Hand colored lithograph "The Family
of Humming Birds" 13 by 20 inches
Framed $1250
John Gould 1804 - 1881 (Born Sept.
14, 1804, Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire, England. Died Feb. 3, 1881,
London), English ornithologist whose large, lavishly illustrated
volumes on birds command ever-mounting prices among collectors.
Gould learned taxidermy at Windsor Castle, where his father was
foreman of gardeners. In 1827 he became taxidermist to the Zoological
Society of London. The arrival in 1830 of a collection of exotic
bird skins from the Himalayas enabled him to produce the first
of many folio volumes, A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains
(1831-32). Gould's sketches were transferred to the lithographer's
stone by his wife, the former Elizabeth Coxon, whose artistic
talents were to enhance many of his works until her death in 1841.
The five-volume Birds of Europe (1832-37) and Monograph of the
Ramphastidae (Toucans) (1834) were so successful that the Goulds
were able to spend two years (1838-40) in Australia, where they
made a large collection of birds and mammals. The collection resulted
in Gould's most famous work, The Birds of Australia, 7 vol. (1840-48;
supplements 1851-69), and in Mammals of Australia, 3 vol. (1845-63).
He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1843.
"The Trochilidae of Gould
is his masterpiece, and must ever remain a feast of beauty and
a source of wonder and an incomparable catalogue and compendium
of beauty." Fine Bird Books
Gould's lifetime work comprised more
than 40 volumes, with more than 3,000 coloured plates. His many
scientific papers, mostly devoted to descriptions of new species,
established his professional reputation, but he is best known
today for his folios.
