Beschreibung:

GOULD, John (1804-1881) and Richard Bowdler SHARPE (1847-1909). A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Humming-Birds . London: Taylor and Francis for the author, [1849]-1861 -- A Monograph ... Supplement . Taylor and Francis for Henry Sotheran & Co., [1880]-1887. 6 volumes [including the Supplement ], large 2° (542 x 363mm). 418 hand-coloured lithographic plates, many highlighted in gold leaf overpainted with transparent varnish and oil colours, by Gould, Henry Constantine Richter and William Hart printed by Hullmandel and Walton, Walter and the Mintern Brothers. 3-page subscribers' list. (Occasional light spotting or marking, offsetting from plates onto text, and wash-spotting by colourists, some minor creasing.) Monograph bound in contemporary green morocco gilt, boards with elaborate borders of palmette, foliate and greek-key pattern rolls, roll-tooled gilt turn-ins, gilt edges, glazed yellow endpapers (vol. II front free endpaper and flyleaf detached, rubbed and scuffed causing some tearing, vol. II and IV spines torn with losses, vol. IV upper board detached), Supplement bound in late 19th-century cloth-backed boards, upper board with trimmed-down mounted wrapper from one of the parts. Provenance : E. Cubitt (bookplates in Monograph ) -- Library of Arthur Sanderson & Sons (probably purchased by Harold William Sanderson (1863-1958); ink-stamped labels tipped onto some front and/or rear free endpapers). FIRST EDITION OF GOULD'S MASTERPIECE, COMPLETE WITH THE SUPPLEMENT ; 'An incomparable catalogue and compendium of beauties' ( Fine Bird Books p.39). Most of the subjects came from Gould's own collection of humming-bird specimens, a number of which he exhibited at the Regent's Park Zoological Gardens during the Great Exhibition of 1851. The plates gave Gould the chance to display the new technique of imitating the birds' iridescent plumage by the use of brilliant metallic colouring. This set is complemented by the 5-part supplement planned by Gould. The first part was issued in 1880, and the second, which had been substantially prepared by Gould, was issued in 1881 after his death on 3rd February. The remaining parts were completed by Richard Bowdler Sharpe (text) and William Hart (plates) under the direction of Osbert Salvin and published by Henry Sotheran and Co. who purchased the publication rights to Gould's works, along with other items of the estate. The supplement illustrated a total of 60 species on 58 plates, equal in beauty and magnificence with the 360 plates already issued. Anker 177; Fine Bird Books (1990) p.102; Nissen IVB 380; Sauer 16 and 29; Wood p.365; Zimmer pp.258 and 263-64. (6)