Category Archives: Edward Lear

Uttered Nonsense

Eight works of Mr Edward Lear, spoken with the utmost gravity by Mr Ivan Smith, and set to music of the most nonsensical nature by John Sangster. These eight word-pieces embedded within fourteen more instrumental excursions which take their titles … Continue reading

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The Earliest Recordings of The Owl and the Pussy-cat

Edward Lear’s most famous Nonsense song, The Owl and the Pussy-cat, was among the first pieces of music to be recorded. I have been able to find three different recordings of the same arrangement for four voices, here they are: … Continue reading

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Jim's Big Ego's The Jumblies

Jim’s Big Ego have realeased their music under a Creative Commons licence which allows noncommercial distrubution, so here is their Edward Lear-based song, The Jumblies, from the album Don’t Get Smart. If you want to hear earlier song versions of … Continue reading

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The Runcible Spoon and the Pizzafork

If you thought the runcible spoon (below left: a Victorian example by the renowned manufacturer Elkington & Co. Birmingham, ca 1880; right: George III Silver Runcible Spoon/Fork, John Hutson, London, 1800) was a strange object…   Take a look at … Continue reading

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Edward Lear in Italy

Michael Montgomery, Lear’s Italy. In the Footsteps of Edward Lear. London: Cadogan Guides, 2005. When I ordered the book I expected a travelogue comparing present-day Italian places with what Edward Lear saw in his extensive travels (endless migrations) across the … Continue reading

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Lear Illustrated in America

Someone made curious by the announcement in the inside front cover of the January 1870 issue of Our Young Folks (number 61) that “another new contributor, a distinguished English artist, will furnish some laughable verses” would have been happy to … Continue reading

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Edward Lear and Alice

One of the most common statements to be found in the frquent comparisons between Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll is that there is no proof that they knew each other’s work; for example John Lehman, in Edward Lear and His … Continue reading

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Mr Lear: A Song Tribute

Kim Dyer has written to let me know that a new album by Al Stewart, called A Beach Full of Shells (Appleseed Records, 2005), has just been released and it includes a tribute to “Mr Lear”. You can listen to … Continue reading

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Lear Alphabet Manuscript and Wasp in a Wig to be Auctioned

More Edward Lear on sale at Christie’s auction of the Norman and Cynthia Armour Collection of Fine Children’s Books. The galley proofs for Carroll’s “Wasp in a Wig” episode are also on sale. Continue reading

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New Editions

A couple of items appearing in the bibliography have recently been republished. Continue reading

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