This splendid hand-colored, folio-size lithograph, "Kestrel; Falco tinnunculus; (Linn)", from John Gould’s (1804-1881) monumental book "Birds Europe" (1832-1837) is in very good condition with light foxing and evidence of printing runoff from being bound. Measuring 21.5" x 14.5", this lithograph magnificently displays the author’s scientific skill and attention to detail. These birds of prey from the Falcon genus are expertly hand-colored, with dark brown wings, light brown undersides. The coloration and patterns of their tail-feathers differentiate their sexes: the female on top with brown bands and below the male with light blue-gray, navy and white tail feathers. John Gould was an English ornithologist, self-taught artist and naturalist. Gould first worked as a gardener under his father in the Royal Gardens of Windsor from 1818-1824, where he began his illustrations. He became an expert taxidermist, opening his own practice in London in 1824 and in 1827 he became the first Curator and Preserver at the museum of the Zoological Society of London. Through his work he was able to meet with the country’s leading naturalists and view new collections of birds given to the Zoological Society. His interest in birds was continually developing and in 1830 he published his first volume on birds, “A Century of Birds From the Himalaya Mountains.” For the next fifty years, Gould, his wife and artists working with them traveled around Asia, the East Indies and Australia. His wife Elizabeth and other artists were able to transfer his sketches to stone; hand print and hand-color them. One of the most accomplished and engaging natural history works of the 19th century, “The Birds of Europe” was also the first of Gould's works to feature plates by Edward Lear. A total of sixty-eight images bear Lear's name, and they are among the most remarkable bird drawings ever made. Lear endowed his illustrations with some measure of his own whimsy and intelligence, and his style is at once flui
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