Gallery 4A - Octavo Test & Pattern Prints
Found in 1923 by Mary A. Guerrero Lord who was visiting her mother Henrietta Potter James, who owned a house on the corner of South 9th Street and what is now known as Bonaparte Ct. in Philadelphia. These Octavo prints were bundled and abandoned in a back alley near the second studio that Bowen used in the 1800’s when producing Audubon’s birds and quadrupeds. Some of these prints have penciled in instructions from Victor Audubon. One has his signature. Others have Pattern written across the top. Many have worn corners, as one would expect from a print that was a touchstone for colorists. Generally, there are two or three of each image. We cannot definitively say that all were pattern prints, but evidently they were purposely kept or for some time by Bowen, and perhaps forgotten after his death. We will provide a Certificate of Authenticity noting that they are part of the Lord-Hopkins collection - the last known prints to come from Bowen’s studio.