Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, Including Americana

Imperial folio (546 x 368 mm). 32 hand-colored lithographic plates by Gould and Henry Constantine Richter, printed by Hullmandel and Walton. (Some light marginal toning, very occasional spotting.) Late 19th dark brown morocco gilt, spine in 6 compartments with 5 raised bands, gilt-lettered in 2, others with baroque tools gilt, all edges gilt (light rubbing to extremities). Provenance: K.E.H. (booklabel).

FIRST EDITION OF GOULD'S FIRST MONOGRAPH ON GAME BIRDS. The monograph, dedicated to Charles Lucien Bonaparte, was Gould's fourth and featured illustrations of birds in mating pairs, a format that had already garnered considerable success. To create this work, Gould visited bird collections across France, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. He added around twenty-four new species to the eleven American partridges previously known, many of which were illustrated and described for the first time in this volume. In the preface (p.9), Gould says that he was drawn into the undertaking "by the sight of the beautiful Callipepla Californica, presented to the Zoological Society of London by Captain Beechey, in 1830." Anker 176; Ayer/Zimmer p.257; Fine Bird Books, p.102; Nissen IVB 376; Sauer 13; Wood, p.365.