Tadorna Vulpanser or Common Sheldrake

Circa 1862-1873

Hand-coloured lithograph heightened with gum Arabic on paper

13.5 x 19.25 in (34.2 x 49 cm)

This bird is endemic to India.

John Gould (born September 14, 1804, Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire, England - died February 3, 1881, London), English ornithologist whose enormous, richly illustrated bird books demanded ever-increasing prices among bibliophiles.

Gould learnt taxidermy at Windsor Castle, where his father was the gardener's foreman. He was appointed taxidermist to the Zoological Society of London in 1827. When a collection of unusual Himalayan bird skins arrived in 1830, he was able to publish the first of several folio volumes, A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains (1831–32). His wife, the former Elizabeth Coxon, whose artistic abilities were to improve many of his works, with the help of several other artists including Edward Lear, Henry Constantine Richter, Joseph Wolf and William Matthew Hart, until her death in 1841, transferred Gould's sketches to the lithographer's stone. The five-volume Birds of Europe (1832-37) and Monograph of the Ramphastidae (Toucans) (1834) were so successful that the Goulds were able to spend two years (1838-40) collecting birds and animals in Australia. The collection culminated in Gould's most renowned book, The Birds of Australia, 7 vols. (1840-48; supplements 1851-69), as well as Mammals of Australia, 3 vols. (1845–63). In 1843, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Gould's lifelong output included over 40 volumes and over 3,000 coloured plates. His numerous scientific articles, the most of which were devoted to the descriptions of new species, earned his professional reputation, but he is best remembered today for his folios.
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