John Gould (1804-1881) The Birds of Great Britain . London: Taylor and Francis for the Author, August 1st 1862 - December 1st 1873. 25 original parts, large 2° (560 x 385mm). 5pp. subscribers' list, small format 'To the Binder' in the final part, 367 fine hand-coloured lithographic plates, most heightened with gum-arabic, by Gould, Henry Constantine Richter, Jospeh Wolf and William Hart most lithographed by Richter and Hart, printed by Walter or Walter & Cohn, 2 wood-engraved illustrations. (3rd plate in part XX creased at inner blank margin.) Original cloth-backed boards, titled on upper cover with integral vignette illustration (small splits to spines, light soiling, heavier to covers of part XXI, extremities rubbed, stitching to parts VII, XIV, XX broken). Provenance : clipped inscription 'Believe me to be Madam Your very ob.st. John Gould' mounted on front pastedown of part I. FIRST EDITION, IN THE ORIGINAL PARTS, IN FINE UNSOPHISTICATED CONDITION. 'The most popular of all his works is always likely to be Birds of Great Britain ' ( Fine Bird Books [1990] p.40). The text is more extensive and the illustrations depict many more chicks, nests, and eggs than in Gould's other works: 'there was an opportunity of greatly enriching the work by giving figures of the young of many of the species of various genera - a thing hitherto almost entirely neglected by authors' (Gould, writing in the preface to the present work). Wolf, who drew 57 of the plates and accompanied Gould on an ornithological tour of Scandinavia in 1856, was responsible for persuading Gould and Richter to adopt a livelier treatment of the subject matter. Fine Bird Books (1990) p.102; Nissen IVB 372; Sauer 23; Wood p.365; Zimmer p. 261. (25)
John Gould (1804-1881) The Birds of Great Britain . London: Taylor and Francis for the Author, August 1st 1862 - December 1st 1873. 25 original parts, large 2° (560 x 385mm). 5pp. subscribers' list, small format 'To the Binder' in the final part, 367 fine hand-coloured lithographic plates, most heightened with gum-arabic, by Gould, Henry Constantine Richter, Jospeh Wolf and William Hart most lithographed by Richter and Hart, printed by Walter or Walter & Cohn, 2 wood-engraved illustrations. (3rd plate in part XX creased at inner blank margin.) Original cloth-backed boards, titled on upper cover with integral vignette illustration (small splits to spines, light soiling, heavier to covers of part XXI, extremities rubbed, stitching to parts VII, XIV, XX broken). Provenance : clipped inscription 'Believe me to be Madam Your very ob.st. John Gould' mounted on front pastedown of part I. FIRST EDITION, IN THE ORIGINAL PARTS, IN FINE UNSOPHISTICATED CONDITION. 'The most popular of all his works is always likely to be Birds of Great Britain ' ( Fine Bird Books [1990] p.40). The text is more extensive and the illustrations depict many more chicks, nests, and eggs than in Gould's other works: 'there was an opportunity of greatly enriching the work by giving figures of the young of many of the species of various genera - a thing hitherto almost entirely neglected by authors' (Gould, writing in the preface to the present work). Wolf, who drew 57 of the plates and accompanied Gould on an ornithological tour of Scandinavia in 1856, was responsible for persuading Gould and Richter to adopt a livelier treatment of the subject matter. Fine Bird Books (1990) p.102; Nissen IVB 372; Sauer 23; Wood p.365; Zimmer p. 261. (25)
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
