Whip-poor-will

1828

Elected to the Linnean Society of London

In February 1828 Audubon was elected to the Linnean Society in London and wrote several articles for scientific journals; because of his poor English the articles raised a mass of questions whose answers took up much of his time. In May a London journal published William Swainson's review of the first numbers of “The Birds of America”.

1828

Paris: subscribers, Cuvier and Redouté

After his family declined his invitation to join him in London, Audubon went to the continent in August 1828 with Swainson and his wife; while Swainson did research at the Paris Jardin des Plantes, Audubon looked for subscribers. In France he met Baron Georges Cuvier and the master of botanical illustration Pierre-Joseph Redouté, with whom he exchanged several works, and he avoided Nantes for fear that the circumstances of his birth would come out.

1829–1830

Elected to the Royal Society of London

While Audubon was in America, he was elected to the Royal Society of London.

1830

Dinner with President Andrew Jackson

On 1 January 1830 the Audubons left Louisiana and visited New Orleans, New York and Washington, where they dined with President Andrew Jackson (Audubon's works were then on show in Congress, which bought a copy), before boarding a steamship.

1830

Begins publishing the “Ornithological Biography”

Having toured the British Isles with his wife, Audubon settled in Edinburgh in October 1830 and began publishing the “Ornithological Biography”, the text describing the species shown in “The Birds of America”. The five volumes, issued in 1831–1838, run to more than three thousand pages.

1831

Charleston: meeting John Bachman

In October 1831 at Charleston Audubon met John Bachman, who was interested in ornithology and a good shot: his huge house had a separate room for a taxidermist. Bachman's sister-in-law Maria Martin lived there, and Audubon hired her to paint background details; it was then that they agreed on a future book on quadrupeds.