About Gould Hummingbird Plate
John Gould's *A Monograph of the Trochilidae* (1861) is the high point of Victorian hand-finished bird lithography — 360 plates drawn with Henry Richter and printed by Hullmandel & Walton, with gorgets touched in actual gold leaf to mimic iridescence. Hummingbirds hover against shadowed dark-foliage vignettes.
This system distills that jewel-like natural-history luxury: iridescent green plumage keyed to deep forest grounds, magenta gorget accents, and specular gold-leaf highlights, framed by refined old-style serifs befitting a deluxe Victorian plate book.
- Origin
- Western Europe (British)
- Era
- pre-1900 (title pages dated 1861)
- Key figures
- John Gould · Henry Constantine Richter · Hullmandel & Walton
- Movements
- Victorian hand-coloured lithography · Ornithological monograph illustration
Gould Hummingbird Plate design spec
Colors
Typography
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