John Gould, writer, publisher and ornithologist, produced a monumental series of illustrated bird books covering Europe, Australia, Asia and New Guinea and his last fully completed work was "The Birds of Great Britain", published between 1862 and 1873 and generally considered to be his greatest achievement.

He enjoyed Royal Patronage and by the age of 23 was appointed Curator and Preserver of the collection of the Zoological Society where he developed the idea of attracting subscription from notable persons to finance limited edition folios of hand-coloured plates with descriptive text.

In the 1861 Prospectus, Gould confirmed "at the urgent request of scientific friends and subscribers" that it was to be issued in parts over 8 or 9 years, the completed set of 5 volumes to contain 367 plates, priced at £78.15s Od.

The project attracted 468 subscribers, led by Queen Victoria and 8 Dukes, 2 Marquises, 14 Earls, 5 Viscounts, 15 Lords and 11 Baronets. Universities, Libraries, and Scientific Institutions worldwide, together with any naturalist wealthy enough to commit themselves to the project readily made up the balance.

Although Henry Richter contributed the majority of illustrations, he was joined by Joseph Wolf, who was mainly concerned with the birds of prey, game and waterfowl, and William Hart who earlier had worked on Gould's humming birds. It was from reference to their watercolours and 'copy plates' made from them, that the black and white lithographs produced were so laboriously hand- coloured and heightened with gum arabic to a competence that sometimes surpassed the original in its effect. Gould himself, with some understatement, in his November 1873 preface, reflects that "Every sky with its varied tints and every feather of each bird were coloured by hand: and when it is considered that every illustration in the present work has been so treated, it will most likely cause some astonishment to those who give the subject a thought."

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