(D) Audubon had begun thinking about the text which should accompany his engraved illustrations of birds. He noted in his journal: "I shall publish the letterpress in a separate book, at the same time with the illustrations and shall accompany the descriptions of the birds with many anecdotes and accounts of localities connected with the birds themselves ..." (M.R. Audubon Audubon and his journals 1897, vol.I, p.163). Audubon had taken the decision to publish the letterpress separately (and give it free to the subscribers to the plate volumes) because, according to British copyright law, had the letterpress accompanied the engravings, Audubon would have been obliged to deposit a copy of the work in each of the nine copyright libraries in the United Kingdom.
