A Fabulous Set of Four Good Sized Unframed Gould Tropical Bird Prints (4)

A Fabulous Set of Four Mr Goulds Tropical Birds in excellent order over 71 years old and of good size being 40 x 30 cm. Unframed for you to choose your framing! Can been seen how would look in frame in picture 2

In 1830, John Gould’s ambition crystallised after receiving a delivery of Himalayan bird skins at the Zoological Society, and he set to work publishing one of the first illustrated books on birds from the Indian subcontinent. He procured his friend and fellow Society member Nicholas Ayward Vigors to write the manuscript, and encouraged his wife Elizabeth to learn lithography in order to illustrate the work. Published in parts and completed in 1832, A Century of Birds of the Himalaya Mountains was the success that John Gould needed to establish his name in the ranks of ornithology.

Almost immediately, Gould launched into his next project: a massive five-volume work on European birds. Published over five years from 1832-1837, The Birds of Europe contained 448 lithographic plates. During this period Gould also published A Monograph of Toucans, a 34-plate work completed in 1835. Illustrations for both works were produced by Elizabeth Gould and the artist and nonsense poet Edward Lear, who worked with the Goulds for several years at the beginning of their publication ventures.