A FINE COLLECTION OF WORKS BY JOHN GOULD
A nearly complete set of original subscriber's copies of Gould's folio works, comprising 14 works in 53 volumes, lacking only the two cancelled parts of The Birds of Australia, the second edition of A Monograph of the Ramphastidae, and A Monograph of the Pittidae. The University of Edinburgh figures in the subscribers lists from The Birds of Australia (1840-48) on, the earlier works having been acquired at the time of the initial subscription. This subscription was funded from the bequest of the composer and musician John Reid (1721-1807), founder of the University's first professorship of music.
With the exception of the three works in original cloth-backed boards and the Birds of New Guinea, the volumes are bound in contemporary russia or morocco, covers gilt-panelled, "Reid Bequest, College Library Edinburgh" and the College arms gilt-stamped on both covers, t.e.g. 38 volumes were rebacked in maroon or dark brown morocco by the University Bindery in 1981-82, all with gilt-lettering, some with the compartments gilt-tooled. All 44 bound volumes measure approximately 549 x 370 mm. (21 5/8 x 14 5/8 in.)
Each volume bears an Edinburgh University bookplate as well as a single oval library blind-stamp on the title, last page, and in the lower margin of an occasional text leaf. A few volumes have indelible library ink-stamps in the title-pages: these are noted in the individual condition descriptions. None of the plates are stamped. There are paper shelf-mark labels or their remains on the spines of 6 volumes. A few Lists of Plates have been ticked off in pencil. Internally, apart from some spotting in the Century of Birds and occasional minor dust-soiling to upper margins, the plates are clean and perfect.
Lots x to x will first be offered as a single collection subject to one overall reserve price. The estimate as a collection:
Refer to department
If the collection's reserve price is not reached, the lots will be offered separately and subject to individual reserves.
GOULD, JOHN and NICHOLAS AYLWARD VIGORS. A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains. London: [published by the author, 1831-] 1832.
Details
GOULD, JOHN and NICHOLAS AYLWARD VIGORS. A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains. London: [published by the author, 1831-] 1832.
Russia, worn, spine defective, joints split, reinforced at inner hinges, some light mostly marginal spotting, 10 plates (no.s 20, 21, 24, 33, 34, 38, 49, 69, 70 and 71) and numerous text leaves more severely spotted, vertical crease to plate 72, plates 33 and 48 very slightly creased, minor dust soiling to upper margins of 5 or 6 plates and a few text leaves including title and dedication leaves, a few images faintly offset to text.
Second issue with the backgrounds colored, 80 hand-colored lithographed plates by Elizabeth Gould after sketches by Gould, printed by C. Hullmandel. Nissen IVB 374; Anker 168; Fine Bird Books p. 77; Wood p. 364; Zimmer p. 251; Sauer 1.
GOULD'S FIRST BOOK, issued to 298 subscribers (the number later reached 335) in 20 monthly parts, and the prototype in format and method of publication - both adopted from Edward Lear's Parrots, published from 1830 to 1832 - for Gould's later works. No publisher had been willing to assume the risks of publishing such an expensive work by an unknown bird enthusiast, forcing Gould to assume the publication costs himself; the venture proved so successful that all his later works were published in the same manner, providing Gould the added benefit of maintaining direct control over all aspects of the operation. Based on a collection of bird skins from the Indian hill regions recently acquired by the Zoological Society, the first of any importance to arrive in Europe, the Century was "the most accurately illustrated work on foreign ornithology published up to that date"--Jackson, Bird Illustrators: Some Artists in Early Lithography (London 1975), p. 41.
Russia, worn, spine defective, joints split, reinforced at inner hinges, some light mostly marginal spotting, 10 plates (no.s 20, 21, 24, 33, 34, 38, 49, 69, 70 and 71) and numerous text leaves more severely spotted, vertical crease to plate 72, plates 33 and 48 very slightly creased, minor dust soiling to upper margins of 5 or 6 plates and a few text leaves including title and dedication leaves, a few images faintly offset to text.
Second issue with the backgrounds colored, 80 hand-colored lithographed plates by Elizabeth Gould after sketches by Gould, printed by C. Hullmandel. Nissen IVB 374; Anker 168; Fine Bird Books p. 77; Wood p. 364; Zimmer p. 251; Sauer 1.
GOULD'S FIRST BOOK, issued to 298 subscribers (the number later reached 335) in 20 monthly parts, and the prototype in format and method of publication - both adopted from Edward Lear's Parrots, published from 1830 to 1832 - for Gould's later works. No publisher had been willing to assume the risks of publishing such an expensive work by an unknown bird enthusiast, forcing Gould to assume the publication costs himself; the venture proved so successful that all his later works were published in the same manner, providing Gould the added benefit of maintaining direct control over all aspects of the operation. Based on a collection of bird skins from the Indian hill regions recently acquired by the Zoological Society, the first of any importance to arrive in Europe, the Century was "the most accurately illustrated work on foreign ornithology published up to that date"--Jackson, Bird Illustrators: Some Artists in Early Lithography (London 1975), p. 41.