John Gould
John Gould, ( born September 14, 1804 in Lyme Regis, Dorset, † February 3, 1881 in London) was a British ornithologist and painter of animals. Beginning of 1837 saw Gould, that forming a discrete group of Charles Darwin from his journey with the HMS Beagle brought Galápagos finches. From 1838 to 1840 he undertook himself a 27- month long zoological expedition to Australia and gathered there together with John Gilbert ( 1812-1845 ) about 800 birds and about 70 mammals. After his return, many works were written for Australian wildlife, which were equipped with numerous color lithographs.
Life and work
John Gould retired at the age of 14 years to Windsor to his uncle William Townsend Aiton, who supervised the Royal Gardens there. He soon became interested in natural history and made along the Thames, among other hunting birds, which he then prepared. In this way he gained an early reputation as a taxidermist. With about 21 years, he moved to London and opened a shop as such.
To put it in 1827, the Zoological Society of London as a curator of their museum. In 1829 he married Elizabeth Coxen, a home teacher and artist who later many of his drawings transposed as lithographs for his works. Nicholas Aylward Vigors allowed Gould in 1830 to publish his first independent publication about Birds from the Himalaya. 1832 was followed by a first volume on the birds of Europe.
On January 4, 1837 Charles Darwin gave the Zoological Society 450 of his collected during the voyage of the HMS Beagle birds and 80 mammals. Gould began immediately with the study of new birds and discovered that the coming of the Galapagos Islands finches formed a new group. Just six days later, he presented his findings on the later known as Darwin's finches group before the Zoological Society in London. Darwin asked Gould for its planned multi-volume work, The Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle and the remaining birds to edit. Gould put the manuscript finished. His wife did after his drawings of 50 lithographs. The final completion of the text remained George Robert Gray reserved, as the family Gould embarked with her seven year old son Henry, her nephew Henry William Coxen (1823-1915) and John Gilbert on May 16, 1838 Australia.
Gould had decided a book on the birds of Australia surrendered. The suggestion came from his in-laws Stephen and Charles Coxen (1809-1876) who emigrated to Australia in the early 1830s and had sent him from there to England several copies. On board the Parsee, the Goulds arrived in Hobart on September 19, 1838. There they learned the Governor of Tasmania John Franklin know in whose house the pregnant Elizabeth remained, while her husband and John Gilbert explored the interior. Gilbert turned in Western Australia in particular, the area on the Swan River to. Gould remained in South Australia and explored, often in the company of Charles Sturt, the Murray River and the Kangaroo Island. From the estate of his brothers- in Yarrundi in the Hunter Valley from he examined the area of the Liverpool Range. When the Goulds on April 9, 1840 began the return journey without Gilbert from Sydney, Gould and Gilbert had gathered about 800 birds and about 70 mammals.
After arriving in England on August 18, 1840 Gould immediately began working on The Birds of Australia. The first part of later comprehensive 36 parts work appeared in December of the same year. After the birth of the sixth joint child Goulds wife died a year after returning from Australia. Besides working on his blackboard work on Australian birds that occupied him until 1848, he published monographs on kangaroos and Quails 1845 and began his three-volume work, The Mammals of Australia. On January 19, 1843 Gould was elected to the Royal Society.
This was followed by an extensive seven -volume work on Asian birds, hummingbirds and a paper on a paper on the birds of New Guinea, which he could not accomplish. At his death in 1881 John Gould left 41 large volumes with approximately 3,000 panels.
Already in 1853 he is by Karel Johan Gustav Hartlaub ( 1793-1879 ) proposed as an honorary member of the German Ornithological Society, and finally selected.
Works (selection)
- A Century of Birds, hitherto unfigured, from the Himalaya Mountains; London from 1831 to 1832. In 20 parts with a total of 80 panels; online ( sw)
- The Birds of Europe. 5 volumes, London 1832-1837. In 22 parts with a total of 449 boards doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.65989
- A Monograph of the Ramphastidae, or Family of Toucans. 1 Volume, London from 1833 to 1835 in three parts with a total of 34 plates. ; Collaboration: John Gould, Elizabeth Gould, E. Lear and G. Scharf
- Redesigned edition: by John Gould and Henry Constantine Richter, 1854 reissued with 51 color plates, with an introduction by Jonathan Elphick; Bags, Cologne, 2011 ISBN 978-3-8365-0524-6.