Hummingbirds perched on colorful red and pink flowers are featured on the cards of Galison's Hummingbirds: John Gould's Flying Gems Keepsake Box of note cards. Four different colored illustrations from A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Humming-Birds, published in London in 1861, have been reproduced, courtesy of the Department of Library Services at the American Museum of Natural History. The hummingbirds shown are: Helianthea eos, Chrysobronchus virescens, Cyanomyia franciae, and Metallura williami. Our box holds four cards of each of four images. Each card has a quotation from John Gould the Bird Man (his own epitaph) on the back. For example: "The glittering of the parts is so resplendent that it is out of the power of any person, I believe, to portray them; hence art and device are in this instance at a nonplus. In the accompanying Plate the reproduction of these feathers is attempted with the ordinary media. If the reader can imagine the neck-plumes to be lit up with the most brilliant and glittering light possible, he may have some faint idea of their loveliness." The sturdy decorative box holds cards and envelopes neatly, and when the cards have been sent, it's great for storing all sorts of little things--from extra buttons to pearls.
