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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.
Author(s):
Vivien Noakes
Illustrator(s):
Edward Lear
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.
Author(s):
Edward Lear
Illustrator(s):
Frederick Richardson
Edward Lear on My Shelves (1933)
A catalog of the extensive collection of Edward Lear which was later donated to the Harvard Houghton Library.
Author(s):
William Bradhurst Osgood Field
Illustrator(s):
Edward Lear
Edward Lear’s A Nonsense Alphabet (1962)
An alphabet by the master of nonsense.
Author(s):
Edward Lear
Illustrator(s):
Richard Scarry
Edward Lear’s Alphabet of Nonsense (2013)
This is a facsimile of the 1862 original.
Author(s):
Edward Lear
Illustrator(s):
Edward Lear
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.
Author(s):
Edward Lear
Illustrator(s):
Edward Lear
For Lovers of Birds (1978)
Drawings accompany selections from Edward Lear’s letters and diaries.
Author(s):
Edward Lear
Illustrator(s):
Edward Lear
For Lovers of Cats (1978)
Drawings accompany selections from Edward Lear’s letters and diaries.
Author(s):
Edward Lear
Illustrator(s):
Edward Lear
For Lovers of Flowers & Gardens (1978)
Drawings accompany selections from Edward Lear’s letters and diaries.
Author(s):
Edward Lear
Illustrator(s):
Edward Lear
For Lovers of Food & Drink (1978)
Drawings accompany selections from Edward Lear’s letters and diaries.
Author(s):
Edward Lear
Illustrator(s):
Edward Lear
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.
Author(s):
John Edward Gray
Illustrator(s):
Edward Lear
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.
Author(s):
Edward Lear
Illustrator(s):
Hilary Knight
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.
Author(s):
Douglas Colby
Edward Lear
Illustrator(s):
Hilary Knight
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.
Author(s):
Edward Lear
Illustrator(s):
Edward Lear
The Jumblies and Other Nonsense Verses (1900)
A collection of nonsense verse. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
Author(s):
Edward Lear
Illustrator(s):
L. Leslie Brooke
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.
Author(s):
Edward Lear
Illustrator(s):
Edward Lear
Lear in the Original (1975)
A collection of original artwork for the Nonsense books, with a few miscellaneous sketches.
Author(s):
Edward Lear
Illustrator(s):
Edward Lear
Mice are Nice (1990)
An anthology of poems about mice.
Author(s):
N. M. Bodecker
Elizabeth Coatsworth
Edward Lear
A. A. Milne
Lucy Sprague Mitchell
Et al
Illustrator(s):
Ed Young
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.
Author(s):
Edward Lear
Illustrator(s):
Edward Lear
Mostly Magic (1958)
A collection of traditional fairy tales, fables and nursery rhymes for younger children.