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Birds of Europe
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The Birds of Europe
John Gould.
Printed by R. and J.E. Taylor the Author; London, 1832-1837.
The Birds of Europe is Gould's first work to feature plates by Edward Lear, who illustrated most of the larger birds in the book: eagles, vultures, cranes, storks, swans, pelicans, herons, geese, and other game birds and birds of prey. A total of 68 plates bear Lear's name.
After the success of A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains, Gould decided to illustrate birds nearer home. The Birds of Europe was of greater general appeal and the plates were more artistically composed, with the birds delicately placed on sprays or amongst plants which formed a simple, colored background.
The streamlined background was part of a broader workflow which had Gould organizing a team of workers to ensure the steady production of illustrations. Gould himself was continually active in obtaining specimens and information, and, through his Zoological Society contacts, wrote to scholars abroad and visited the zoos and museums of Holland, Germany, and Switzerland.
Although the two men were surrounded by a general state of competition J.J. Audubon took the high road in describing the Gould’s at work in a letter to John Bachman, 1836: 'Gould is a man of great industry—he has the advantage of the Zoological Society's Museums, Gardens, etc. and is in correspondence with Temminck, Jardine, Selby, James Wilson and the rest of Scientific Gentry—his Wife makes his drawings on stone. She is a plain, fine, woman, and although these works are not quite up to Nature, both deserve great credit.”
The plates for the Birds of Europe were based on rough drawings which Gould himself made of the mounted models. These were bold pencil or charcoal sketches, indicating the position of the birds on the page, plants to be used, and annotated with remarks and sometimes dabs of colour. Elizabeth Gould modelled her drawings on stone on these sketches; she also prepared plant drawings and water-colours of the birds as a guide for the colourists. Her plates bore the inscription, 'J. & E. Gould del et lith', the conventional method of indicating that the plates were drawn and lithographed by John and Elizabeth Gould.
To assist his wife, Gould employed Edward Lear who had now given up his book on parrots. Lear illustrated the larger birds, such as the owl, vulture, purple heron, whistling swan, pelican, and great auk. His owls seem particularly formidable, immobile on simple branches, their large looming eyes are almost hypnotic, in contrast to Elizabeth Gould's graceful birds set amongst carefully drawn plants. Lear's purple heron and demoiselle crane stand gaunt and statuesque, and the huge whistling swan and dalmatian pelican dominate the page with their great bodies, large webbed feet and curved necks.
Sources:
Lambourne pp 17-18; Anker 169; Balis 101; Fine Bird Books (1990), p. 102; Nissen IVB 371; Sauer 2; Zimmer p. 251.
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