When people hear of my avid interest in John the bird man of the 1800s, they invariably do not ask so much about John as about how and when I became interested in him. I will briefly reminisce on how and when this happened. But more of the story than this deserves to be told, especially here. Thus, in addition to a short summary regarding my minor part in the story, I will also outline what is known about John and company, what is new since my book on him was published, and what is to be learned in the future. My interest in John Gould, British ornithologist (1804-1881), had its genesis over forty years ago. First, there was a youthful interest in birds in general. Then my parents purchased four John hand-colored litho graphic bird prints from an antique dealer in a small town near my home, in central Illinois. The large striking pictures of British blackbirds were quite arresting. My interest in John was whetted. The next step was a search for further information on these Gould prints. Then, fortunately, I was able to purchase Volume I of Gould's Birds of Great Britain. This volume contained introductory prefatory material that provided me with some information on the man, his prints and his imperial folio works. I soon realized, however, that there really was not much written about John Gould. This stimulated me to do further research. One article on and his books would invariably lead to several other reference articles. The knowledge obtained about the man began to increase in geometric progression. In 1948, I had enough information on to publish an article on him and his works in an antiques journal (Sauer, 1948). In 1951 I moved from New York City, where I had been studying dermatology, to a small city in the midwestern part of the United States. In this area, I was sure that my studies would suffer. You can imagine by pleasant surprise, then, when I learned that the largest collection in the world of John imperial folio volumes, original drawings, and various ephemera were at the University of Kansas Library only seventy miles away. This rich store of Gouldiana was part of the collection of ornithological books that Ralph Ellis had very hastily but knowledgeably acquired during his short and turbulent life (Vosper, 1961). Incidentally, Ralph Ellis was a founder member of this society, joining in 1936 when he was in England, avidly buying bird books. My first work with the Ellis collection was to catalogue the hundreds of hummingbird lithographs that Ellis had purchased uncolored from Henry