Family of Hummingbirds

Publication: Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of the Hummingbirds

Author: John Gould (1804-1881) and Richard Bowdler Sharpe

Print artist: John Gould and William Hart

Published: London, 1861-1887

A complete set includes: 
1 title page
1 content page with all titles of the prints
All prints from one volume, after hand-colored lithographs
Certificate of authenticity
Solander box

Volume I: 41 prints
Volume II: 75 prints
Volume III: 87 prints
Volume IV: 80 prints
Volume V: 77 prints
Supplement: 59 prints

Size of the prints: 22 x 15 inches (56 x 38 cm).

Durability: To ensure the durability, the giclée’s are printed on acid-free white etching paper (270 g/m²) with archival ink.

Quality: These prints were  photographed using the latest technology and reproduced at the original plate size. Printed in the highest possible resolution, these prints are virtually indistinguishable from the originals when glazed and framed.

Limited Edition: The edition will be limited to 50 prints, numbered 1/50 to 50/250, signed and stamped with a blind embossing.

Shipping and delivery: Read more about shipping and delivery in our FAQ .

Often referred to as the ‘father of bird study in Australia’, the English ornithologist John Gould created several esteemed collections of bird illustrations over his long career.

Although he was not the artist of the illustrations within his collections, it was Gould’s vision, dedication and supervision that led to the production of so many important works. During his career he carefully documented birds and habitats in a range of environments from Australia to the Himalayas.

Born in Lyme Regis, West Dorset, Gould followed in his father’s footsteps to become a gardener. He secured a position as foreman in the Royal Gardens of Windsor in 1818.

Following his training at Windsor from 1818 to 1824, Gould later became a gardener at Ripley Castle in Yorkshire. Alongside his garden duties, Gould developed a passion for taxidermy – establishing his own taxidermist business in London. Perhaps his most notable commission was for the stuffing of a pet giraffe for King George IV in 1826.

In 1827, Gould’s expertise gained him a role at the Zoological Society of London as the museum’s first curator and preserver. This position gave Gould access to several of Europe’s leading naturalists and he was often among the first to see the exotic new collections of birds given to the society.

Following the arrival of a collection of exotic bird skins from the Himalayas in 1830, Gould began the first of his monograph collections. The book A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains, gained instant popularity and Gould followed this success with collections on the birds of Europe, Asia, Australia and New Guinea. He also created volumes dedicated to toucans, hummingbirds, birds-of-paradise and in a departure from feathered creatures; kangaroos.

Although he did not create the artwork for his collections himself, Gould worked with several established artists including his wife Elizabeth Gould, the poet and illustrator Edward Lear and German artist Joseph Wolf.

A notable point in Gould’s career came when he provided his expertise and guidance to Charles Darwin. In 1837, having returned from his second voyage aboard HMS Beagle, Darwin presented the mammal and bird specimens collected during his trip to the Zoological Society of London. Gould was given the responsibility of identifying the birds which would later become known as ‘Darwin’s finches’. Gould’s knowledge provided vital information that helped Darwin develop his theory of evolution.

Over his lifetime, Gould created over 40 volumes of work, with over 3,000 colored plates, providing amazing insights into previously undiscovered species. He continued to work up until his death in 1881.

While Gould was clearly fascinated by all birds, the hummingbird was perhaps his favourite. During his lifetime he identified over 400 species of hummingbird and exhibited his personal collection at the General Exhibition of 1851.

A Monograph of the Trochilidae or Family of Hummingbirds is based on specimens from Gould’s own collection.

Gould wrote: “These wonderful works of creation… my thoughts are often directed to them in the day, and my night dreams have not infrequently carried me to their native forests in the distant country of America.”

Gould’s collaborator on the text of this project was Richard Bowdler Sharpe, the curator of birds at the British Museum, and a friend of Gould’s since he had met Sharpe as a boy collecting birds along the river Thames.

Sharpe enlisted the talented artist William Hart to create original watercolors for these six volumes, a collaboration that was the first of many.

Most images show at least one subject in flight to accentuate the coloring of their feathers. The compositions generally show the birds in animated groupings of two or three, surrounded by foliage and landscapes. All of the hummingbirds are drawn to scale and are anatomically correct to the smallest detail.

Gould’s Family of Hummingbirds represents a splendid triumph of aesthetic sensitivity and scientific rigor. Many of Gould’s best-known images come from this beautiful and comprehensive monograph on hummingbirds.

This collection consists of 6 volumes (volume I to V plus supplement) and includes a total of 419 prints.