Lot #82: Set of Five Vintage Bird Prints, Two from J. Gould

A quintet of bird prints under glass, in narrow black wood frames with gilt inner rims. Only one has the artist, title, and printer info remaining at the bottom of the plate--it's possible the others were trimmed at some point and this info discarded. But four have the species and artist on the back in original decals, under the label of the store that sold them, Denholm & McKay Company, a department store in Worcester which closed in the early 1970s. Two are from originals by John Gould (1804-1881). Another, indicated as Vig. & Horsf, is from Gould's wife, Elizabeth. John Gould trained as a taxidermist and became the preservationist at the Zoological Society of London. It was there that his focus turned to birds. He published his first folio volume, "A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains," and went on to catalog the birds of the world, providing pencil sketches and notes to the artists who created the works. These included his wife Elizabeth, and, after her death, Henry C. Richter, a renowned illustrator and lithographer, credited on one piece here. His contributions to ornithology were significant, and he identified several species Charles Darwin brought back from his voyages. Another artist represented here is Edward Blyth, 1810-1873, a zoologist who worked mainly in India, and who was also known as a predecessor to Darwin, being an early proponent of the concept of natural selection. Dimensions: 16" X 21.5" Pickup category timeslot {A}