Gould, John

Estimate

60,000 - 80,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Gould, John
A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or family of Humming-birds. London: Published by the author, [1841]-1861
paper

First edition, 5 volumes, folio (550 x 362mm.), dedication leaf, lists of plates, 360 hand-coloured lithographed plates by and after Gould, H.C. Richter, and W. Hart, contemporary green morocco gilt, gilt edges

Provenance

Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet, arms on covers

Literature

Anker 177; Fine Bird Books, p.78; Nissen IVB 380; Sauer 16 and 29; Zimmer, p.258

Catalogue Note

''The Trochilidae of Gould is his masterpiece, and must ever remain a feast of beauty and a source of wonder'' (Fine Bird Books, p.29).

To reproduce the iridescent colours of the hummingbirds' feathers Gould used pure gold leaf over-painted with transparent oil colours and varnish. The birds are often shown in flight, darting or hovering among flowers, in order to bring out every aspect of their plumage.

Gould's own remarkable collection of 1500 mounted hummingbirds was exhibited in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, during the Great Exhibition of 1851. It attracted 75,000 visitors, including Queen Victoria, who recorded in her diary: ''It is impossible to imagine anything so lovely as these little Humming Birds, their variety, and the extraordinary brilliance of their colours''.

The work was issued in twenty-five parts, followed much later (1880-1887) by a mostly posthumous five-part supplement by Richard Bowdler-Sharpe, not present here.