Author Archives: Marco Graziosi

Wallace Stevens’s “playful, eroticized elaboration of Edward Lear”

Floral Decorations for Bananas by Wallace Stevens Well, nuncle, this plainly won’t do. These insolent, linear peels And sullen, hurricane shapes Won’t do with your eglantine. They require something serpentine. Blunt yellow in such a room! You should have had … Continue reading

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On Bawdy Limericks and Edward Lear (again)

From the Vaughan Williams Foundation website: Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood Letter No.: VWL1485 From R. Vaughan Williams, The White Gates, Westcott Road, Dorking. [3 February 1940] My Dear I went and got a Lear1 at once – … Continue reading

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Cylinder Nasties and Some T.S. Eliot Limericks

One of the “Limerick Company” I occasionally hear from, Bob Turvey, mentioned the following article from the 5 March 2023 Sunday Times “Culture” supplement, pp. 24-25: Here is the passage of interest from the book being reviewed: Another star, and arguably … Continue reading

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Punch and “The Owl and the Pussy-cat”

Doug Harris reports on the conutinuing interest of Punch for Edward Lear’s most famous poem.  

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John Parry’s Stray Leaves from “A Book of Nonsense”

This page containing nine limericks (which was kindly provided by Doug Harris) comes from John Parry’s Ridiculous Things Scraps and Oddities: Some with and Many Without Meaning, London: T. McLean, 1854. In the November 20, 1869 issue of Once a … Continue reading

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Edward Lear, Near Mount Sinai (1849)

Edward Lear, Egypt; near Mount Sinai. Pencil, pen and ink. Inscribed and dated, ’21 January 1849 / 5 pm’. 12×19.75 inches. Abbott and Holder.

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Edward Lear, Hebron (1858)

Edward Lear, Hebron, figures and camels, the city beyond, c.1858. Signed ‘Edward Lear del.’ l.l., inscribed ‘Hebron’ l.r., pen and ink and watercolour heightened with white. 15.4 x 23cm. Provenance With Leger Galleries, London, by December 1982. Edward Lear travelled … Continue reading

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Edward Lear, Young Boys Bathing, Pisa in the Distance (1861-1863)

Edward Lear, Young boys bathing, Pisa in the distance. Watercolour and bodycolour. Monogrammed and dated 1861 and 1863. 15 x 25cm. The Saleroom.

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Edward Lear’s Views in Rome and Its Environs in colour

[17. Via Porta Pinciana, Rome looking to the Quirinal Palace.] Edward Lear, Views in Rome and its Environs; Drawn from Nature and on Stone, lithographed title vignette of Ostia and 25 lithographed views of Rome and the Campagna by Lear, … Continue reading

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Edward Lear, Jerusalem (1858)

Edward Lear, Jerusalem. Inscribed and dated ‘Jerusalem/april.28.1858./(too cold to finish it)’ (lower right) and  variously annotated in pencil pen and brown ink, pencil and sepia wash. 20.6 x 31.1cm (8 1/8 x 12 1/4in). Provenance Private collection, UK. Edward Lear … Continue reading

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