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John Gould 1804-1881 A Monograph of the Trochilidae,or Family of Humming-Birds, the author, London,1849 - 1861 (withsupplement, 1880 - 1887) Six volumes, large folio (54.5 x 36cm), with 418 lithographic plates after drawings by John Gould, H.C. Richter and William Hart, finely hand-coloured under the supervision of Gabriel Bayfield. Uniform green morocco bindings, elaborately gilt-decorated. Some very minor foxing. Originally published in 25 parts (vols 1 - 5 1849 - 1861, 360 plates), plus 5-part supplement (vol.6,1880 - 1887, 58 plates) Gould died after publication of the second part of the supplement in 1881, the text of which was completed by R. Bowdler Sharpe, with illustrations by Hart and the publication supervised by Osbert Salvin. (6) PROVENANCE Marcel Jeanson (1885-1942) Bibliotheque Marcel Jeanson: Deuxieme Partie: Ornithologie', Sotheby's, Monaco, 16 June 1988, lot 38, illustrated Private Collection, Sydney LITERATURE 'Recent Ornithological Publications',Ibis, Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1862, pp. 72 - 74 Jean Anker,Bird Books and Bird Art: An Outline of the Literary History and Iconography of Descriptive Ornithology Based Principally on the Collection of Books Containing Plates with Figures of Birds and Their Eggs Now in the University Library at Copenhagen and Including a Catalogue of These Works, Levin & Munksgaard, Copenhagen, 1938, p. 182 Elliot Coues, 'Addendum to Trochilidae', (Ornithological Bibliography) (4 vols.), Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1878-1880, pp. 690 - 692 Claus Nissen, Die Illustrierten Vogelbücher: ihre Geshichte und Bibliographie, Hiersemann Verlag, Stuttgart, 1953, no. 380, p. 119 Sacheverell Sitwell, Handasyde Buchanan and James Fisher,Fine Bird Books 1700-1900 (rev. ed.), Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, 1990, pp. 35 - 40, 102 Gordon C. Sauer, John Gould the Bird Man: A Chronology and Bibliography, Lansdowne Editions, Melbourne, 1982, no. 16, pp. 64-66 Isabella Tree,The Bird Man: The Extraordinary Story of John Gould, Ebury Press, London, 1991, pp. 157-170 J.T. Zimmer,Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, pp. 263-264 Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest bird books of the 19th century, Gould's Monograph of the Trochilidae was a labour of love, product of the author-publisher's longstanding obsession with hummingbirds. Although he did not encounter a living specimen until 1857 (when he saw a ruby-throated hummingbird in Philadelphia), 'this family of living gems' (1) was a lifetime interest. As Gould himself recalls in the Introduction to the present work: 'How vivid … is my recollection of the first Humming-Bird which met my admiring gaze! With what delight did I examine its tiny body and feast my eyes on its glittering plumage!' (2) Working initially with the collection of fellow trochilidomaniac George Loddiges, and later with his own ever-expanding holdings, Gould became the primary ornithological authority in the field. Gould's Humming Bird House, shown at London's Zoological Society Gardens in association with the Great Exhibition of 1851, displayed some 320 species and attracted over 75,000 visitors. By the time of his death in 1881, Gould had accumulated a staggering 1,500 mounted specimens and a further 3,800 study skins. The Monograph of the Trochilidae was not only a work of tremendous scientific value, providing the then-definitive reference work on the subject, but its copious illustrations were an artistic tour de force. Using a combination of transparent oil and varnish colour over gold leaf - a technique adapted from the experiments of the American William Baily - Gould's artists and colourists were able successfully to capture the peculiar metallic iridescence of hummingbird plumage: 'On every page the hummingbirds' tiny bodies hovered in brilliant colours of electric blue, emerald green, bright scarlet; their breasts and heads were glazed … or gilded … so that they shimmered under lamp-light.' (3) Deliberately de luxe, the publication was intended for the very highest end of the book market, with subscribers to theTrochilidae including 'nearly all the crowned heads of Europe.' (4) It has remained one of the primarydesiderata for ornitho-bibliophiles ever since, described variously by contemporary and subsequent commentators as a 'magnificent work', a 'splendid monument', 'the culmination of Gould's genius as ornithologist and publisher' and 'his masterpiece [which] must ever remain a feast of beauty and a source of wonder.' (5) We gratefully acknowledge the kind assistance of Peter Arnold in cataloguing these volumes. Dr David Hansen (1) John Gould, quoted in Isabella Tree,The Bird Man: The Extraordinary Story of John Gould, Ebury Press, London, 1991, p. 158 (2) John Gould, 'Preface', A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Humming-Birds, London, 1849-1861, p. v (3) Tree,op. cit., p. 163 (4) John Gould,Prospectus and List of Subscribers, cited in Isabella Tree, op. cit., p. 164 (5) Charles Darwin, letter to John Gould, cited in Tree, op. cit.; Elliot Coues, 'Addendum to Trochilidae', (Ornithological Bibliography) (4 vols.), Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1878 - 1880, citedibid., p. 163; ibid., p. 157; Sacheverell Sitwell, Handasyde Buchanan and James Fisher Fine Bird Books 1700 - 1900 (rev. ed.), Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, 1990, p. 40 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, SYDNEY