John Gould | A Monograph of the Trochilidae or Family of Humming-Birds, London, 1849-87, 6 vols, green morocco gilt

Books from a Private Collection

John Gould

A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Humming-Birds. London: Taylor and Francis for the Author, [1849-] 1861 and [1880]-1887

6 volumes, large folio (548 x 366 mm.), dedication, list of subscribers, list of plates in each volume, 418 hand-coloured lithographed plates, many highlighted with varnish and metallic paints, by Gould, H.C. Richter and William Hart, volumes 1-5 in contemporary green morocco gilt, gilt edges, volume 6 a remboitage into contemporary dark-green morocco gilt, gilt edges, marbled endpapers, some spotting and creasing to endleaves

"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).

Gould injected remarkable vivacity into his hummingbirds by using gold leaf over-painted with transparent oil colours and varnish, evoking the iridescent effect of their plumage. The birds are shown in a boundless variety of positions, hovering near, swooping into and rested upon crops of exquisitely illustrated flowers.

Gould's own remarkable collection of 1,500 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 later (1880-1887) by a mostly posthumous five-part supplement by Richard Bowdler Sharpe, often not present, but included here.

PROVENANCE:

Supplementary volume: bookplate of Viscount Henry Lascelles (1882-1947); sold Christie's, 6 June 2007, lot 20

LITERATURE:

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