John
Gould (1804-1881) was a British ornithologist, artist and successful
businessman. Best known for his extensive monograph on birds and well
documented association with Charles Darwin. In 1857 he travelled to United States to study humming birds and produced a major work on the subject.
The original John Gould publication of the book A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Hummingbirds was produced during 1849 – 1861 & finally completed in 1887. Contained within this book are hand coloured drawings of native American Bird species using lithographic plates known as Gould plates.
Subsequently a facsimile reprint using a laser printing technique under exclusive B.M. (N.H.) licence from an original work held in the Libraries of The British Museum (Natural History) was printed by Hill House publishers.
The Veraguan Wood-Nymph Hummingbird print now available to this eBay listing has been extracted from one of these books. It is now approximately 25 years since reproduction and these prints are becoming more and more desirable to collectors of fine art work. The print measures 535mm x 370mm approximately.