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Author photo. Engraved by Andrew from a photograph taken in San Remo, by Roncarolo.

Engraved by Andrew from a photograph taken in San Remo, by Roncarolo.

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Edward Lear was born in Holloway, England, to Jeremiah (a stockbroker) and Ann Lear, tutored at home by his sister, and briefly attended the Royal Academy schools. Both an author and an illustrator, he earned his living as an artist from the age of 15, mainly by doing landscapes. What he is remembered for is his nonsense books, especially his popularization of the limerick. Along with Lewis Carroll, he is considered to be the founder of nonsense poetry. In addition to his limericks, he created longer nonsense poems. The best---and best known---is The Jumblies, in which the title characters go to sea in a sieve; it is a brilliant, profound, silly, and sad expression of the need to leave the security of the known world and experience the wonder and danger of the unknown. His other most notable work is The Owl and the Pussy Cat, a less complex poem whose title characters also go to sea. Lear produced humorous alphabets and botany books as well. His wordplay, involving puns, neologisms, portmanteau words, and anticlimax, retains its vitality today and has influenced such contemporary writers of children's nonsense verse as Shel Silverstein, Ogden Nash, and Laura Richards (Bowker Author Biography) — biography from The Owl and the Pussycat… (more)
The Owl and the Pussycat 1,413 copies, 15 reviews
The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear 1,222 copies, 17 reviews
A Was Once an Apple Pie 821 copies, 13 reviews
A Book of Nonsense 646 copies, 18 reviews
An Edward Lear Alphabet 239 copies, 12 reviews
The Quangle Wangle's Hat 207 copies, 7 reviews
The Owl and the Pussycat 206 copies, 7 reviews
The Jumblies 186 copies, 2 reviews
Edward Lear's Nonsense Omnibus 120 copies, 1 review
Nonsense Poems 118 copies, 1 review
Nonsense Songs 116 copies, 2 reviews
Edward Lear's Nonsense Books 100 copies, 1 review
The Scroobious Pip (Author) 97 copies, 3 reviews
The Owl and the Pussycat [Beck] 90 copies, 2 reviews
The Owl and the Pussycat 74 copies, 1 review
Nonsense Songs and Stories 43 copies, 1 review
Gorey x 3 (Author) 38 copies
Nonsense! 35 copies, 3 reviews
The Duck and the Kangaroo 28 copies, 2 reviews
ABC 22 copies
Teapots and Quails 22 copies, 1 review
Edward Lear : selected letters (Author; Author) 22 copies
Limericks 15 copies, 1 review
Whizz! 15 copies, 1 review
The Cretan journal 11 copies, 1 review
A Book of Learned Nonsense 11 copies, 1 review
More Nonsense 10 copies
A Book of Lear 10 copies
Edward Lear's Nonsense Verse 10 copies, 2 reviews
The Two Old Bachelors 8 copies, 1 review
Nonsense Book 3 copies
Fabuleario 3 copies
Edward Lear's Cats 2 copies, 1 review
Disparatario 2 copies
Learicks 1 copy
Limerickar 1 copy
Eric Carle's Animals Animals (Contributor) 2,032 copies, 28 reviews
Favorite Poems of Childhood (Contributor) 740 copies, 1 review
The Nation's Favourite Poems (some editions) 600 copies, 7 reviews
The Best Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis (Contributor) 516 copies, 11 reviews
A Treasury of the World's Best Loved Poems (Contributor) 495 copies, 4 reviews
The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy (Contributor, some editions) 492 copies, 1 review
A Pocket Book of Modern Verse (Contributor, some editions) 421 copies, 1 review
The Lure of the Limerick (Illustrator) 270 copies, 7 reviews
In the Nursery (My Book House) (Contributor) 267 copies
The Literary Cat (Contributor) 232 copies
Mr Lear: A Life of Art and Nonsense (Illustrator) 133 copies, 5 reviews
Poems of Early Childhood (Childcraft) (Contributor) 106 copies, 1 review
The Standard Book of British and American Verse (Contributor) 105 copies, 1 review
Best in Children's Books 17 69 copies, 1 review
The Mammoth Book of Fairy Tales (Contributor) 61 copies
A Golden Land (Contributor; Illustrator) 38 copies
A Book of Nonsense (Contributor) 34 copies, 1 review
366 Goodnight Stories (Contributor) 32 copies
Journeys Through Bookland - Volume I (Author, some editions) 30 copies, 1 review
Art for Children (Childcraft) (Illustrator) 29 copies
A Book of Nonsense (Contributor) 28 copies
Galaxy (Contributor) 3 copies
19th century (83) ABC (114) alphabet (190) animals (440) anthology (515) art (79) cats (186) children (222) children's (419) children's books (64) children's literature (134) children's poetry (61) classics (77) collection (67) collection:Fiction (67) Edward Lear (65) English (57) English literature (60) Eric Carle (80) fantasy (178) fiction (547) Folio Society (68) hardcover (89) humor (496) illustrated (82) limericks (100) literature (241) non-fiction (105) nonsense (140) nursery rhymes (95) owls (60) picture book (387) poems (133) poetry (2,971) read (64) rhyme (70) rhyming (99) shelf:Fiction (67) short stories (114) to-read (215)
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