Cover for printed booklet Title Page

John Gould's Hummingbirds

A Complete Index and Price Guide

Yes, this is an Audubon website, but I am not going to start a 4th website solely devoted to Gould. However, I have developed an interest in John Gould hummingbird prints, and have several framed and hanging in my office.

John Gould was a prolific artist who created about 3000 different hand colored lithographic prints during his lifetime. His original five volumes (plus a sixth volume completed after his death) of A Monograph of the Trochilidae or Family of Humming-Birds (1849-1861) are probably his most famous work. 

If you collect or have seen a Gould hummingbird print, you know that other than credits to the artists and publishers, the only other words printed on each print is the scientific name of the depicted birds. The botanicals are not identified, and the common name of the birds and a plate number are lacking. If you are fortunate enough to acquire the original text page that accompanied each print, you can read about the bird species, learn its common name, and find out what botanicals are depicted on the print. What is lacking for the collector is a comprehensive index to the 360 different prints in Gould's original 5 volume work, and the 58 prints in the supplemental later volume.

The definitive reference to Gould's hummingbird prints is the wonderful small folio (4to) book, John Gould's Hummingbirds, published by Wellfleet Press in 1991. The book is now out of print and generally retails in the $150-$250 range. The book exactly reproduces all 418 of Gould's hummingbird prints in the order they were published in the original volumes. At the back of the book, Gould's original text pages for all the prints are condensed into about 75 pages. All of the missing information mentioned above is found in these pages. Also, Wellfleet Press assigned orderly plate numbers to each of the 418 different prints, but alas did not publish any index whatsoever.


Complete Comprehensive Index and Price Guide

I have compiled a comprehensive index to all 418 Gould hummingbird prints, and published a Price Guide for all 418 prints. The Index and Price Guide are available in a 57 page book, available from my publisher as a printed soft-cover book or Internet Adobe PDF download.

The Index is actually divided into three parts. First, the plates are indexed in order by plate number, as originally issued. Second, the 418 plates are indexed alphabetically by scientific name. Finally, an extended index lists the plates alphabetically by common name. The Price Guide gives dealer retail price ranges for all plates in order by plate number.

          

Plate #

Dealer’s Retail Price Ranges

Common Name

Scientific Name

1

$900-$1500

Sawbill 

Grypus Naevius 

2

$800-$1350

Spix's Sawbill 

Grypus Spixi 

3

$825-$1200

Sicklebill 

Eutoxeres Aquila 

4

$950-$1650

Condamine Sicklebill 

Eutoxeres Condamini  

5

$1100-$1450

Hairy Hermit 

Glaucis Hirsutus

Sample from the Price Guide

TO ORDER

When you order from my storefront on my publisher's website, you can pay using a credit card or PayPal, and they will ship anywhere in the World!


Internet Download - $19.95     click here - Ron Flynn's Storefront

Order the Adobe PDF Internet download from my storefront (above) on my publisher's website. You must have the Internet FREE Adobe Reader software installed. To install the latest version of the FREE Adobe Reader software go here - http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html


Printed Book - $29.95     click here - Ron Flynn's Storefront

Order the professionally printed and bound soft-cover book from my storefront (above) on my publisher's website. Use your credit card or PayPal. Ships anywhere in the World!


     

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