John Gould (1804-1881)

John Gould was a self-made man of humble origins who became, by sheer hard work and perseverance, Britain's greatest ornithologist. A typical Victorian, he devoted a lifetime of prodigious energy to the study of birds and to the production of the "Gould Folios," which began publication in 1832. These 41 volumes comprise the first near-complete ornithologies of Asia, Australia, Britain and New Guinea -- as well as of the families of Toucans, Trogons and Hummingbirds. All volumes were published in imperial folio size (16 by 21 inches) and illustrated in the inimitable John Gould manner, consisting of beautiful handcoloured lithographs which, for the most part, depicted the birds life size.

John Gould was born in 1804, the son of a gardener who later took up an appointment at Windsor Castle, where one of the young Gould's jobs was to pick dandelions for Queen Charlotte's tea. Surrounded by flowers and birds, it is not surprising that he took an active interest in natural history. He met and married Elizabeth Coxen in 1827.

At some time during 1830, he acquired (probably from a returning officer of the East India Company) a number of specimens of the exotic and little-known birds of Northern India, forming the bold idea of issuing a book about them. When his idea was rejected by the publishers, Gould determined to issue the book himself at his own expense. He arranged for his talented wife to draw and lithograph the plates from his own sketches, persuaded N. A. Vigors to write the text for him and then set about drumming up subscribers. At this, he was spectacularly successful. His list was headed by Victoria (Queen from 1837) and Prince Albert, an emperor, a king, three princes and nine dukes. The resulting book, "A Century of Birds ... from the Himalaya Mountains" was published in 1832.

Encouraged by the response to his first book, Gould set about a more ambitious project: an attempt to illustrate all of the birds of Europe. He engaged Edward Lear to share the job of illustrating the work with Elizabeth Gould and between the three of them they produced 449 plates for "Birds of Europe," which form five volumes when bound. "Birds of Europe" was completed in 1837. Even while engaged in this mammoth task, Gould and his wife were busy with other projects. The monograph of the picturesque "Toucans" was published in 1834, followed by "Trogons" in 1838. Both works were sufficiently successful to warrant second editions in later years.

Nothing quite like these books had been seen before and Gould found himself the most celebrated ornithologist of his day. A lesser man might have decided to relax the pace and rest on his laurels, but not Gould. He began planning his greatest work: no less than a thorough ornithology of Australia, a country which was at that time virtually undocumented. Gould took the bold and heroic step of setting sail for Australia to personally supervise the collecting of specimens. He financed two years of grueling work with the profits he made from his previous publications (some L 7,000), but his investment paid off and "The Birds of Australia", published over a period of eight years beginning in 1840 and containing 681 plates, was extremely successful.

John Gould published "Partridges of America" in 1850, followed by the spectacular "Hummingbirds" in 1851, "Birds of Great Britain" from 1862-1873 and "Birds of Asia." His stunning success can be attributed to the originality of his ideas, his vision and the great skill with which he organized the publication of his many books.

Artist Bio Index:

18th & 19th C. Artists:				Hiroshige Chikanobu Eisen Eizan Gakutei Hirosada Hiroshige II Hokusai Kunichika Kunisada Kuniyoshi Kyosai (Gyosai) Shunsho Toyokuni I Toyokuni III Yoshitoshi
20th C. Artists:				Bertha Lum Charles Bartlett Chiura Obata Clifton Karhu Cyrus Leroy Baldridge Elizabeth Keith Hajime Namiki Haku Maki Hashiguchi Goyo Helen Hyde Hiroshi Yoshida Ito Shinsui Joichi Hoshi Katsunori Hamanishi Kawase Hasui Kawase Hasui   (Posthumous) Kiyoshi Saito Koshiro Onchi Ohara Shoson   (Koson) Paul Jacoulet Ryohei Tanaka Sadao Watanabe Shigeki Kuroda Shinichi Nakazawa Shiro Kasamatsu Yamamoto Shoun Sugiura Tadashi Nakayama Takahashi Hiroaki   (Shotei) Toko Shinoda Tomoo Inagaki Toraji Ishikawa Torii Kotondo Toshi Yoshida Tsuchiya Koitsu Tsuruya Kokei Umetaro Azechi Unichi Hiratsuka Yoshitoshi Mori Yuji Hiratsuka
China Trade:				Auguste Borget Chinese School Edward Hildebrandt Thomas Allom William Alexander
Modern Originals:				Carol Jessen
Natural History:				J. James Audubon Mark Catesby John Gould
Antique Maps:				Conrad Lotter Gilles Robert Gerard de Jode Henricus Hondius Jan Huygen John Tallis Matthaeus Seutter Nicolas Sanson

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