Descripción
25 ORIGINAL PARTS, folio (22 1/8 x 15 1/4 in.; 56.2 x 38.7 cm). 367 exceptionally fine handcolored lithographic plates, most heightened with gum-arabic, by Gould, Henry Constantine Richter, Joseph Wolf and William Hart, most lithographed by Richter and Hart, printed by Walter or Walter and Cohn, 2 wood-engraved illustrations, part XXV with title-pages for volumes 1-5, 5-page list of subscribers, dedication leaf, preface, Introduction, list of plates for all 5 volumes, directions to the binder tipped in before front free endpaper; some minor spotting to the last plate of part VI and the first plate of parts XIII and XXV, very occasional isolated spots to other plates, occasional light mostly marginal spotting or foxing to text leaves, faint pigment offset from about 9 plates to accompanying text, bottom margin of Thrush plate in part IX bumped. Original pale green paper boards with wood-engraved vignette of a family of Grouse, dark green cloth spines; boards dust-soiled, some with age discoloration, ink splash on front cover of Part II, a few spines with splits or tears, spine cap of part XXV torn, corners and a few board edges bumped, a hinge or two slightly split. FIRST EDITION, AN EXTREMELY FINE, UNCUT COPY IN ORIGINAL PARTS. The parts were priced at three guineas each and contained 15 plates, except for part XXIV with 14 plates, and part XXV with the final 8 plates. The larger final part also contained the title-pages to each volume (I-V), dedication leaf, list of subscribers, preface, introduction, list of plates for each volume, and the binder's slip. As the work was so clearly intended for binding in five volumes, copies in original parts are scarce: in the past 50 years, only seven such sets have appeared at auction. "The most popular of all his works is always likely to be Birds of Great Britain" (Fine Bird Books), for which Gould found more subscribers than any of his other monographs, compelling him to increase the print run. In the preface Gould notes that some 280,000 plates had to be handcolored-given 367 plates per copy, about 750 copies were therefore produced. Often referred to as the most sumptuous and costly of all British bird books, the plates depict scenes with more sophisticated subjects than Gould's previous works by including nests, chicks, and eggs. In the preface Gould wrote that he "felt that there was an opportunity of greatly enriching the work by giving figures of the young of many of the species of various genera-a thing hitherto almost entirely neglected by authors; and I feel assured that this infantile age of birdlife will be of much interest for science." The text is longer than in any of his other works, and many of the illustrations were prepared from freshly killed specimens. Wolf, who drew 57 of the plates, had accompanied Gould on an ornithological tour of Scandinavia in 1856, and was responsible for persuading Gould and Richter to adopt a livelier treatment of the illustrations. Catalogued by E. R. Muller REFERENCES: Ayer/Zimmer p.261; Fine Bird Books p.78; McGill/Wood, p. 365; Nissen IVB 372; Sauer 23; Tree, A Ruling Passion, pp. 194-204 PROVENANCE: WITH THE ORIGINAL RECEIPT FOR THE PURCHASE OF PARTS 9 TO 16 OF THIS SET TO ORIGINAL SUBSCRIBER WILLIAM PETERS, FRAS, FRGS of Ashfold, Crawley, Sussex, for 25 pounds and 4 shillings, SIGNED BY JOHN GOULD ON 1 MARCH 1870; Robert Calvert (engraved armorial bookplate on the front pastedown of each part and his sale, Christie's London, 6 June 2007, lot 21) (L4F15 I-16 I). N° de ref. del artículo 72nhr193
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