Sepia-toned photograph, 230 x 295mm with upper corners deeply rounded, mounted on card within a printed or drawn frame of two parallel red lines closed at the ends and crossed over at each corner. The gallery is oblong in plan; some 3-4' from the walls, there is what appears to be a highly decorated cast-iron structure of pillars from which an oblong dome springs. At the ends are single bays with decorative brackets attaching the pillars to the cross beam; on either side a symmetrical arrangement of two somewhat shorter bays, separated by two pillars surmounted by a more ornate arch form. The main entry was probably at the photographer's point of view--a mirror shows what may be part of a door frame. There are some 17 cases of hummingbirds, looking very like those used in the 1851 exhibition at the Gardens of the Royal Zoological Society (see Gould item 507).

On the reverse: "Gallery in Gt Russell St / Mr Goulds" in pencil, probably more or less contemporary with the photograph; and "Mr John Gould's Gallery in Great Russell Street" in ink, in what appears to be a later style of handwriting. The Gould family moved to this address sometime late in 1859 (in fact the house was on the corner of two streets, and from as early as December 1859 the alternative address, 26 Charlotte Street, seems to have been preferred). In the autumn of 1877 Count Tommaso Salvadori visited Gould and wrote of the "gallery expressly built in the house."