Birds of Australia. Lansdowne Facsimile Edition. 8 vols. including supplement. Complete and all published.

This is a rare or used book from the Berkelouw Rare Books Department.

(Melbourne 1972-1975). Elephant folio. Orig. full calf binding (bound by P.L. Marsh) as issued. Gilt. With full-page col. plates. Limited editions. Orig. published 1848-1869. NOTE: John Gould was born in England in 1804. He spent his youth working alongside his father at the Royal Gardens in Windsor where he developed skills as a taxidermist. By 1827 he had an appointment at The Zoological Society. The historic 'Birds of Australia' was a thirty year production of which two whole years were spent touring Australia. Between 1838-1840 Gould and his wife Elizabeth who was responsible for producing some 600 drawings for Birds of Australia lived and travelled throughout Australia. Together they created the greatest work on Australian avifauna and perhaps Gould's major ornithological achievement. He was considered the foremost authority on the subject and on numerous occasions during his career made public his concerns about the protection and preservation of many species which even in his day was showing signs of elimination due to excessive shooting. Birds of Australia remains today the most comprehensive work on the subject with few new species being added and sadly two have become extinct and at least twenty others are on the verge of extinction. Fine and complete.