John Gould | The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy

John Gould.

The Birds of Europe. London: Richard and John E. Taylor, [1832-] 1837

FIRST EDITION, SUBSCRIBER’S COPY, 5 volumes, folio (552 x 400 mm), dedication leaf, list of subscribers, list of plates, 448 hand-coloured lithographed plates, the majority drawn and lithographed by Elizabeth Gould from sketches and designs by the author, the remainder drawn and lithographed by Edward Lear, some heightened with white or gum Arabic, printed by C. Hullmandel, contemporary half red morocco, spines gilt, marbled endpapers, scattered light spotting and browning at extremities, title-pages of volumes 2 and 4 remargined, 225 mm repaired tear to plate 351 and 30 mm closed tear to plate 352 (volume 5)

Gould's second major work, The Birds of Europe, was published in twenty-two parts over five years between 1832 and 1837. This work is notable for the contribution of Edward Lear, who produced 67 of the plates. As Isabella Tree notes "in volume Lear's contribution may not have been prolific, but its impact was revelatory. Lear's participation transformed the work of Mrs Gould, which in the Himalayan Birds was little more than a continuation of eighteenth-century productions, into dynamic and expressive works of art. Like an ornithological Michelangelo he propelled her limited sense of perspective into the third dimension" (Isabella Tree, The Ruling Passion of John Gould, p. 43).

PROVENANCE:

Thomas William Giffard (1798–1861) of Chillington Hall, Staffordshire (named in list of subscribers); thence by descent

LITERATURE:

Anker 169; Fine Bird Books, p. 77; Nissen IVB 371; Sauer 2; Wood, p. 364