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Lot 218•
GOULD (JOHN) A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains, FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, [no publisher], [1831]-1832
25 March 2015, 11:00 GMT
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £16,250 inc. premium
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GOULD (JOHN)
A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains, FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, 80 hand-coloured lithographed plates by Elizabeth Gould after John Gould, printed by C. Hullmandel, with the backgrounds uncoloured ("You will probably recollect that in my first work ... neither the plants or Backgrounds were coloured; In order to render the Series of my Publications complete ... I have had those parts coloured in the few copies I have left....", letter from Gould to Lord Derby, dated 5 Feb. 1844), with accompanying text by N.A. Vigors and list of subscribers, some spotting to text and occasionally to plates, original half morocco gilt, rubbed [Nissen IVB 374; Anker 168; Fine Bird Books, p.77; Wood, p.364; Zimmer, p.251], folio, [no publisher], [1831]-1832
Footnotes
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE of Gould's first great folio work, with Audubon, Cuvier, Jardine, Latham, Lear, Selby, Swanson and Yarrell counted amongst the subscribers. The work was based upon a collection of birds acquired by Gould whilst acting as Superintendent of the Ornithological Collection of the Zoological Society. "India, and especially its central regions, presents a field the richness of whose stores at once invites and repays the industy of the naturalist... the fortunate possession of a valuable collection from the Himalayan mountains, has enabled the author to lay this Century of hitherto unfigured birds before the public..." (Preface). Working from her husband's sketches, Elizabeth Gould produced the plates using the relatively new technique of lithography.