Beschreibung:

JOHN GOULD (1804-1881)
JOHN GOULD (1804-1881) The Birds of Asia, Vol. 4: China Birds . London: published by the author, 1862. (555 x 380mm.) 22 hand-coloured lithographs by John Gould in collaboration with H.C. Richter or W. Hart printed by Hullmandel & Walton, T. Walter, or Walter & Cohn (Slight browning, frayed edges on some.) The entire set published as 7 volumes comprising 530 plates in 35 parts (the final 3 parts published posthumously by R. Bowdler Sharpe), issued over the course of 34 years (1849-1883). Dedicated to the East India Company and sold to subscribers in sets of 7-17 plates. Each plate accompanied by a leaf of descriptive text giving synonymy, history, description and other information of interest regarding the specimen pictured. EXQUISITE LITHOGRAPHS by John Gould, the Victorian 'bird man,' who sketched these plates from specimens sent to his home at Charlotte Street, Bloomsbury, where he maintained a workshop. Publication of The Birds of Asia overlapped with that of The Birds of Australia (1837-1869), another of Gould's major contributions to ornithology. This set of lithographs depicts birds native to China in splendid detail and colour. Gould, as well as many of his subscribers, died before the publication of the final set, which was issued as 7 plates in 3 parts by Gould's protégé, R. Bowdler Sharpe. These represent 22 of the 530 plates depicting birds native to Asia: Suthora webbiana [Webb's Suthora]; Pyrrhula orientalis [Oriental Bullfinch]; Mecistura glaucugularis [Silvery-throated Tit]; Psaltria concinna [Elegant Tit]; Parus minor [Chinese Tit]; Cecropis daurica [Daurian Mosque-Swallow]; Accentor erythropygius [Red-backed Accentor]; Pteruthius aeralatus [Grey-breasted Pteruthius]; Eophona melanura [Black-tailed Grosbeak]; Reguloides superciliosus [Yellow-browed Warbler]; Parus venustulus [White-naped Tit]; Rhopophilus pekinensis [Chinese Rhopophilus]; Spizixos semitorques [Chinese Spizixos]; Emberiza pusilla [Dwarf Bunting]; Staphida torqueola [Grey-headed Staphida]; Zosterops erythropleurus [Chestnut-flanked White-eye], no text leaf; Emberiza rusitca [Rustic Bunting]; Emberiza fucata [Painted Bunting]; Leiothrix luteis [Fork-tailed Leiothrix]; Parus castaneoventris [Chestnut-bellied Tit]; Ixus sinensis [Chinese Bulbul]; Drymochares stellatus [Stellated Shortwing], no text leaf. Anker 178; Fine Bird Books (1990) p.102; Nissen IVB 368; Sauer 17; Wood p.365; Zimmer pp.258-9. (22)