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GOULD, John (1804-1881). A Monograph of the Trochi

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London: published by the Author, September 1855 - September 1858. Parts X and XVI only (of 25), folio (570 x 382 mm). 29 hand-colored lithographic plates only (of 30), nine with highlights produced using gold leaf overpainted with transparent varnish and oil colors, the others with gum arabic highlights, all by Henry Constantine Richter, printed by Hullmandel & Walton. Original green cloth-backed light green paper-covered boards, letterpress and wood-engraved title on upper covers. Condition: light marginal spotting to four plates; splits and small losses to cloth on spines, slight damage and light soiling to extremities of boards. Provenance: Lynn Abbott Trust. a representative selection from gould's masterpiece. An idea of the standing of this work can be garnered from the fact that Sacheverell Sitwell gives a rapturous 5 page description of this "incomparable catalogue and compendium of beauties" in Fine Bird Books (pp.35-40; 1990). Gould completed this work between 1849 and 1861 in 25 parts, with a total of 360 plates. A 5 part supplement was published between 1880 and 1887 bringing the plate total up to 418. The hummimg-bird family held a particular fascination for Gould, and many of the plates in the published work were drawn from his own collection of specimens. The irridescent plummage of a number of humming-bird species had proved a real challenge to earlier illustrators, but the present selection includes examples of the technique that Gould developed which allowed him to capture the essential flash of quicksilver that so exemplifies a humming-bird in flight. Cf. Anker 177; cf. Fine Bird Books (1990) p.102; cf. Nissen IVB 380; cf. Sauer 16; cf. Wood p.365; cf. Zimmer pp.258 & 263-264. (2)

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