SELECT OPINIONS ON MR. GOULDS WORKS.
“ f“ L p ° U1rD has, P™duccd a Series of Magnificent Works without a rival in the Cabinets of Science, and the.
™ L 'T k t?a rary’ toTwhlch' unfortunately, Works of such artistic beauty, from their great costliness must
benrfteconferred bTthem 1 ri tf k,nf f a r ev iew ¡ ¡W l i G o u l d ’s labours, we cannot fail to be impressed with the:
L f j Ornithological Science. These benefits are not merely confined to the introduction of new
species to our knowledge, nor yet to the elucidation of points involved in doubt, or the extrication of species or grouDs.
confusion, ‘^ey also result from the plan of the Works themseWes, which constitute? as fer as they goPa
fo r thl i P ‘°. Museum of Ornithology, to which the student may refer at once, and without the trouble of searchinsr
h?mse?f nftoPii?n T ¡HRS I one Pub,!cation. and of another in a second, and so on, before he is able to satisfy
p Z ^ M ^ n t r a y ° y °r C°ntrary °f the EuroPea" Bird, Toucan, Trogon, or the rist, under examinati“ -
THE TIMES.
, - 7 ?? Works of Mr- G o u l d constitute a new epoch in the history of Ornithology, from the boldness of the plan on-
which they were executed ; the number of New Species added to science, and of doubtful species cleared awav from
previous obscurity ; the unadorned fidelity of the descriptions ; the exquisite accuracy of the Plates, in which the utmost
adnerence to Nature is united with that felicitous effect which stamps the artist, and proves that grace and truthfulness-
Sas . , r h T i ' gam’ H i G o u l d s works form in themselves an Ornithological Museum ; pictorial we grant but L character I to obvlate tbe necessity of a collection of mounted specimens obtained at no trifling cost
and preserved, even where room can be afforded for them, not without the greatest trouble.
THE DAILY NEWS.
Ttl; ¿ssue by Messrs. H e n r y S o t h e r a n & Co. of the twenty-fifth part of “ The Birds of New Guinea and the
¿ “ p Papuan Islands brings at last to a close the magnificent series of Ornithological Works to which the late Mr.
J o h n G o u l d devoted his long and laborious life. They are comprised in forty-three volumes, uniformly printed in the;
arge size technically known as imperial folio, and are illustrated with considerably more than three thousand full-page
drawings, every one of which has been coloured by hand. Such expensive publications can of course be but little known
nni I f " . public. The fact that a set handsomely bound in morocco, enclosed in two carved cabinets, and including
the wiriTs of Mr0 ro ,r fn n 1 ° f e^ed j,by ‘be advertisers] at the price of one thousand pounds sufficiently indicates that
the works of Mr. G o u l d are only for the wealthiest or for those students of natural history who are fortunate enough to-
have leisure to do battle with the huge tomes in our great public libraries. It is just eight years ago since the busy train
. u w ? produced this wonderful evidence of what may be achieved by one individual in the way of promoting the-
study of Nature were stopped for ever. Mr. G o u l d was then engaged upon “ The Birds of New Guinea” ancl his.
supplement to the “ Monograph on the Humming-Birds ” ; but since tfen all his manuscripts, drawings and copyrigh t
have become the property of Messrs. S o t h e r a n , who, with the assistance of Mr. B o w d l e r S h a r p ?., of the British
Museum, and Mr. O s b e r t S a l v in , have availed themselves of the materials at their disposal for the completion of the-
t ^ s t l f e S lald d0Wn by their auth0r- For this service the learned wh0 are interested in
THE SPECTATOR.
We have before us parts of three magnificent works': “ A Monograph of the Trochilidte, or Humming Birds”"
complete in 30 parts (418 plates) ; “ Die Birds of Great Britain,” in 25 parts (367 plates) ; and “ The Birds of New S fife th Jatv n PaPuan Islands< m 2S parts (320 plates). All were the work of the most accomplished illustrator
that.thls c°antry has ever produced, Mr. J o h n G o u l d , excepting that a little more than half of the third is-
d“e to‘be ert:pns of Mr. B o w d l e r S h a r p e . Anything more perfect, for colour and form, than these figurings of birds.
? ronceived. To indicate: a preference would be unjust, for all are admirable in their own department; but
perhaps for rich variety of colour the humming- birds may be allowed to bear the palm.
TH E SATURDAY REVIEW.
M r . BOWDLER SHARPE in his preface to the twenty-fifth—i.e. the final—part of “ The Birds of New Guinea
expresses a very natural regret that the work should be brought to a conclusion just at a time “ when the development of
European enterprise in New Guinea and the adjacent islands seems to point to the discovery of new and highly interesting
birds . . . .n o other country in the wide world [he adds] has in recent times disclosed more novelties in the way of
birds, and every fresh expedition to the mountains of the interior seems to add to their number.” The record of everv
attempt at exploration bears out Mr. S h a r p e ’s statement. Thirty years ago—i.e. in 1858-Dr. S c l a t e r , writing in the
Transactions of the Linnzean Society upon the Zoology of New Guinea, could only record the occurrence of 177 species of
birds; in 1865 Dr. O t t o F in s c h , in his “ Neu-Guinea und seine Bewohner,” estimated the entire number at 2^2 ; a
m°.r<? recent bst, that of Count S a l v a d o r i , the “ Ornitologia della Papuasia,” contains a description of 1,030 species, of
which 300 are figured in Mr. G o u l d s magnificent folio. But still the ornithology of New Guinea and the adjacent
islands is not complete; only within the last few months two beautiful new Birds of Paradise have been observed, and who-
can tell how many examples of smaller or less conspicuous species yet await discovery? Surely the hope expressed bv
Mr. S h a r p e will be realised, and sufficient subscribers be found to enable him to continue a work which, in such
admirable form, illustrates the avifauna of these islands. -
Mr. G o u l d died in February, 1 8 8 1 , in his seventy-seventh year. The cost of producing these superb folios,,
extending to forty-three volumes, has of course placed them beyond the reach of any but the wealthiest ornithologists -
the number of copies is also necessarily limited ; but it would surely be worth the while of those who have the care of our
larger local museums or scientific libraries to secure for their shelves such sets as may still be attainable.
THE ASIATIC QUARTERLY REVIEW.
By the publication of the final parts of his “ Birds of New Guinea,” Messrs. S o t h e r a n have brought to a conclusion
“the magnificent ornithological works of the late Mr. J o h n G o u l d . The “ Birds of New Guinea ” constitute what many
-consider, from the grand character of the Birds depicted and the splendour of their plumage, the finest volumes of even
this magnificent collection on, practically speaking, all the birds of the world. Our readers will feel a direct interest in
the fact that it took Mr. G o u l d more than thirty years to illustrate the “ Birds of Asia,” which was finally completed in
1883. More than half a century ago also Mr. G o u l d produced his first work on the birds of the Himalayas. It will
thus be seen that I n d ia attracted much of his attention. It would be presumptuous to attempt to criticise so noble a
Work, which has a standard and imperishable value, both for Mr. G o u l d ’s scientific and graphic descriptions and for
the singularly beautiful hand-painted pictures of each bird, and, generally, of both the male and female kinds. We
•cannot but think that the Princes of India, like the Nizam, the Gaekwar, and Maharajah Holkar, who are known as
patrons of English Literature and extensive purchasers of our books, should certainly secure a copy of this noble and
rare Work for their libraries. The value of most books is affected by their only supplying a temporary use, and the
purchaser hesitates to buy because a better work on the same subject may be issued a very few months afterwards. Such
fears need not be entertained with regard to Mr. G o u l d , who has left nothing for his successors to do in the particular
3ine of research that he made his own indisputable province.
THE BIRMINGHAM DAILY POST.
The completion of the magnificent series of Ornithological works by the late J o h n G o u l d , F.R.S., F.Z.S., etc., is
-an event of no ordinary importance. It is a work without peer and without rival, the most wonderful product of the
-single-minded devotion of a life which has been given to science. The publication began in 1832 with the “ Himalayan
Birds,” and to it he devoted his best energies and his rare natural gifts till his lamented death in 1881.
It were wasteful and ridiculous excess now to praise a work which has been for half a century a wonder and delight
tío all ornithologists. The bold scheme of the work, the accuracy of the life-size plates, the fidelity of the descriptions,
-and other graces have fulfilled a sort of ideal standard of perfection, which no other work of the kind may hope to attain.
The sequence of these great works, involving such an infinitude of patient labour, exemplifies the German poet’s
ideal, “ unhasting, unresting.” In none of them is there the least trace of hurry, with its inevitable concomitants of
-error and defect, but as each left his hands, perfect and complete, he turned to new work without pause or interval of
¡holiday-making.
At the time of his death Mr. G o u l d had been engaged for more than thirty years on the “ Birds of Asia,” which
was incomplete at the time of his death, but which has now been brought to a satisfactory conclusion by Mr. B o w d l e r
■Sh a r p e , of the British Museum, forming now seven volumes, containing 530 plates. One other work was initiated by
Mr. G o u l d , and eleven parts had been published when his eyes opened on another world than ours. This was the
Ml Birds of New Guinea.” Fourteen other parts have now been added by Mr. B o w d l e r S h a r p e , and with this the
■superb and inimitable series ends. We have not referred to Mr. G o u l d ’s other miscellaneous works, only to the great
-atlas-sized volumes with life-sized figures of about three thousand birds—life-sized, or where this was not possible, Targe
•drawings showing clearly the form and marking of every bird—the most stupendous and perfect series ever yet produced ;
-a great treasure-house of ornithological knowledge, which may be supplemented but which will never be superseded.
THE NORTHERN WHIG (BELFAST).
The recent completion of the last of the series of Ornithological works undertaken by Mr. G o u l d , by his friend and
.sometime fellow-worker, Mr. R. B o w d l e r S h a r p e , has redirected public attention to these wonderful books; and
■although many, indeed most, of the works are no longer new, the series, as a whole, is so remarkable in various respects—
its size, its completeness, its letterpress, and its illustrations—that we think a brief mention of it should be acceptable to
•our readers. The first portion of this truly gigantic undertaking appeared in 1832, when Mr. G o u l d was only twenty-
height years of age; and from that time till his lamented death in 1881, he devoted almost his entire time and attention to
the furtherance of this his life’s work.
We need not enumerate his several works in detail. Suffice it to say that, while his “ Birds of Great Britain,” in
five folio volumes, and illustrated by above three hundred and sixty magnificent plates, may probably possess most
interest for the general reader or observer, his own, we might almost say, affection seems to have been devoted to those
,gorgeous tropical birds, the Trogons and the Birds of Paradise, and the smaller, but if possible still more lovely,
Humming Birds, those winged gems of unrivalled beauty. It is worth a journey to London to see his collection of the
latter, now beautifully displayed in the west wing of the new Natural History Museum at South Kensington. Thanks to
the foresight and good management of the publishers, the whole of this magnificent series of works, in all forty-three
volumes, in uniform imperial folio size, can still be obtained.
We cannot do better than conclude this brief and imperfect notice of one of the most remarkable works that ever
issued from the Press in the words of such admittedly high authorities as Mr. S e e b o h m and the late Professor
M a c g il l iv r a y . “ G o u l d ’s Birds of Great Britain,” says Mr. S e e b o h m , “ almost approaches, in the exquisite softness
•of its plates, the delicacy of the living bird,” while Professor M a c g il l iv r a y ’s opinion was that “ Mr. G o u l d had
produced a series of magnificent works without a rival in the cabinets of science,” and as such he recommended them to
■all students of ornithology.