London, published by the author, 1861
With the rare supplement. Gould's masterpiece... an incomparable catalogue and compendium of beauties (Fine Bird Books). Of all the bird families, the hummingbird held the greatest fascination for Gould. Most of the plates were drawn from specimens from his own collection, which he had built up thanks to a burgeoning trade in the fashionable little bird, and with the help of a pool of co10llectors whom he commissioned to hunt for rare or unknown varieties in the wilds of South America. He exhibited the collection - which included nearly 2000 birds from 300 different species - in the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park for the Great Exhibition in 1851, attracting nearly 75,000 visitors and consolidating his reputation as one of the greatest living ornithologists. Although his claim that the subscribers to the Trochilidae included 'nearly all the crowned heads of Europe' (Tree, p. 164) was a slight exaggeration, the magnificence of the illustrations as much as the vogue for 'hummers' did attract a larger and more brilliant audience than all of his other works except The birds of Great Britain. To illustrate the birds' iridescent plumage, Gould had used a costly technique of painting in varnish and oils over pure gold leaf, which he claimed to have invented but which he seems in reality to have borrowed with very little modification from the American hummingbird specialist William Bailey.
Gould died after the publication of part 1 of the Supplement. He had already supervised the preparation of many of the plates, and the project was completed by Sharpe for the text, W. Hart, who did the drawings, lithographs and colouring for the 58 remaining plates, and the ornithologist Osbert Salvin, who directed the general production. Soon after Gould's death his bird collections, which by then included 5378 hummingbirds, were purchased by the Zoological Society, and are now part of the British Museum's natural history collections.
First edition; 6 vols, folio, (55 x 35.5 cm); 418 hand-coloured lithographs, many heightened with gold leaf & other iridescent mineral paints, overpainted with transparent oil and varnish colours, after John Gould, H.C. Richter and W. Hart; Contemporary half green morocco, spines with raised bands richly decorated in gilt, titles, volumes all gilt, all edges gilt. A fine set.
Anker 177; Fine Bird Books p. 78; Nissen IVB, 380; Sauer 16; Wood p. 365; Zimmer pp. 258 & 263-64.
Gould died after the publication of part 1 of the Supplement. He had already supervised the preparation of many of the plates, and the project was completed by Sharpe for the text, W. Hart, who did the drawings, lithographs and colouring for the 58 remaining plates, and the ornithologist Osbert Salvin, who directed the general production. Soon after Gould's death his bird collections, which by then included 5378 hummingbirds, were purchased by the Zoological Society, and are now part of the British Museum's natural history collections.
First edition; 6 vols, folio, (55 x 35.5 cm); 418 hand-coloured lithographs, many heightened with gold leaf & other iridescent mineral paints, overpainted with transparent oil and varnish colours, after John Gould, H.C. Richter and W. Hart; Contemporary half green morocco, spines with raised bands richly decorated in gilt, titles, volumes all gilt, all edges gilt. A fine set.
Anker 177; Fine Bird Books p. 78; Nissen IVB, 380; Sauer 16; Wood p. 365; Zimmer pp. 258 & 263-64.
About us
Shapero Rare Books is an internationally renowned dealer in antiquarian & rare books and works on paper.
Our Bookshop and Gallery can be found in the heart of Mayfair at 106 New Bond Street, where most of our stock is available to view and on public display.
We exhibit at major international art fairs, including TEFAF (Maastricht and New York), Frieze Masters, Art Miami and Masterpiece London, as well as antiquarian & rare book fairs including New York, Paris, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Hong Kong.
