The Birds of Europe - photo 1
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The Birds of Europe

Lot 112
16.10.2025 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
$ 63 500
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1472035
Lot 112 | The Birds of Europe
Estimate value
$ 40 000 – 60 000
GOULD, John (1804-1881). The Birds of Europe. London: by Richard and John E. Taylor, published by the Author, 1837.

“Among the most remarkable bird drawings ever made” (Susan Hyman on the work of Edward Lear)

First edition, fine copy, of Gould's first multi-volume ornithological work, the second of the folio series.

As stated in the preface, “the Birds of Europe, in which we are, or ought to be, most interested, have not received that degree of attention which they naturally demand. The present work has been undertaken to supply that deficiency.” The drawings of continental species were taken from specimens in museums and zoos in Holland, Germany and Switzerland, which Gould had toured several times in the 1830's, at least once with Lear, who was the first and greatest of the fine series of artists that he was to employ over the ensuing half century. Lear's influence is evident in many of the plates. His understanding of the possibilities that lithography offered and his mastery of the techniques involved contributed much to the founding of Gould's reputation. "There is no doubt that Edward Lear was the first person to understand the art of lithography, and to use it to its fullest potential. It was a legacy that granted the fabled works of Gould their success, and took them into the forefront of nineteenth-century illustration" (Isabella Tree, The Ruling Passion of John Gould, p. 43). Susan Hyman, in her study of Edward Lear’s ornithological work, wrote: “they are certainly among the most remarkable bird drawings ever made … it is evident that Lear endowed them with some measure of his own whimsy and intelligence, his energetic curiosity, his self-conscious clumsiness and his unselfconscious charm” (Hyman, Edward Lear’s Birds). Anker/Copenhagen 169; Ayer/Zimmer pp.251-252; Fine Bird Books p.77; Nissen IVB 371; Wood p.364.

Five volumes, large folio (543 x 365 mm). 448 fine hand-colored lithographic plates, 68 by Edward Lear, the rest by Elizabeth Gould after her husband's sketches, printed by Charles Hullmandel (contents generally clean with just a scattered few mostly marginal spots and very pale toning and/or very pale offsetting; foxing to title-pages and endleaves; pls. 208, 311 and 397 foxed; patches of marginal spotting to pls. 50, 112, 131178, 242, 359, and 396; marginal stain to pl. 271; small loss in sky from adhesion on pl. 355; vol. 4 contents leaf creased, long repaired tear to text leaf opposite pl.123.) Contemporary full green morocco by Clyde, wide gilt borders, spines gilt in compartments, turn-ins gilt, all edges gilt (spines tanned, edges and extremities rubbed, a few corners showing and small bumps to edges). Provenance: Sir Francis Crossley, 1817-1872 (bookplates) – his son, Sir Savile Brinton Crossley (bookplates).
Place of origin:England
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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SW1Y 6QT London
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02.10.2025 – 16.10.2025
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