Beschreibung:

GOULD, John. An Introduction to the Trochilidae, or Family of Humming-birds . London: Printed for the Author, 1861.
GOULD, John. An Introduction to the Trochilidae, or Family of Humming-birds . London: Printed for the Author, 1861. 8vo (212 x 133 mm). 216pp., including 4-page prospectus of ten of Gould’s works at end. (Scattered light foxing at beginning and end.) Contemporary half green calf, pebbled cloth, red morocco lettering-piece (extremities rubbed); quarter morocco folding case. Provenance : Andrew Leith Adams (1827-1882), Scottish physician, naturalist, and geologist (presentation inscription from the author). FIRST EDITION OF GOULD’S TEXT-COMPANION TO THE ‘HUMMING-BIRDS’. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED TO FELLOW NATURALIST A. LEITH ADAMS on the half-title: “Dr. A Leith Adams, with the Author’s kind regards.” Andrew Leith Adams was among the first to study the interior of Ladakh and wrote about it in "The Birds of Cashmere and Ladakh". He was the first to discover the orange bullfinch ( Pyrrhula aurantiaca ), and also the first to locate the breeding site of brown-headed gulls ( Larus brunnicephalus ) in the lakes of the Tibetan plateau. Gould’s introductory text was issued to accompany the five folio volumes published between 1849 and 1861 (a posthumous supplement appeared in 1887). He writes a history of the humming-birds and their environs, and provides notes on the 415 humming-birds depicted in the Monograph . Ayer/Zimmer 261; Nissen IVB 380.