepreneurialism buttressed by patronage – a winning strategy in Britain – failed because there was a vast difference between metropolis and hinterland when it came to supporting the arts and sciences. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lindsay, Debra J. |
author_facet |
Lindsay, Debra J. |
author_sort |
Lindsay, Debra J. |
title |
The limits of imperial influence: John James Audubon in British North America |
title_short |
The limits of imperial influence: John James Audubon in British North America |
title_full |
The limits of imperial influence: John James Audubon in British North America |
title_fullStr |
The limits of imperial influence: John James Audubon in British North America |
title_full_unstemmed |
The limits of imperial influence: John James Audubon in British North America |
title_sort |
limits of imperial influence: john james audubon in british north america |
publisher |
Edinburgh University Press |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/anh.2020.0656 https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full-xml/10.3366/anh.2020.0656 |
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Canada Newfoundland |
geographic_facet |
Canada Newfoundland |
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Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Newfoundland |
op_source |
Archives of Natural History volume 47, issue 2, page 302-318 ISSN 0260-9541 1755-6260 |
op_rights |
https://www.euppublishing.com/customer-services/librarians/text-and-data-mining-tdm |
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https://doi.org/10.3366/anh.2020.0656 |
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Archives of Natural History |
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47 |
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2 |
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318 |
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