Beschreibung:

GOULD, John. The Birds of Great Britain . London: Taylor and Francis for the Author, [1862]-1873.
GOULD, John. The Birds of Great Britain . London: Taylor and Francis for the Author, [1862]-1873. 5 volumes, large 2° (550 x 379 mm). 5pp. subscribers' list. 367 fine hand-colored lithographic plates, most heightened with gum-arabic, by Gould, Henry Constantine Richter, Joseph Wolf and William Hart printed by Walter or Walter & Cohn, 2 wood-engraved illustrations. (Occasional light offsetting of plates onto text or scant spotting, a few tiny marginal tears, neatly penciled plate numbers on verso of plates, otherwise a fresh copy.) Contemporary green morocco gilt, edges gilt (lightly rubbed). Provenance : Edward Harris Cooper (bookplate of Markree Castle); by descent to Bryan Cooper, the library of Markree Castle, Sligo (bookplate of Markree Castle); sold Sotheby's London, 9 June 1980, lot 127; sold Sotheby's London, 23 April 1987, lot 37; sold Christie's London 30 October 1996, lot 248. A SUBSCRIBER'S COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION . Owned by the Cooper family of Markee Castle, Sligo. Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Henry Cooper is identified with his London address in the Subscriber's List. A fine copy of "the most sumptuous and costly of the British bird books" (Mullens & Swann). Gould was especially proud of this work. The text is, of course, longer than in any of his other works and the illustrations, many of them prepared from freshly killed specimens, include many more depictions of chicks, nests and eggs. 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. Ayer/Zimmer, p.261; Fine Bird Books, p.78; Nissen IVB 372; Sauer 23; Wood, p.365.