NONSENSE BOOKS
by
EDWARD LEAR
With all the Original Illustrations
1894
PUBLISHERS' NOTICE. The first Book of Nonsense was published in 1846. Three other volumes,-- Nonsense Songs, Stories, etc., published in 1871; More Nonsense Pictures, etc., in 1872; and Laughable Lyrics: A Fresh Book of Nonsense, etc., in 1877,--comprise all the "Nonsense Books" written by Mr. Lear.
"Surely the most beneficent and innocent of all books yet produced is the Book of Nonsense, with its corollary carols, inimitable and refreshing, and perfect in rhythm. I really don't know any author to whom I am half so grateful for my idle self as Edward Lear. I shall put him first of my hundred authors."
JOHN RUSKIN,
In the List of the Best Hundred Authors.
CONTENTS.
I. A BOOK OF NONSENSE. II. NONSENSE SONGS, STORIES, BOTANY, AND ALPHABETS. III. MORE NONSENSE PICTURES, RHYMES, BOTANY, ETC. IV. LAUGHABLE LYRICS: A FRESH BOOK OF NONSENSE POEMS, SONGS, BOTANY, ETC.
The following lines by Mr. Lear were written for a young lady of his acquaintance, who had quoted to him the words of a young lady not of his acquaintance,
"How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!"
"How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!" Who has written such volumes of stuff! Some think him ill-tempered and queer, But a few think him pleasant enough.
His mind is concrete and fastidious, His nose is remarkably big; His visage is more or less hideous, His beard it resembles a wig.
He has ears, and two eyes, and ten fingers, Leastways if you reckon two thumbs; Long ago he was one of the singers, But now he is one of the dumbs.
He sits in a beautiful parlor, With hundreds of books on the wall; He drinks a great deal of Marsala, But never gets tipsy at all.
He has many friends, lay men and clerical, Old Foss is the name of his cat; His body is perfectly spherical, He weareth a runcible hat.
When he walks in waterproof white, The children run after him so! Calling out, "He's come out in his night- Gown, that crazy old Englishman, oh!"
He weeps by the side of the ocean, He weeps on the top of the hill; He purchases pancakes and lotion, And chocolate shrimps from the mill.
He reads, but he cannot speak, Spanish, He cannot abide ginger beer: Ere the days of his pilgrimage vanish, How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!
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