Summary

'Birds of New Guinea' was written by English ornithologist John Gould (1804-1881) and completed by zoologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe (1847-1909). The work includes beautiful illustrations of birds of paradise, bower birds, parrots, cockatoos, kingfishers, and hawk-owls. At the time it was received to mixed reviews, with some commentators criticising the artwork for being too fanciful.

Edward Ramsay at the Australian Museum supplied Gould with many of the Australian specimens for this work, while Gould worked with German and Dutch collectors elsewhere in the region. 'Birds of New Guinea' has been referred to as a second supplement to Gould's more famous 'Birds of Australia' series. Indeed, Gould wrote to National Museum of Victoria director Frederick McCoy recommending he purchase the title for its Australian content.

Gould designed each plate, but the lithography was done by a series of artists. The main artist was William Matthew Hart (1830-1908), an American artist who began working for Gould in the summer of 1851, not long after the completion of 'Birds of Australia'. He had previously worked on 'Birds of Great Britain' with lithographer H.C. Richter, and by 1870 was Gould's chief artist and lithographer, in addition to his hand-colouring work. The plates were printed by British printing firm Mintern Bros, while the letterpress was printed by Taylor & Francis.

'Birds of New Guinea' was Gould's last major work, and he died part-way through the project, shortly after the publication of the 12th part. The remaining 13 parts were completed by Sharpe, who also authored the preface and introduction. Sharpe's descriptions can be identified by the initials R. B. S. at the foot of the article.

Gould and Sharpe met in 1862 when Sharpe was a boy, and Gould became a mentor to the young bird collector. When Gould died, Bowdler-Sharpe completed his unfinished works, including 'Birds of Asia', 'Monograph of the Pittidae', 'Birds of New Guinea' and the supplement to 'A monograph of the Trochilidae'. He also authored 'Analytical Index to the Works of the Late John Gould' (1893), which included a brief biography of Gould.

The work comprises five volumes and 320 hand-coloured lithographic plates. In his lifetime Gould published 21 titles and nearly 3000 illustrated plates.

Physical Description

Hard-cover volume with green and gold morocco binding measuring 56cm high. Contains 56 hand-coloured lithographic plates with accompanying letterpress descriptions.

Significance

Gould's last publication, 'Birds of New Guinea', is significant as it contains numerous Australian birds and is often thought of as a continuation of Gould's earlier work 'Birds of Australia'. With these publications, Gould dominated Australian ornithology in the 19th century.

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