Gould - Monograph of the Pittidae

GOULD, John (1804-1881).
Monograph of the Pittidæ.
London: published by the author, October 1880-1881.

2 parts in one volume. Folio (22 x 15 inches). 19 leaves of letterpress. 10 lithographic plates by William Hart (7) or H.C. Richter (3), printed by Walter, with hand-coloring. Modern half green morocco for Henry Sotheran Ltd, original blue printed paper front wrappers for both parts bound in.

First edition, part one with text and plates, part II with text only, being all published. Originally projected for completion in four parts, the 'Pittidae' was abandoned after Gould's death. No title-page or preliminary letterpress was issued, and the title is taken from the front cover. The 'Pittidae' contained no new illustrations: these ten plates of ant-thrushes had been previously issued in Gould's 'Birds of Asia', 'Birds of Australia', and 'Birds of New Guinea'. The present copy includes the ten leaves of text written by R.B. Sharpe (each leaf signed "[R.B.S.]") for the uncompleted second part, and its original unpublished front wrapper. There is no evidence that this second part was ever formally published and distributed and Sharpe himself, in 'Analytical Index to the Works of the Late John Gould', writes that only one part of the work was issued. Initially employed as a taxidermist [he was known as the 'bird-stuffer'] by the Zoological Society, Gould's fascination with birds from the east began in the "late 1820s [when] a collection of birds from the Himalayan mountains arrived at the Society's museum and Gould conceived the idea of publishing a volume of imperial folio sized hand-coloured lithographs of the eighty species, with figures of a hundred birds [as here]. Gould's friend and mentor N. A. Vigors supplied the text.

Elizabeth Gould made the drawings and transferred them to the large lithographic stones. Having failed to find a publisher, Gould undertook to publish the work himself; it appeared in twenty monthly parts, four plates to a part, and was completed ahead of schedule. "With this volume Gould initiated a format of publishing that he was to continue for the next fifty years, although for future works he was to write his own text. Eventually fifty imperial folio volumes were published on the birds of the world, except Africa, and on the mammals of Australia-he always had a number of works in progress at the same time. Several smaller volumes, the majority not illustrated, were published, and he also presented more than 300 scientific papers. "His hand-coloured lithographic plates, more than 3300 in total, are called 'Gould plates'. Although he did not paint the final illustrations, this description is largely correct: he was the collector (especially in Australia) or purchaser of the specimens, the taxonomist, the publisher, the agent, and the distributor of the parts or volumes. He never claimed he was the artist for these plates, but repeatedly wrote of the 'rough sketches' he made from which, with reference to the specimens, his artists painted the finished drawings. The design and natural arrangement of the birds on the plates was due to the genius of John Gould, and a Gould plate has a distinctive beauty and quality. His wife was his first artist. She was followed by Edward Lear, Henry Constantine Richter, William Matthew Hart, and Joseph Wolf" (Gordon C. Sauer for DNB).Ayer/Zimmer 263; Fine Bird Books 102; McGill/Wood 365; Nissen IVB 377; Sauer 28.