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Studies on
Edward Lear and Nonsense Literature


This bibliography is more or less complete up to 1982, when I presented my thesis. I have also updated it using the Library of Congress catalog. If you know any other studies on Edward Lear or Nonsense literature in general please mail me.


[Books] [Articles] [Nonsense]

Books

[In approximate chronological order]

OSGOOD FIELD, William B., Edward Lear on my Shelves,
Munich, privately printed by the Bremer Press, 1933.

DAVIDSON, Angus, Edward Lear: Landscape Painter and Nonsense Poet,
London, John Murray, 1938, 1968.

GAUNT, William, "The Two-Sided Mr. Lear'' Art News Annual,
New York, The Art Foundation, 1948.

READE, Brian, Edward Lear's Parrots,
London, Duckworth, 1949; reprinted as
An Essay on Edward Lear's Illustrations of the Psittaccidea, or Parrots,
New York, Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1979

HOFER, Philip, Edward Lear,
New York, Oxford University Press, 1962.

RICHARDSON, Johanna, Edward Lear,
'Writers and Their Work' no. 184, London, Longman, 1965.

HOFER, Philip, Edward Lear as a Landscape Draughtsman,
Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press, 1967.

GARVEY, Eleanor M., Edward Lear, Painter, Poet and Draughtsman, An Exhibition of Drawings, Watercolors, Oils, Nonsense and Travel Books,
Worcester, Worcester Art Museum, 1968.

NOAKES, Vivien, Edward Lear: The Life of a Wanderer,
Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1969; revised paperback edition, London, Fontana/Collins, 1979.

KELEN, Emery, Mr Nonsense. A Life of Edward Lear,
London, McDonald and Jane's, 1974.

Edward Lear & Knowsley : an exhibition of watercolours belonging to the Earl of Derby Walker Art Gallery Liverpool, 1975,
Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, 1975.

LEHMAN, John, Edward Lear and His World,
London, Thames and Hudson,, 1977.

BYROM, Thomas, Nonsense and Wonder: The Poems and Cartoons of Edward Lear,
New York, E.P. Dutton, 1977.

HYMAN, Susan, Edward Lear's Birds,
London, Weidenfield and Nicholson, 1980.

HARK, Ina Rae, Edward Lear,
Boston, Twayne Publishers, 1982.

The Travels of Edward Lear,
London, Fine Art Society, 1983.

NOAKES, Vivien, Edward Lear 1812-1888,
London, Royal Academy of Arts and Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1985.

CHITTY, Susan, That Singular Person Called Lear,
London, Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1988; New York, Atheneum, 1989.

CABONI, Alessandro, Nonsense : Edward Lear e la tradizione del nonsense inglese,
Roma, Bulzoni, 1988.

DEHEJIA, Vidya, Impossible Picturesqueness: Edward Lear's Indian Watercolours, 1873-1875, with an essay by Allen Staley,
New York, Columbia University Press, 1989.

KAMEN, Gloria, Edward Lear, King of Nonsense: A Biography,
New York, Atheneum, 1990.

NOAKES, Vivien, The painter, Edward Lear,
Newton Abbot, David & Charles, 1991.

COLLEY, Ann C., Edward Lear and the critics,
Columbia, SC, Camden House, 1993.

LEVI, Peter, Edward Lear: A Biography,
London, Macmillan, 1995.

Charles Lewsen in How Pleasant to Know Mr Lear, Programme with essays by R. Fowler, V. Noakes, R. McCracken Peck, R. Pitman, J.G. Schiller, J. Swales, and poems by W.H. Auden, G. Benson, C. Causley, H. Dunmore, U.A. Fanthorpe, P. Gross, A. Mitchell, R. McGough, I. McMillan, T. Paulin, P. Porter, A. Tennyson, A. Thorpe, J. Whitworth,
Bristol, The Friends of the British Oncology Centre, 2000.


[Books] [Articles] [Nonsense]

Articles

[In approximate chronological order]

CHESTERTON, Gilbert K., A Defence of Nonsense, in
The Defendant, London, R. Brimley Johnson, 1901, pp. 42-50.

MATEWS, Gregory M., Dates of Issue of Lear's Illustrations of the Psittaccidae,
Austral Avian Record, 1, 1912.

HUXLEY, Aldous, Edward Lear, in
On the Margin, London, Chatto and Windus, 1923, pp. 167-72.

IZZO, Carlo, L'umorismo alla luce del 'Book of Nonsense',
Ateneo Veneto, novembre 1935.

LEIMERT, Erika, Die Nonsense-poesie von Edward Lear,
Neuren Sprachen, 45, 1937, pp. 368-73.

MEGROZ, R.L., The Master of Nonsense,
The Cornhill Magazine, 157, 1938, pp. 175-90.

NOCK, S.A., Lachrimae Nugarum: Edward Lear of the Nonsense Verses,
Sewanee Review, 49, 1941, pp. 68-81.

PRAZ, Mario, Edward Lear, in
Motivi e figure, Torino, Einaudi, 1945, pp. 92-5.

READE, Brian, The Birds of Edward Lear,
Signature, 4, 1947.

ANDERSON, Jørgen, Edward Lear and the Origins of Nonsense,
English Studies, 31, 1950, pp. 161-6.

BROCKWAY, J.J., Edward Lear: Poet,
Fortnightly Review, 167, 1950, pp. 334-9.

ORWELL, George, Nonsense Poetry, in
Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays, London, Sacker and Warburg, 1950, pp. 179-84.

BURY, Adrian, The Other Side of Edward Lear,
Antique Collector, August 1963.

HOFER, Philip, Edward Lear: One of the Ablest Topographical Draughtsmen of His Time,
Connoisseur, January 1964.

LAMBOURNE, Maureen, Birds of a Feather: Edward Lear and Elizabeth Gould,
Country Life, June 1964.

HOFER, Philip & THOMPSON, Randall, The Yonghy Bonghy Bò,
Harvard Library Bulletin, 15, 1967, pp. 229-37.

SCHÖNE, Annemarie, Edward Lears Nonsense-Balladen,
Neueren Sprachen, n.s., 18, 1969, pp. 268-77.

RICHARDSON, Johanna, Edward Lear: Man of Letters,
Ariel, I.4, 1969, pp. 18-28.

IZZO, Carlo, Introduzione to
Edward Lear, Il libro dei Nonsense, Torino, Einaudi, 1970, pp. vii-xxiii.

FINK, Guido, Lear, il 'nonsense' e l'epiteto 'differente',
Paragone, 259, 1970, pp. 155-61.

CHRISTOPHER, J.R., Three Notes on Edward Lear,
Unicorn, II.3, 1970, pp. 12-4.

GRAFFI, Milli, Edward Lear: una logica del nonsense,
Il verri, n.s., 1, 1971, pp. 114-30.

CHRISTOPHER, J.R., Two More Notes on Edward Lear,
Unicorn, III.1, 1971, pp. 12-4.

NEVE, Christopher, There was a Young Person of... Edward Lear's Birds,
Country Life, April 1972.

MILLER, Edmund, Two Approaches to Edward Lear's Songs,
Victorian Newsletter, 44, 1973, pp. 5-8.

MONOD, Silvère, Introduction to
Edward Lear, Nonsense Poems/Poèmes sans sens, Paris, Aubier-Flammarion, 1974, pp. 11-55.

BOUISSAC, Paul, Decoding Limericks: a Structuralist Approach,
Semiotica, 19, 1977, pp. 1-12.

HARK, Ina Rae, Edward Lear: Eccentricity and Victorian 'angst',
Victorian Poetry, 16, 1978, pp. 112-22.

EHRENPREIS, Anne Henry, Edward Lear Signs Tennyson's Songs,
Harvard Library Bulletin, 27, 1979, pp. 65-85.

ROBINSON, Fred Miller, Nonsense and Sadness in Donald Bartheleme and Edward Lear,
South Atlantic Quarterly, 80, 1981, pp. 164-176.

HARMON, William, Lear, Limericks, and Some Other Verse Forms,
Children's Literature: an International Journal. Annual of the Modern Language Association, 10, 1982, pp. 70-76.

BAKER, William, T.S. Eliot on Edward Lear: An Unnoted Attribution,
English Studies, 64, 1983, pp. 564-566.

COLLEY, Ann C., Edward Lear and Thomas Seddon: The Paradox of Inquiry,
Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies, 5.1, 1984, pp. 36-48.

BRUNI ROCCIA, Gioiella, Il problema del testo nel Book of Nonsense di Edward Lear,
Studi italiani di linguistica teorica e applicata, 14, 1985, pp. 239-87.

ORD, Priscilla, 'There was an Old Derry Down Derry, Who Loved to Make Little Folks Merry': A Closer Look at the Limericks of Edward Lear,
Literary Onomastics Studies, 12, 1985, pp. 93-118.

HEARN, Michael Patrick, How Pleasant Is It To Know Mr. Lear?,
American Book Collector, 7.1, 1986, pp. 21-27.

GALLUP, Donald C., Collecting Edward Lear,
Yale University Library Gazette, 61.3-4, 1986, pp. 125-142.

COLLEY, Ann C., Edward Lear and the Pre-Raphaelite Impossibility: Reflections on the Lear Exhibit: The National Academy of Design, New York, September 10-November 3, 1985,
Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies, 7.1, 1986, pp. 44-49.

GRASSI, Aldo Vittorio, L'universo nonsensico dei 'limerick' di Edward Lear,
Humanitas: Rivista di Cultura, 41, 1986, pp. 703-713.

HARK, Ina Rae, ed., Victorian Poetry: Special Issue in Honor of Edward Lear 1812-1888: Comic Verse,
Victorian Poetry, 26, 1988.

COLLEY, Ann C., Edward Lear's Limericks and the Reversals of Nonsense,
Victorian Poetry, 26, 1988, pp. 285-99.

COLLEY, Ann C., The Limerick and the Space of Metaphor,
Genre, 21, 1988, pp. 65-91.

HARK, Ina Rae, The Jew as Victorian Cultural Signifier: Illustrated by Edward Lear,
Bucknell Review: Journal of Letters, Arts and Sciences, 34, 1990, pp. 82-98.

SNIDER, Clifton, Victorian Trickster: A Jungian Consideration of Edward Lear's Nonsense Verse,
Psychological Perspectives (Journal for The C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles) No. 24, Spring- Summer 1991. [Revised online version, 2000]

COLLEY, Ann C., Edward Lear's Anti-Colonial Bestiary,
Victorian Poetry, 30, 1992, pp. 109-20.

OLSON KIRBY, Edward Lear: Deleuzian Landscape Painter,
Victorian Poetry, 31, 1993, pp. 347-362.

DILWORTH, Thomas, Society and the Self in the Limericks of Lear,
Review of English Studies, 45, 1994, pp. 42-62.

DILWORTH, Thomas, Edward Lear's Suicide Limerick,
Review of English Studies, 46, 1995, pp. 535-538.

STEMMLER, Theo, Edward Lears Zoo, in
STEMMLER, Theo and HORLACHER, Stefan (eds.), Sinn im Unsinn. Über Unsinndichtung vom Mittelalter bis zum 20. Jahrhundert,
Tübingen, Narr, 1997, pp. 71-86.

RIEDER, John, Edward Lear's Limericks,
Children's Literature, vol. 26, New Heaven, London, Yale University Press, 1998; pp. 47-60.


[Books] [Articles] [Nonsense]

Books and Articles on Nonsense

[In approximate chronological order]

(STRACHEY, Sir Edward), Nonsense as a Fine Art,
Quarterly Review, 167, 1888, pp. 335-65.

CAMMAERTS, Emile, The Poetry of Nonsense,
London, Routledge, 1925.

KENT, Muriel, The Art of Nonsense,
The Cornhill Magazine, 149, 1934, pp. 478-87.

PARTRIDGE, The Nonsense Words of Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll, in
Here, There and Everywhere, London, Hamish Hamilton, 1950, pp. 162-88.

SEWELL, Elizabeth, The Field of Nonsense,
London, Chatto & Windus, 1952.

FORSTER, Leonard, Poetry of Significant Nonsense,
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1962.

LIEDE, Alfred, Dichtung als Spiel. Studien zur Unsinnspoesie an den Grenzen der Sprache,
2 Bände, Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 1963, 1992.

DE BENEDETTI, Paolo, La letteratura nonsensica,
«Almanacco letterario Bompiani», 1966; now in Nonsense e altro, Milano, Scheiwiller, 2002, pp. 104-28.

SONSTROEM, David, Making Earnest of Game: G.M. Hopkins and Nonsense Poetry,
Modern Language Quarterly, 28, 1967, pp. 192-206.

SCHÖNE, Annemarie, Englische Nonsense- und Gruselballaden,
Göttingen, Vanderhoeck und Ruprecht, 1970.

PETZOLD, Dieter, Formen und Funktionen der englischen Nonsense-Dichtung im 19. Jahrhundert,
Erlanger Beiträge zur Sprach- und Kunstwissenschaft, Band 44, Nürnberg, Verlag Hans Carl, 1972.

ROTHER, James, Modernism and the Nonsense Style,
Contemporary Literature, 15, 1974, pp. 187-202.

ANGELI, Giovanna, Il mondo rovesciato,
Roma, Bulzoni, 1977.

SMITH, A.J.M., Nonsense Poetry and Romanticism, in
Waldmeyer, Joseph (ed), Essays in Honour of Russell B. Nye, Michigan University Press, 1978.

STEWART, Susan, Nonsense. Aspects of Intertextuality in Folklore and Literature,
Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979.

COHN LIVINGSTON, Myra, Nonsense Verse: The Complete Escape, in
Betsy Hearne and Marilyn Kaye eds.), Celebrating Children's Books,
New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1981; pp. 122-139.

KRETSCHMER, Ernst, Die Welt der Galgenlieder Christian Morgensterns und der Viktorianische Nonsense,
Berlin-New York, de Gruyter, 1983.

WOODEN, Warren W., The Water-Poet: A Pioneer of Children's Literature, in
ID., Children's Literature of the English Renaissance, edited by J. Watson, Lexington, The University Press of Kentucky, 1986, pp. 121-37.

TIGGES, Wim (ed.), Explorations in the Field of Nonsense,
Amsterdam, Rodopi, 1987.

TIGGES, Wim, An Anatomy of Literary Nonsense,
Amsterdam, Rodopi, 1988.

ANDERSON, Celia Catlett and APSELOFF, Marilyn Fain, Nonsense Literature for Children. Aesop to Seuss,
Hamden, Library Professional Publications, 1989.

PALUMBO, Angelica, Il Nonsense e la letteratura vittoriana per l'infanzia,
Genova, E.R.S.U., [1992].

LECERCLE, Jean-Jacques, Philosophy of Nonsense. The Intuitions of Victorian Nonsense Literature,
London, Routledge, 1994.

MALCOLM, Noel, The Origins of English Nonsense,
London, HarperCollins, 1997.

STEMMLER, Theo and HORLACHER, Stefan (eds.), Sinn im Unsinn. Über Unsinndichtung vom Mittelalter bis zum 20. Jahrhundert,
Tübingen, Narr, 1997.


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Edward Lear's Nonsense Poetry and Art

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