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Gould : Tinnunculus Alaudarius

Gould, Wolf, & Richter, London, 1864

Lithograph, Walter & Cohn, Image Size : , Platemark Size : , Paper Size : 550x374 (mm), 21.65x14.72 (Inches), Original Hand Coloring, Very Good

From John Gould's "The Birds of Great Britain". "The son of a working gardener, ... [John Gould] early gained much knowledge of birds in their wild state." He began work on what was soon to be praised as "by far the most accurately illustrated work on foreign ornithology that had been issued up to that period." "Before he died Gould had produced forty-one folio volumes, illustrated by 2,999 plates, a wonderful achievement for one man." "Gould was unable to obtain a publisher for his first illustrated work, and reluctantly resolved to become his own publisher. His works soon became a pecuniary success, and realised for him a considerable fortune. The care he bestowed on the plates and their colouring was remarkable, his object being to render them artistic pictures of the birds and mammals in their natural haunts." "'The Birds of Great Britain,' begun in 1862, exhibited the perfection of his work; the plates were executed with remarkable care, the birds being depicted in their natural haunts, with young, nests, &c." (Dictionary of National Biography)