I have updated the Manuscripts page with information on the Edward Lear material available at the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript Library. Among the many items which are also part of the Beinecke Digital Collections are at least three picture stories.

Here is a previously-unpublished one in which Lear loses and then recovers his hat; it was drawn and sent to Lady Susan Percy on 28 February 1842, with a note mentioning the “frightful facts which occurred 3 or 4 hours ago” (M. Montgomery, The Owl and the Pussy Cats: Lear in Love, the Untold Story, 2012, p. 44).

1. Mr. L. sets out for a walk –but is amazed at the high wind.

2. Mr. L. loses his hat & contemplates the flight thereof from a serene staircase.

3. Mr. L. avails himself of his umbrella to fly agter his lively hat.

4. Mr. L. is joined in the chase of his lively hat by some familiar & affectionate jackdaws.

5. Mr. L. rests on the branch of a tree & converses with one of the familiar & affectionate jackdaws.

6. Mr. L. descends to the earth & recovers his lively hat by means of 2 ingenious infants.

7. Mr. L. is shocked to find a hole in his lively hat.

8. Mr. L. returns home in a supurflous & unsatisfying manner.

Higher-resolution images are available from Beinecke’s Digital Collections, and you can even download a pdf file of the whole story.