The Nonsense Verse Of Edward Lear

3.6/5 ( ratings)

This marvellous collection contains virtually all of the nonsense writings of Edward Lear, illustrated with new drawings by the popular illustrator John Vernon Lord. Here are such favourites as The Owl and the Pussy-cat, The Dong with the Luminous Nose, The Jumblies and many other long poems, together with 236 limericks, all taken from the four volumes of nonsense verse published during Lear's lifetime as well as a group of posthumous publications. Lord has also written an introduction offering a biography and critical background to Lear.

Lord's incredibly detailed and zany graphic style splendidly captures the spirit and satirical wit of Lear's work, conveying his lifelong enthusiasm for Lear's nonsense. For most of those accustomed to Lear's own drawings — to whom Lord extends an apology — the end result must fully vindicate the liberty he has taken. The whole is a visual and verbal delight which will appeal to adults and children alike.

'John Vernon Lord spent three years lovingly illustrating The Nonsense Verse of Edward Lear and did not waste a minute.... Mr Lord's meticulous drawings raise the level of the oeuvre to a new high level of lunacy.' SPECTATOR

`Lord has come up with a little-known variorum reading of a familiar work. For that, as for everything in this visually delightful book, we must be grateful — if only because it sends us back to the poems with new eyes. CANBERRA TIMES

'John Vernon Lord... has boldly taken his stance in Lear's own world with drawings immensely detailed and elaborately imaged which have, still, a strong resemblance to Lear's own line, and a passionate oddness, a sad emphasis on catastrophe which suggests Lear's troubled mind, where humour was balanced on the edge of melancholy and mania. These drawings, whatever Lear scholars think of them, are evidence of a careful study of the man and his work.' GROWING POINT

'A very handsome edition.' BOOK WORLD