John GOULD

1804~1881
John Gould was born in Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire. He learned taxidermy at Windsor Castle, where his father was foreman of gardeners. In 1827 he became taxidermist to the Zoological Society of London. The arrival in 1830 of a collection of exotic bird skins from the Himalayas enabled him to produce the first of many folio volumes, A century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains (1831-32). Gould's sketches from nature were transferred to the lithographer's stone by his wife, the former Elizabeth Coxon, who was an accomplished artist when they were married in 1829. Her artistic talents were to enhance many of his works, and she was the chief artist and lithographer for the Gould partnership for the first ten years of major publications.
The Birds of Europe is the first of Gould's works to feature plates by Edward Lear. The greater number were drawn and lithographed by Elizabeth Gould, but a quarter of them were drawn and lithographed by Lear. All the plates were coloured under the direction of My Bayfield. Finally the printing was done by C. Hullmandel (Copenhagen/Anker).
The five-volume Birds of Europe (1832-37) and Monograph of the Ramphastidae (Toucans) (1834) were so successful that the Goulds were able to spend two years in Australia, where they made a large collection of birds and mammals. Gould explored as far as four hundred miles into the interior of the continent and two of his assistants lost their lives on the expedition. Mrs Gould spent at least part of the time at Government House in Hobart, Tasmania, and it was there that Franklin Gould (the youngest of the three Gould sons) was born. She painted a good many birds on the journey as we know from signed and dated drawings in the Collection, which resulted in Gould's most famous work, The Birds of Australia, and Mammals of Australia. The Goulds arrived back in England in 1840, but unfortunately Elizabeth did not long survive. She died in 1841, and her work was translated into lithographs by H C Richter and published under his name. John Gould was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1843.
Gould's life time work comprised more than 40 volumes, with more than 3,000 coloured plates. His many scientific papers, mostly devoted to descriptions of new species, established his professional reputation, but he is best known today for his folios.

Ref: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Hyman, Lear's Birds, p.45; Ayer/Zimmer, pp 251-252; Copenhagen/Anker 169; Fine Bird Books, pp77; Nissen, IVB 371; Nissen, SVB, 192; Sauer 2.HBS 39274.

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