Edward Lear
(1812 - 1888)
Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, author and poet. He is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose, and especially his limericks, a form he popularised.
His principal areas of work as an artist were threefold:
- As a draughtsman employed to illustrate birds and animals;
- Making colored drawings during his journeys, which he reworked later, sometimes as plates for his travel books; and
- As a (minor) illustrator of Alfred Tennyson’s poems.
As an author, he is known principally for his popular nonsense works, which use real and invented English words.
Bibliography
Edward Lear 1812-1888 (1985)
This is the catalog to accompany an exhibition held at the Royal Academy of Arts. It includes an extensive bibliography. There is a generous selection of Lear’s drawings and paintings.
The Edward Lear Alphabet Book With Dash-Drawing for Little Children (1915)
The child artist completes the dashed outline of each letter, then colors in the original and his copy.
Edward Lear on My Shelves (1933)
A catalog of the extensive collection of Edward Lear which was later donated to the Harvard Houghton Library.
Edward Lear’s A Nonsense Alphabet (1962)
An alphabet by the master of nonsense.
Edward Lear’s Alphabet of Nonsense (2013)
This is a facsimile of the 1862 original.
Facsimile of a Nonsense Alphabet (1926)
This is a facsimile of a nonsense alphabet originally written in 1849. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
For Lovers of Birds (1978)
Drawings accompany selections from Edward Lear’s letters and diaries.
For Lovers of Cats (1978)
Drawings accompany selections from Edward Lear’s letters and diaries.
For Lovers of Flowers & Gardens (1978)
Drawings accompany selections from Edward Lear’s letters and diaries.
For Lovers of Food & Drink (1978)
Drawings accompany selections from Edward Lear’s letters and diaries.
Gleanings from the Menagerie and Aviary at Knowsley Hall (1846)
A collection of early illustrations of birds and animals by the master of nonsense. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
Hilary Knight’s the Owl and the Pussy-Cat (1983)
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat.
Hilary Knight’s the Owl and the Pussy-Cat (2001)
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat.
Edward Lear
Illustrations of the Family Psittacidae, or Parrots (1832)
Forty-two colored plates in imperial folio published contemporaneously with Audubon’s Birds of America. The artist was largely self-taught and only twenty at the time of publication. Read for free online at the University of Wisconsin.
The Jumblies and Other Nonsense Verses (1900)
A collection of nonsense verse. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
Laughable Lyrics (1877)
This fourth and final collection includes The Dong with a Luminous Nose among other delights. Read for free online at Project Gutenberg and at DigiNole.
Lear in the Original (1975)
A collection of original artwork for the Nonsense books, with a few miscellaneous sketches.
Mice are Nice (1990)
An anthology of poems about mice.
Elizabeth Coatsworth
Edward Lear
A. A. Milne
Lucy Sprague Mitchell
Et al
More Nonsense Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc. (1872)
This is the author’s third collection of nonsense, which includes one hundred new limericks. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
Mostly Magic (1958)
A collection of traditional fairy tales, fables and nursery rhymes for younger children.
Andrew Lang
Leonora Blanche Alleyne Lang
Edward Lear
Hugh Lofting
Beatrix Potter
Et al
L. Leslie Brooke
Wanda Gág
Howard Pyle
Dr. Seuss
Et al