Transcript of Module 47 – John Gould

Today, I’m going to tell you the story of Australia’s most beloved (1) and renowned animal illustrators. Although not Australian himself, nor his wife, John Gould and Elizabeth Gould spent two years in Australia scouring (2) the continent for its most illustrious (3) animal treasures and meticulously recording their likeness (4), as well as their behaviour, on paper.

The Gould duo published an immense (5) amount of zoological literary work in the 1800s. Let’s check it out.

So, John Gould was born on the 14th of September in 1884, at Lyme Regis, Dorset, in England. He likely developed his deep passion (6) for flora and fauna during his adolescent (7) years whilst working under the wing (8) of his father who worked as a gardener at Windsor Castle.

Later, he was a gardener in Yorkshire and began to observe birds and he even taught himself the art of taxidermy (9), suggesting he probably killed a few as well. Gould had the good fortune (10) of being born at the perfect time in history for someone interested in pursuing a life devoted to the natural world, specifically Zoology, the study of animals.

In the 1700s and 1800s, zoology had carved out its own space (11) in the sciences as a genuine and important discipline. Biologist Carl Linnaeus had created the modern system for naming organisms in the late 1700, and naturalist explorers (12) like Sir Joseph Banks had travelled to unknown lands in search of new species on the other side of the globe.

Other big names (13) in the field of zoology were also leaving their mothers’ wombs in the early 1800s, including the fathers of the theory of evolution, Alfred Russell Wallace and Charles Darwin, as well as the father of modern genetics, Gregor Mendel. Although blissfully unaware (14) of it at the time, Gould’s interest in animals was leading him on a crash course (15) with those who would one day become some of zoology’s biggest names, and as well, to far off destinations (16) he couldn’t have dreamt of at the time.

In 1826, the Zoological Society of London was formed and following a competition, Gould’s macabre (17) hobby of stuffing dead animals paid off when, at the age of 23, he was appointed a taxidermist (9) of the Society under Nicholas Vigors. Gould would remain part of the society until his death in 1881.

Several years later, he crossed paths (18) with a talented artist named Elizabeth Coxon. Both she and her amazing drawing abilities caught Gould’s eye (19), and in 1829, the two got married. An accomplished drawer, Elizabeth decided to take up lithography (20) with the aim of helping her husband’s publications. Lithography (20) is the process of printing from a flat surface that’s been treated so as to repel the ink except where it’s required for printing.

Unbeknownst (21) to the duo at the time, the stage was now set for this pair of a budding taxidermist and a talented drawer to travel the world and record much of its natural splendours.

In 1830, Gould received a collection of bird skins collected in the Himalayas and used them to produce a volume of coloured illustrations with the help of his wife Elizabeth, accompanied by Vigor’s descriptions. The project included 80 Plates that achieved an astonishingly high level of accuracy despite the absence of any living specimens to base (22) the images off (23). The plan was to publish the 80 Plates in 20 monthly sets of four. However, publishers thought that the volume of publications was too risky to finance.

Unperturbed (24) by the lack of external backing from publishers, Gould took on the project himself and published it through the years 1831 and 1832. Thus, was launched Gould’s very first volume of books A Century of Birds from the Himalayan Mountains, foreshadowing (25) the remarkable series of books on birds and mammals that he would produce throughout his lifetime.

The ball was now rolling (26) on what would be a career that would achieve considerable financial success (27), and in 1832, after the success of Gould’s first volume of books, he commenced the publication of The Birds of Europe, a much more ambitious project, this time comprising five volumes, which were completed and published throughout the following five years.

His editions were often restricted to just 250 copies, and to get your hands on one, you had to subscribe (28) prior to their release. His life’s work would eventually add up to (29) over 41 volumes comprising nearly 3000 plates, of which the majority featured Gould’s feathered obsession (30), birds, from all corners of the globe (31).

Astonishingly, he also found time to publish numerous scientific papers, mostly describing the new species that he came across in his travels, which further displayed his keen eye (32) for detail and adeptness at dealing with taxonomic details (33).

Each of his plates were lithographs (20) and hand painted (34), an incredibly detailed and painstaking process (35), and, at the time, his work was considered to be some of the finest zoological images to have ever been produced.

Gould often experimented with new techniques and accomplished an extraordinary effect conveying (36) a lifelike (37) sheen in the feathers of his avian subjects. To further bring his animal subjects to life (38), Gould often placed them in their habitat in their images, some including the most detailed illustrations of flowers, plants, rocks, and earth.

What made these images all the more astonishing was the fact that many of the subjects had never been seen alive by either Gould or his wife, Elizabeth. Instead, all they had to go off (23) were rough sketches, descriptions, and if they were lucky, the taxidermied specimen (39). However, this proved to be enough, as, on the whole, the works of the two were incredibly accurate, although Gould has at times been criticised for elevating effect over correct detail (40).

In 1837, Gould’s second project was finishing up, and it was time to move on to (41) the next one. A young naturalist by the name of Charles Darwin had just returned from a voyage on the HMS Beagle to the Galápagos Islands and presented the mammal and bird specimens that he’d collected on the trip to the Zoological Society of London, on the 4th of January, 1837.

The bird specimens were given to Gould for identification. Gould jumped at the opportunity (42) to do this work, and he put aside his paying job and reported his findings (43) at the following meeting, just six days later on the 10th of January.

Darwin had given to Gould what he originally thought were blackbirds, “gross bills,” and finches, but in actual fact, he’d given Gould a series of ground finches, which were “so peculiar as to form an entirely new group containing 12 species.” The story made the newspaper headlines, and in March, Darwin met up with Gould again and learned that his “Galápagos Wren” was actually another species of Finch and that the mockingbirds that he had labelled by island were, in reality, completely different species, rather than just varieties, with relatives on the mainland of South America.

Surprisingly (44), Darwin hadn’t bothered to label any of his finches by island. Fortunately, though, others on the expedition had been more diligent (45), and Gould sought the specimens collected by Captain Robert Fitzroy and his crewmen. From these specimens, Gould and Darwin were able to discover that the species were unique to separate islands, which was the initial step (46) in the inception of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection (47).

Gould would go on to work (48) on these birds and publish them in five parts as part three of Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle, through the years 1838 to 1842. However, in the middle of doing so, he would find himself travelling to the end of the globe on yet another project.

During this period, Gould had many plates spinning (49). He was working on specimens that his brothers-in-law, Charles and Stephen Coxon, had sent him from the fledgling (50) British colony on the other side of the globe, New South Wales.

Thus, Gould began to turn his attention (51) to the birds of this far-off and unexplored land, Australia. Using these specimens, Gould issued four parts of a so-called synopsis during 1837 and 1838. They comprised 73 plates by his wife, Elizabeth, the success of which led to two more parts being published immediately afterward. Very soon, however, he put the work on hold, thinking instead of going to see things in real life and working on his sea legs (52) as he sailed on an expedition to Australia, which also meant dragging his family (53) with him.

After enthusiastic preparations with his brain “ever in a complete jumble” (54), Gould set sail for Australia on a boat named Parsee, and was accompanied by his wife Elizabeth, their eldest son aged seven, a young nephew, a man- and maid-servant (55), and, most importantly, a zoological collector (56), John Gilbert. Little did he know at the time, Gilbert was walking into an early grave (57), but more on that later.

The family’s three younger children remained in England under the watchful eye (58) of their grandmother, and Gould left the financial affairs (59) of his taxidermist business back in London in the hands of his competent secretary and publication editor, E.C. Prince.

On the 18th of September 1838, the Parsee finally arrived at Hobart Town on Australia’s island state of Tasmania, then known as Van Diemen’s Land. They were received (60) by the colony’s Governor, Sir John Franklin, and his wife, who hosted them during their stay in Tasmania.

Pregnant at the time, Elizabeth remained at the governor’s residence whilst Gould and Gilbert immediately set to work (61) exploring and collecting specimens across Tasmania and its surrounding islands.

In January, the pair travelled overland together as they surveyed and made their way to Launceston. At this point, Gould decided that they should separate and sent Gilbert off in February to the Swan River Colony, in Western Australia, assuring him that he’d take care of (62) all his personal possessions back in Hobart. On his trip to W.A., Gilbert had one objective: collect as many specimens as possible, with the plan of meeting up with Gould in Sydney, where Gould planned to be waiting for him the next year.

Whilst Gilbert was on the west of the continent, Gould sailed up the east coast to Sydney and then travelled inland to his brother-in-law’s station at Yarrundi. He had left pregnant Elizabeth and their son back in the safe hands of the Franklins, in Tassie.

Gould was hoping to scour (63) the forests of the Liverpool Range, primarily in search of bower birds (64). Bower birds likely caught Gould’s attention due to being mysterious little birds, the males of which build elaborate structures, which they often decorate with coloured items to try and attract females.

However, Gould only had a month or so to do so, as in April, he had to return to Tasmania to be present at the birth of his son. Besides being pregnant, Elizabeth refused to sit idly by (65) on her hands and instead spent her time drawing hundreds of images of specimens for future publication.

The following month, in May, Gould sailed to Adelaide, where he met the famous Australian explorer Charles Sturt, who was preparing to lead an expedition (66) to the Murray River. On this trip, Gould was able to collect around the Mount Lofty range, in the Murray Scrubs, and on Kangaroo Island. He also got the chance to visit the city of Adelaide whilst in South Australia, although the city left a bad taste in his mouth (67). He described Adelaide as “a chaotic jumble of sheds and mud huts.”

In July, Gould made his way back to Hobart in Tasmania again. The plan was to collect his family and make their way to New South Wales, and then to stay with Elizabeth’s brother at his station Yarrundi.

Having set up shop (68) once again at Yarrundi, Gould, the ever-resolute (69) zoologist, got straight back to work and was soon seen riding and walking in a large area of little-known (70) country, still searching for that elusive bower bird.

On the 9th of April in 1840, the Gould party left Sydney whilst Gilbert remained behind in Australia to keep exploring the largely unknown continent and collect more specimens. Gilbert would end up having his name commemorated (71) on a mountain range, a river, and a township in Queensland, and in the names of numerous Australian animals and plants, including Gilbert’s Potoroo and Gilbert’s Dunnart.

Tragically (72), Gilbert’s career as a naturalist ended when his life was cut short (73) in 1845. Whilst near the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north of the continent on an expedition, he was speared by a group of Indigenous men who had made a night attack on his camp. Apparently, this was in retaliation for two of the Indigenous men travelling with Gilbert having molested (74) two local Indigenous women.

Once Gould arrived back in London in December of 1840, the publication of his most renowned work The Birds of Australia began.

During his trip Down Under, he had managed to collect enough sketches and specimens that he’d be publishing them for the next 21 years. What resulted from this trip to Australia was this huge work, The Birds of Australia, which included over 600 plates in seven volumes. Each series of plates contained a page of description of the species with notes on its distribution and adaptations to its environment, as well as a beautiful image. They were published between the years 1840 and 1848, with an eighth volume added decades later in 1869.

Gould managed to describe and name an astounding 328 species that he collected on his trip, which were completely new to science (75). The unstoppable workhorse (76) of a man had also found time on his southern escapades in Australia to collect specimens and sketches of numerous mammal species. He published A Monograph of the Macropodidae, or Family of Kangaroos in 1841 and 1842, and then the three-volume work The Mammals of Australia throughout 1849 to 1861. In these works, he also noted the parallels in form and function between placental mammals and the Australian marsupial mammals.

Tragically (77), on the 15th of August in 1841, Gould’s wife Elizabeth died at the young age of 37 following the birth of their sixth child, Sarah. It’s also speculated that her early demise (78) may have been the result of working tirelessly to execute approximately 600 drawings for publications in her young life. Although grievously affected (79) by the passing of his wife and now being the only parent of six children, Gould pressed on (80) with his meticulous work of research and publishing.

The Birds of Australia ended up including 36 parts, the last of the initial volumes published in 1848. The entire series ended up with 36 parts bound into eight volumes, and the cost to subscribers was 150 pounds, approximately $20,800 Australian in today’s money. As with his earlier books, The Birds of Australia was published with splendid colour plates, many of the drawings executed by his late wife Elizabeth, with the rest contributed by other artists following her death.

In the end, there were a total of 681 coloured plates in the eight volumes, and the whole production is unquestionably the greatest of all of Gould’s 18 significant works. 250 sets of the vast work were printed and sold, and despite being highly prized at the time, today is a completely different story. Complete sets of the original volumes were recently sold at auction for $350,000 Australian.

Despite losing Gilbert in 1845, Gould continued to subsidise other collectors and keep in touch with his friends Sturt and other explorers and naturalists in Australia in order to further his work (81).

Throughout the remainder of his life, he also issued works on hummingbirds, on the birds of Asia, and on the birds of Great Britain, all magnificently illustrated.

Gould lived to the ripe old age (82) of 76, and he died in London on the 3rd of February in 1881. Unsurprisingly, at the time of his death, he was still working hard to complete his latest work The Birds of New Guinea and the Adjacent Papuan Islands, which went on to be completed by Dr. Sharpe.

He had outlived two of his sons, Henry and Franklin, but was survived by (83) his youngest son and three daughters. Although he was incredibly fortunate in his assistance, his success resulted in large part from his industriousness (84), ability, and tireless work ethic (85).

In his untiring pursuit of nature, Gould worked his way up (86) from the humble beginnings of a gardener, to become an outstanding ornithologist and general zoologist, as well as a highly accomplished publisher and businessman. He had brushed shoulders (87) with two men who were to become giants in the field of biology: Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. He had explored an unknown continent with the likes of John Gilbert and Charles Sturt. And ultimately, he had amassed a life’s work comprising an immense 41 volumes and nearly 3000 plates or images, depicting animals that had prior to been unknown to science (88).

Although said to be a tough cookie (89) who drove a hard bargain when it came to business, his closest friends and family remembered him as someone possessing “a really tender and affectionate heart.”

Today, due to his work Down Under, Gould is remembered better in Australia than back home in Britain. His works are heavily sought after (90) and worth a small fortune. His images are well-renowned (91), particularly amongst anyone with a passion for Australian wildlife, especially birds. And numerous Australian species bear his name, including Gould’s Monitor, Gould’s Mouse, and Gould’s Hooded Snake, as well as the name of his wife, Gould’s Sunbird, and the Gouldian Finch.

During his lifetime, Gould was honoured by numerous scientific societies, and in Australia, he is often referred to as “the father of Australian bird studies,” with a nationwide institution named after him: the Gould League of Bird Lovers.

Gould and his wife Elizabeth definitely lived amazing lives and contributed incalculably (92) to the study of the natural world, not only leaving their mark on paper, but on history as well.

And before I leave you today, I suggest that you do yourself a favour (93) and get on Google, do a search for Gould’s illustrations, and I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.