The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 98, July 1994 - April, 1995 Page: 150

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

Tyler's volume, which went out of print immediately upon its release in both
standard and deluxe editions, includes bibliography, catalogue, illustrations, and
descriptions of a number of the birds and quadrupeds, many still unknown to
science at the time of Audubon's publications. Tyler outlines Audubon's activi-
ties and travels in search of publishers, support, and subscriptions for his books.
He emphasizes the family effort in producing these volumes, and clarifies the
roles of Audubon and his sons. In discussing Audubon's search for engravers
and lithographers, Tyler distinguishes among the various printing techniques
employed in the creation and publication of both editions of The Birds of America
and Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. He describes printmaking methods
and summarizes their development, which determined Audubon's choices for
his publications.
Tyler's text, which frequently compares works not illustrated, presupposes the
reader's easy access to other works. The text is cross-referenced to Havell's dou-
ble-elephant folio, Bowen's octavo edition, the imperial-sized Viviparous
Quadrupeds of North America, and four private collections which house Audubon's
original works. Discussions of Audubon's southern travels include Texas, where
he found no new species. He recognized Texas, however, as one of the best or-
nithological points on the continent, because "more than two-thirds of our
species occur there." He subsequently made extensive use of his Texas observa-
tions in the Ornithologzcal Biography, which accompanied The Birds of America.
Tyler emphasizes Audubon's unparalleled achievement and makes a convinc-
ing argument for Audubon as one of the most important American Romantic
painters. This argument seems to be the secondary motivation for Tyler's trea-
tise, and basing it on firm evidence, he succeeds.
Historic New Orleans Collection JUDITH BONNER
Catchzng Shadows: A Directory of Nineteenth-Century Texas Photographers. By David
Haynes. (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1993. Pp. xxii+185. In-
troduction, acknowledgments. ISBN 0-87611-130-4. $19.95, paper.)
David Haynes's directory of photographers practicing in nineteenth-century
Texas promises to become a classic reference source both for photographic his-
torians and for scholars of local and regional history. The result of more than
twenty years of research in occupation tax records, city directories, business di-
rectories, census records, newspapers, and journals, the book includes entries
for nearly twenty-five hundred photographers. The data are usefully arranged al-
phabetically. Each photographer's name is followed by the dates and places of
his or her activity, along with a short citation indicating the source of this infor-
mation. In many cases, the entries also include birth dates and more extended
biographical information, as well as cross-references to other people or firms
with which the photographer might have worked. The useful appendices func-
tion as a kind of index to the guide, listing photographers by place of activity,
decade of operation, gender, race, and, for foreign-born photographers, country
of origin.

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