GOULD, John (1804-1881)

Ramphastos citreopygus [Lemon-rumped Toucan]

[London: by the Author, 1835]. Hand-coloured lithograph by John and Elizabeth Gould, printed by C. Hullmandel. Wove paper. Sheet size: 21 1/4 x 15 inches.

A fine image from John Gould's "A Monograph of the Ramphastidae, or Family of Toucans."

The toucan family is limited to Mexico, Central and South America and some West Indian islands. The first time that any member of the family was described was by Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes in his de la natural hystoria de las Indias (Toledo, 1526, chapter 42). In 1555 Pierre Belon included an illustration of its beak in his L'Histoire de la nature des oyseaux (Paris, 1555, p.184). Andre Thevet first used the name "Toucan" with a long description, and a woodcut of a whole bird, in his Singularitez de la France (Paris, 1555, pp.88-90). The Latin name Burhynchus or Ramphestes (in reference to the size of the beak) was suggested by Conrad Gesner (Icones Avium, 1560, p.130), and Linnaeus later adopted Aldrovandus's corrupted form of the latter (Ramphastos) which is how the family was still recognized at the time of the publication of the present image.

Cf. Anker 170; cf. Fine Bird Books (1990), p. 101; cf. Nissen IVB 378; cf. Sauer 3; cf. Wood p. 364; cf. Zimmer p. 252.

Item #13333

Price: $1,250.00