Rare book on display in the library

The rare book on display from our collection is: The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, under the command of Captain Fitzroy, during the years 1832 to 1836. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin, naturalist to the expedition. Part III. Birds, described by John Gould, with a notice of their habits and ranges, by Charles Darwin. London: Smith, Elder & Co.; 1841.Balfour Library shelfmark: qKZ.8 (7)

The book is open at: Plate 7: Pyrocephalus nanus, a Tyrant Flycatcher. The pair of flycatchers perch on a branch: the bright scarlet male reaches for a spider that hangs from its thread while the pale brown female looks on. The beauty and quality of Gould’s hand-coloured plate is evident here. This species lives in the Galapagos Archipelago (except San Cristóbal).

John Gould (1804-1881) was an English ornithologist and publisher. Gould did not paint the final illustrations in this or subsequent works himself, but he collected the specimens, classified them, made rough drawings, wrote the text and designed and arranged the birds naturally on the plates, which was his distinctive genius.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) returned from his voyage on HMS Beagle in the autumn of 1836. Darwin selected several scientists to describe his collected specimens, and Gould was presented with the birds. In January 1837 Gould pronounced a group of twelve birds from the Galápagos Islands, which Darwin thought to be ‘blackbirds, warblers, wrens and finches’, as all one family of finches, with variations in their beaks and size. This was the crucial piece of evidence that enabled Darwin to come to his theory of island speciation. Gould contributed to this ‘bird’ volume of Darwin’s Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle.

Sources: John Gould (1804-1881):doi:10.109/ref:odnb/11154, IBC: The Internet Bird Collection http://ibc.lynxeds.com/