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Chosen by:
Senior Lecturer Leigh Astbury,
Visual Culture, School of English, Communications and Performance Studies, Faculty of Arts
Gould, John, 1804-1881.
The Birds of Australia : in seven volumes / by John Gould. (London : Published by the author, 1848) 7 v. + supplement 1 v. (fol.)
Gould, John, 1804-1881.
Handbook to The birds of Australia / by John Gould. (London : J. Gould, 1865) 2 v.
The energy and enterprise of the famous nineteenth-century English ornithologist and publisher, John Gould, seldom fail to impress. Gould had already established a considerable reputation for his publication of volumes of bird illustrations before he embarked on a major project of illustrating the birds of Australia. His wife, Elizabeth, a talented artist, played a vital role in these ventures: she had, for example, previously contributed most of the lithographic plates for his five-volume, The Birds of Europe (1832-7). Leaving their three youngest children at home with their grandmother, John, Elizabeth and their eldest son, aged 7, left England in May 1838 for a two-year fieldwork excursion to Australia.
John travelled widely through the eastern colonies of Australia gathering specimens for their project, identifying nearly 200 new species in the process. But an enterprise of this scale could not be undertaken single-handedly or without financial support. John and Elizabeth enjoyed the patronage of colonial governors, especially the Governor of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), Sir John Franklin and his wife, Lady Jane, with whom they established a firm friendship. They also employed a team of assistants. John Gilbert, a member of their original party from England, was sent to the Swan River settlement (Western Australia) to gather specimens. Two of their assistants died: one was killed by Aborigines in Western Australia; another was accidentally shot in Tasmania. (Gilbert was later killed by Aborigines in 1845 while accompanying the explorer, Ludwig Leichhardt, on an overland expedition.)
On their return to England in 1840, the Goulds began the formidable task of creating the publication, The Birds of Australia. In the pursuit of nineteenth-century natural history, art and science customarily marched hand in hand, knowledge and skills in one field serving to enhance the achievement of the other. Such was the case here. Quick pencil sketches (many by Gould himself) of individual specimens served as the prototype which was developed into a finished watercolour drawing. The watercolour was, in turn, carefully copied and translated into a lithograph for printing. The lithographic image was then painstaking coloured by hand to match the original watercolour. Each plate in Birds of Australia can thus claim to be a unique work of art which deserves to be viewed and experienced in the original. Elizabeth’s important contribution to the publication was tragically curtailed when she died of puerperal fever in August 1841. Only 84 of the 681 plates carry her name in the legend – the remaining plates were completed by other artists. Art historians and ornithological experts have since puzzled over the attribution of plates to different artists. But from a contemporary, nineteenth-century perspective, John Gould’s ornithological knowledge, intensive fieldwork and editorial control of the entire project, in addition to his initial sketches of specimens, entitled him to a significant claim on the authorship of the plates.
The magnitude of the enterprise involved in producing The Birds of Australia is astounding. The publication, containing hand-coloured, folio-sized lithographic plates, was issued in 36 separate parts from 1840 to 1848 and later bound in seven volumes, the cost to subscribers being ₤115. A supplementary volume, with further plates, was completed in 1869, making a total of 681 plates in the eight volumes. The text offers a wealth of natural history information, including the Aboriginal names for species where known. As with its inception, the final contribution of Birds
of Australia lies in the combined fields of Australian art and science. The fine set of the complete edition held by Monash Rare Books is one of the great treasures of the collection.
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