Nonsense Books

Nonsense Books

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Title: Nonsense Books
Author: Edward Lear
Release Date: October 8, 2004 [eBook #13650]
Language: English
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NONSENSE BOOKS
by
EDWARD LEAR
With all the Original Illustrations
1894

PUBLISHERS' NOTICE. The first Book of Nonsense was published in
1846. Three other volumes,-- _Nonsense Songs, Stories, etc._,

published in 1871; _More Nonsense Pictures, etc._, in 1872; and
_Laughable Lyrics: A Fresh Book of Nonsense, etc._, in
1877,--comprise all the "Nonsense Books" written by Mr. Lear.

"Surely the most beneficent and innocent of all books yet produced is
the Book of Nonsense, with its corollary carols, inimitable and
refreshing, and perfect in rhythm. I really don't know any author to
whom I am half so grateful for my idle self as Edward Lear. I shall put
him first of my hundred authors."
JOHN RUSKIN,
In the List of the Best Hundred Authors.

[Illustration: EDWARD LEAR. ENGRAVED BY ANDREW FROM
A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN SAN REMO, BY RONCAROLO.]

CONTENTS.
I. A BOOK OF NONSENSE. II. NONSENSE SONGS, STORIES,
BOTANY, AND ALPHABETS. III. MORE NONSENSE PICTURES,
RHYMES, BOTANY, ETC. IV. LAUGHABLE LYRICS: A FRESH
BOOK OF NONSENSE POEMS, SONGS, BOTANY, ETC.
[Illustration: QUI LEGIT REGIT.]

The following lines by Mr. Lear were written for a young lady of his
acquaintance, who had quoted to him the words of a young lady not of
his acquaintance,
"How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!"
"How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!" Who has written such volumes of
stuff! Some think him ill-tempered and queer, But a few think him
pleasant enough.
His mind is concrete and fastidious, His nose is remarkably big; His
visage is more or less hideous, His beard it resembles a wig.
He has ears, and two eyes, and ten fingers, Leastways if you reckon
two thumbs; Long ago he was one of the singers, But now he is one of
the dumbs.
He sits in a beautiful parlor, With hundreds of books on the wall; He
drinks a great deal of Marsala, But never gets tipsy at all.

He has many friends, lay men and clerical, Old Foss is the name of his
cat; His body is perfectly spherical, He weareth a runcible hat.
When he walks in waterproof white, The children run after him so!
Calling out, "He's come out in his night- Gown, that crazy old
Englishman, oh!"
He weeps by the side of the ocean, He weeps on the top of the hill; He
purchases pancakes and lotion, And chocolate shrimps from the mill.
He reads, but he cannot speak, Spanish, He cannot abide ginger beer:
Ere the days of his pilgrimage vanish, How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!
* * * * *

INTRODUCTION.
Edward Lear, the artist, Author of "Journals of a Landscape Painter" in
various out-of-the-way countries, and of the delightful "Books of
Nonsense," which have amused successive generations of children,
died on Sunday, January 29, 1888, at San Remo, Italy, where he had
lived for twenty years. Few names could evoke a wider expression of
passing regret at their appearance in the obituary column; for until his
health began to fail he was known to an immense and almost a
cosmopolitan circle of acquaintance, and popular wherever he was
known. Fewer still could call up in the minds of intimate friends a
deeper and more enduring feeling of sorrow for personal loss, mingled
with the pleasantest of memories; for it was impossible to know him
thoroughly and not to love him. London, Rome, the Mediterranean
countries generally, Ceylon and India, are still all dotted with survivors
among his generation who will mourn for him affectionately, although
his latter years were spent in comparatively close retirement. He was a
man of striking nobility of nature, fearless, independent, energetic,
given to forming for himself strong opinions, often hastily, sometimes
bitterly; not always strong or sound in judgment, but always seeking
after truth in every matter, and following it as he understood it in scorn
of consequence; utterly unselfish, devoted to his friends, generous even
to extravagance towards any one who had ever been connected with his