'The Owl and the Pussy-Cat,' 'Calico Pie' and 'The Pobble Who Has No Toes', together with Edward Lear's crazy limericks, have entertained adults and children alike for over 100 years. This edition, illustrated by the author, contains all the verse and stories of 'The Book of Nonsense', 'More Nonsense', 'Nonsense Songs, Nonsense Stories and Nonsense Alphabets' and 'Nonsense Cookery'. It has a biographical Preface by Lear himself, and concludes with some delightful "heraldic" sketches of his cat, Foss. AUTHOR The gravestone of Edward Lear (1812 - 1888) in an Italian cemetery reads simply 'Landscape Painter In Many Lands', and this echoed Lear's own view of his principal achievement. Posterity remembers him for inspired lunacy of his nonsense poetry, collected in 'A Book of Nonsense'.
