The systematic study of birds and other wildlife lagged behind the study of plants, but it began to catch up in the eighteenth century, driven by the scientific project to organize and classify the natural world, coupled with a growing appreciation for the variety and exoticism of life in other parts of the globe. With Britain’s rise to pre-eminence as an international economic and colonial power, London became the center for collecting, studying and publishing on the birds of the world, particularly in the nineteenth century. Ornithological illustration until the 1830s was predominately by means of engraved prints that were then hand-colored. Beginning with Edward Lear and John Gould, illustrators turned to the use of lithography, a faster, less expensive, and more appropriate medium for showing texture and shading.

The Laurey from the Brasils
Eleazar Albin (fl. 1713-1759)
A natural history of birds: illustrated with two hundred and five copper plates, curiously engraven from the life and exactly colour’d by the author, Eleazar Albin . . .
Two volumes
London: Printed for W. Innys and R. Manby, 1738

Eleazar Albin was a water-colorist who specialized in natural history illustration. His Natural History of Birds was the first British work of ornithology to feature hand-colored plates. Albin was not an ornithologist, but his introduction indicates that he consulted with a wide group of bird collectors and enthusiasts. The drawings were all based upon real birds, either living or stuffed, and the engraved plates were hand-colored by Albin or his daughter, Elizabeth. The book first appeared in a very limited edition in 1731; the Castle Collection copy is the second edition, published in 1738.

Penelopides Panini
Daniel Giraud Elliot (1835-1915)
A monograph of the Bucerotidae: or family of the hornbills
London: Published for the subscribers by the author, 1882

Elliott, the pre-eminent American ornithologist of the late nineteenth century, was a wealthy man who used his fortune to support the collection of exotic bird species and the publication of elaborate illustrated bird books, such as this one on hornbills. Elliott wrote text and underwrote the publication, while the artwork was done by John Gerrard Keulemans (1842-1912). Keulemans was born and trained in the Netherlands, but spent most of career in England where he was one of the most highly regarded and prolific natural history artists. His paintings for this book, as with most of his work, were based on preserved specimens rather than live birds. The book contains 60 hand-colored lithographic plates, and was originally issued in ten parts between 1877 and 1882.

Ramphastos Brevicarinatus
John Gould (1804-1881)
Supplement to the first edition of a monograph of the Ramphastidae, or family of toucans
London: published by the author, 1855

The most prolific publisher of illustrated bird books in the nineteenth century was John Gould, a gardener, taxidermist, and amateur ornithologist who was appointed Curator and Preserver at the newly formed Zoological Society of London in 1827. Gould’s first book, A century of birds from the Himalaya Mountains, was inspired by a collection of bird skins donated to the Society. When this book proved to be a success, his career was launched. Over the following half-century he was responsible for publishing more than 40 large-format illustrated bird books, containing nearly 3000 lithograph prints.

Gould’s original Monograph of the Ramphastidae, or family of toucans, was published in the mid-1830s with 33 lithographic plates. He produced a second edition with 55 plates in the early 1850s, followed by this separate volume containing only the 22 new plates.

Pheasants
Prideaux John Selby (1788-1867)
Plates to Selby’s Illustrations of British Ornithology
Two volumes
London: Bohn, 1841

Selby’s extra-large bird prints are often thought of as the British equivalent to Audubon’s Birds of America. Like Audubon in America, Selby aimed to create a comprehensive guide to the birds of Great Britain, featuring illustrations that showed the birds life-sized and in their natural habitats. Selby, a gentleman farmer and amateur naturalist, did both the original paintings and most of the engravings himself. The plates were originally published between 1821 and 1834 by William Lizars, the printer who was originally commissioned to print Audubon’s work. The Castle Collection holds the second edition of the prints, issued in 1841 by Henry Bohn of London.