The Birds of Great Britain. John Gould (1804-1881). London: Taylor and Francis for the author, [1862]-1873. Physical Description: 5 volumes. Folio (21 x 5/8 x 14 1/2 inches). 5-page list of Subscribers. 367 EXCEPTIONALLY FINE hand-colored lithographs after John Gould, Josef Wolf, and H.C. Richter. Half red morocco, spine gilt, top edge gilt, 6 compartments with 5 raised bands. Provenance: Bookplate of Wrest Park. Gould found more subscribers for this than any other of his other monographs, and boasted that he employed the services of “almost all the colorers in London”. “Many of the public are quite unaware how the coloring of these large plates is accomplished; and not a few believe that they are produced by some mechanical process or by chromolithography. This, however, is not the case; every sky with its varied tints and every feather of each bird were colored by hand; and when it is considered that nearly two hundred and eighty thousand illustrations in the present work have been so treated, it will most likely cause some astonishment to those who give the subject a thought” (Preface). Often referred to as the most sumptuous and costly of all British bird books, the plates depict scenes with more sophisticated subjects than Gould’s previous works, including nests, chicks and eggs: “I also felt that there was an opportunity of greatly enriching the work by giving figures of the young of many of the species of various genera - a thing hitherto almost entirely neglected by author’s, and I feel assured that this infantile age of birdlife will be of much interest for science.” (Gould “Preface” to “Introduction”, 1873). Guidance: Christie’s, 2006 - $78,000