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John Gould - The birds of Australia [suppressed parts], 1837-1838

John Gould

The birds of Australia [suppressed parts], 1837-1838

Found at Sothebys, London
The Library of Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Baron Fairhaven Part I, Lot 86
6. May - 18. May 2022
Estimate: XX.XXX
Price realised: XX.XXX
John Gould
[The birds of Australia, and the adjacent islands. London: for the author, 1837-1838]
FIRST EDITION, 2 parts bound in one volume, folio (545 x 360mm.), 20 hand-coloured lithographed plates by and after John and Elizabeth Gould (one by and after Edward Lear), printed by Hullmandel, nineteenth-century half morocco gilt, without notice to subscribers, one plate with imprint either bound tightly or cropped, binding rubbed at edges
The suppressed early parts of what was to become Gould’s magnum opus, and the rarest of his works.
Gould made his first attempt at an avifauna of Australia before he had visited the country. Gould had written to Jardine in 1836, saying “would not a work of the Birds of Australia be interesting? … [I] have an idea of making it my next illustrative work”. Two parts were issued to subscribers in 1837 and 1838. Later in 1838 Gould sailed for Australia, and, upon his return, he effectively suppressed the two parts of the Birds of Australia already published and started again. Subscribers were encouraged to return the two parts in exchange for a discount on the new version.
In 1844 Gould wrote in a letter “In some instances I received those cancelled parts back from my Subscribers, and gave them the first part of the new Series in lieu of them. In others they were retained… the cancelled parts may, if you please, be bound together, and entitled “Illustrations of Birds from Australia”, and from the few copies in the hands of the Public, they will some day be of value, though, it is true, more to the Book-Collector, than the Naturalist”.
For more information about Gould, please refer to Lot 88.
LITERATURE:
Sauer 6

Upper estimate price exceeded by more than 100%

This artwork by John Gould achieved an unexpectedly high price at Sothebys in London in May last year. In the The Library of Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Baron Fairhaven Part I auction, the work The birds of Australia suppressed parts, 1837-1838 sold for GBP 56,700.00 (€ 66,702.15) - well above the upper estimate of GBP 25,000.00. Admittedly, works by John Gould have also been auctioned for a multiple of this price - according to our records, the highest result so far was achieved by the work The Birds of Australia, [1840- 1848-1869, 8 volumes including Supplement|AID711784] in May last year with an auction result of GBP 302,400.00 (€ 355,744.81).

Oberer Schätzpreis um mehr als 100% übertroffen

Dieses Kunstwerk von John Gould erzielte im Mai letzten Jahres bei Sothebys in London einen unerwartet hohen Preis. In der Auktion The Library of Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Baron Fairhaven Part I wurde die Arbeit The birds of Australia suppressed parts, 1837-1838 für GBP 56.700,00 (€ 66.702,15) versteigert – und damit weit über dem oberen Schätzpreis von GBP 25.000,00. Freilich wurden Arbeiten von John Gould auch schon für ein Vielfaches dieses Preises versteigert – das bisher höchste Ergebnis erzielte nach unseren Aufzeichnungen die Arbeit The Birds of Australia, [1840- 1848-1869, 8 volumes including Supplement|AID711784] im Mai letzten Jahres mit einem Auktionsergebnis von GBP 302.400,00 (€ 355.744,81).

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