Author Archives: Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, Nice (1865)

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, Nice, France. Pen and brown ink and watercolour over pencil heightened with white; inscribed in ink lower right: Nice. / 2.= 3. P.M. / 8 January 1865 / (18) the 4ground olive section / brown dark – off … Continue reading →

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Mrs Jayfer, Millais, Dicky Doyle and Wilkie Collins in an Edward Lear Letter

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Marco Graziosi

Among the many subjects touched in the letter to Henry Bruce, Lord Aberdare transcribed below from the scans available on the Florida State University website, is Edward Lear’s statement that the second part of “Mr and Mrs Discobbolos” was suggested … Continue reading →

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An Edward Lear Letter to Wilkie Collins

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Marco Graziosi

The friendship between Edward Lear, the Victorian poet of nonsense verses, and Wilkie Collins, the novelist, has long been well-known. Yet, strangely enough, it was a friendship of which, as Collins’ biographer tells us, “hardly a trace remains.”{1} We know … Continue reading →

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The First English Limerick?

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Marco Graziosi

The text set as No. XXII in Michael East’s Second Set of Madrigals 1606 is an almost perfect limerick (East, xii and 115-20; Fellowes, 91{1}); a fact which I believe has not been noted before. The piece runs: O metaphysical … Continue reading →

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Edward Lear and Charles Kingsley

Posted on June 1, 2015 by Marco Graziosi

From Notes and Queries, n.s. 16.6 (Vol. 214), June 1969, pp. 216-217: An Edward Lear Letter to Charles Kingsley Apparently, Edward Lear and Charles Kingsley never became personally acquainted. No records are presently known to attest sucha relationship. However, after … Continue reading →

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Edward Lear, Ravenna

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, Ravenna. Inscribed ‘Ravenna.’ (lower left). Wwatercolour and gum arabic. 16.5 x 26.3cm (6 1/2 x 10 3/8in). Bonhams.

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Edward Lear, View of Abu Simbel (1867)

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, View of Abu Simbel. Signed with monogram and dated 1884 (lower right), inscribed ‘The Temples of Ipsambl. Feby 8. 1867′ (lower left), further inscribed ’14. Temples of Ipsambl.’ on the reverse. Watercolour. 9 x 17.5cm (3 9/16 x 6 7/8in). … Continue reading →

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Edward Lear, Malacca Parakeet

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, A Malacca Parakeet, Palaeornis Malaccensis, an illustration for Prideaux J. Selby’s Natural History of Parrots, Edinburgh,W. H. Lizars; 1836. Signed and inscribed ‘E. Lear fct.’ (vertically from branch), inscribed ‘Plate 3d’ (upper left), and ‘Palaeornis Malaccensis/Plate’ (lower centre), indistinctly inscribed … Continue reading →

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Edward Lear, Ravenna (1867)

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Marco Graziosi

Edward Lear, ‘Ravenna.’ Inscribed and dated ‘Ravenna.May 5.1867.8AM.’ (lower left), numbered ‘(13)’ (lower right) and inscribed with various colour notes. Pen and watercolour. 15.4 x 25cm (6 1/16 x 9 13/16in). Bonhams.

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Lewis Carroll, the Limerick, and the Meeting That Failed

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Marco Graziosi

Douglas-Fairhurst, Robert. The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland. Cambridge (Mass): Harvard University Press, 2015. pp. 39-40: What makes Useful and Instructive Poetry espefcially useful and instructive in terms of Carroll’s later literary career is … Continue reading →

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