The first edition, all published, complete as issued in the original printed boards, and extremely rare. Like Gould's other monumental books on Australian natural history the Macropodidæ was issued by subscription. The Prospectus lists just eighty-four names, which must account for the book's rarity on the market today.

The first edition, all published, complete as issued in the original printed boards, and extremely rare. Like Gould's other monumental books on Australian natural history the Macropodidæ was issued by subscription. The Prospectus lists just eighty-four names, which must account for the book's rarity on the market today.

John Gould (1804-81) was one of the most successful entrepreneurial writers on natural history. He produced just two books on Australian mammals. This first such publication, A Monograph of the Macropodidæ, is the only colour-plate book to have been issued on kangaroos. Iredale (1938) noted that "… having become interested with the Kangaroo group whilst in Australia, he offered a Monograph of the Macropodidæ in three parts. Part I appeared in 1841 and Part II in 1842, but the third part was dispensed with, as he proposed a work entitled The Mammals of Australia. This constitutes probably his greatest achievement, as otherwise Gould never ventured into any other branch of natural history save birds".

Gould advertised the Macropodidæ in an 1841 brochure: "The author's visit to Australia having enabled him to procure much valuable information respecting their habits, and many new species of that very singular tribe of animals, the Kangaroos…". His second work on Australian mammals appeared four years later in 1845-46. "It was not, however until I arrived in the country, and found myself surrounded by objects as strange as if I had been transported to another planet, that I conceived the idea of devoting a portion of my attention to the mammalian class of its extraordinary fauna". (Gould, in the Introduction to Mammals).