John Gould (1804-1881), ornithologist, bird artist and taxidermist.

Letter to Mons. Pitois, Libraire Paris, 12 Sep 1840.

Letter to Mons. Émile Parzudaki, naturalist, Paris, 4 Sep 1843.

Letter to James Yates, 8 Jan 1846.

Five letters to Dr N Sancerotte, St Petersburg, 1846-1857.

Letter to M. le Dr Schimper (1808-1880), naturalist, Strasburg, 25 Jun 1853.

Letter to Hugh(?) Percy Betts, 19 Aug 1868.

Letter to Mrs Edward, 10 Mar 1871.

Letter to Sclater (in pencil), 23 Oct 1877.

1840-1877

1 file

Purchased from: Sotheby's, London, February 1930 (acc.52479); Puttick and Simpson, May 1930 (acc.62824); Desgranges, Paris, October 1930 (acc.63459); Stevens, London, March 1931 (acc.56483); Sotheby's, London, July 1931 (acc.57468); Glendining, London, March 1932 (acc.67624); Mrs. Watson, Burnley, March 1945 (acc.72200), presumably once part of the Thomas Madden Stone autograph collection. Provenance details not recorded (acc.67430).

Born in Lyme Regis, Dorset; taxidermist and curator at the Zoological Society, 1827; identified birds from Charles Darwin's voyage on HMS Beagle, 1837, which were later known as 'Darwin's finches' and played a role in the development of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection; travelled to Australia, 1838-1840, where he studied birds and later produced the first major work on the subject, The Birds of Australia (1840-1848); FRS, 1843; exhibited collection of humming birds, 1851, now at South Kensington.