The Natural History Of Edward Lear 1812 1888

Edward Lear, known as an author of nonsense verse, was also an artist and natural history illustrator.

"Edward Lear is well known as the brilliant writer of nonsense poetry, children's books, and travel books who popularized the limerick, and wrote verses such as "The Owl and the Pussycat." But few people are aware that Lear was one of the most talented and accomplished painters of natural history subjects in the nineteenth century, and worked with British scientists, collectors, and publishers to make Britain the nexus for scientific investigation and its circulation. One of the best ornithological artists of his generation, Lear published his first book, a monograph on the parrot family, at age 18, and established a format that would be followed by decades by such publishers as John Gould, with whom he worked closely and often anonymously. Over his career, Lear produced a multitude of drawings of birds and mammals from around the world for scientific publications, public institutions, and individual patrons, not just of English species, but of birds and mammals from Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas. He is also the Lear in the name of the rare species Lear's Macaw. In this book, Peck has assembled the first comprehensive view of this important part of Lear's career. Featuring over 200 illustrations and a foreword by Sir David Attenborough, the book also examines the influence Lear had on modern artists such as Walton Ford and Tony Foster. This new edition includes a new chapter that addresses Lear's continued fascination with wildlife and the natural world after giving up his career as a scientific illustrator, and his fascination with domestic pets, from his own beloved cat which he cartooned repeatedly, to the portraits of dogs owned by his family and friends, alongside thirteen never-before-published illustrations, including fully finished watercolors, rough preliminary sketches, and whimsical cartoons"--

The owls, hen, larks, and their nests in his beard, are among the fey fauna and peculiar persons inhabiting the uniquely inspired nonsense rhymes and drawings of Lear (20th child of a London stockbroker), whose Book of Nonsense, first published in 1846, stands alone as the ultimate and most loved expression in English of freewheeling, benign, and unconstricted merriment.

Edward Lear’s best-loved nonsense poem about the magical adventure of the Owl and the Pussycat who went to sea in a beautiful pea-green boat, specially retold for beginner readers as part of the Usborne Reading Programme. Includes audio. "Crack reading and make confident and enthusiastic readers with this fantastic reading programme." - Julia Eccleshare

Edward Lear began his career as an ornithological illustrator, becoming one of the first major artists to draw birds from living models. During this period he was employed to paint the birds from the private menagerie owned by Edward Stanley, the 13th Earl of Derby and one of Lear’s closest friends. In 1837, Lear’s health started to decline. His deteriorating eyesight and failing lungs forced him to abandon the detailed painting required for depicting birds, and, with the help of the earl, he moved to Rome where he established himself as a poet of literary nonsense. While Lear was visiting the Earl of Derby, he wrote poems and drew silly sketches to entertain the earl’s children. In 1846, he collected together his pile of limericks and illustrations and published his first poetical book, titled A Book of Nonsense and dedicated to the Earl of Derby and his children. He decided to publish under the pseudonym Derry down Derry, but after he started making plans for more books, he republished under his real name. His next book, Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets wasn’t published until 24 years later, in 1870. Lear then released More Nonsense, which contains more limericks, in 1872, and Laughable Lyrics in 1877. This final book in the series contains many of Lear’s most famous fantastical creatures, such as the Quangle Wangle. The influence of Lear’s poetry in the twentieth-century can be seen in styles like the surrealism movement and the theater of the absurd.