(Lear, Edward). A Book of Nonsense. By Derry Down Derry

London: Published by T. McLean, 1855. Second edition. Oblong 24mo. (72) ff. With 72 lithographed illustrations, each with a five-line limerick caption, printed on rectos only. Publisher's quarter green cloth over stiff printed pictorial grey wrappers, rubbing and light wear along extremities; all edges trimmed; illustrated book-plate of American mystery author Carolyn Wells on front paste-down, illustrated book-plate of Justin Schiller on same; front blank starting; in quarter morocco slip case and chemise.

Rare and beautiful copy in the original wrappers of the second edition of Edward Lear's beloved nonsense limericks, the only edition along with the practically unobtainable first to be fully printed in lithograph. For this edition, "Lear made new lithographic stones...which may be rarer than the first" (Gordon N. Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England from 1790 to 1914).

As Michael Twyman notes, the text in this edition was transferred from type, which, "was done so badly on some pages that the stones had to be retouched, in some instances to the extent that the whole words had to be hand-written on the stone. It may have been the use of the transfer process that led to the transposition of some of the limericks and drawings in this edition. Subsequent editions were printed letterpress and lost some of the delightful naivety of the original publication." (Early Lithographed Books (London, 1990, p. 194). Three limericks that appeared in the first edition and this second edition were later suppressed, and did not appear again until much later: "Old Man of Kildare" (ff. 72), "There was an Old Man of New York" (ff. 6), and "There was an Old Sailor of Compton" (ff. 56).

The first edition appeared in two volumes in 1846, with the limericks lithographed in three-lines, as opposed to the more standard five-line format as seen here. Both early lithographed editions are believed to have been printed in small editions of between only 250 and 500 copies (see Schiller, Nonsensus: Cross-Referencing Edward Lear's Original 116 Limericks with Eight Holograph Manuscripts...,1988). The first trade edition (third edition), was published in 1861.

Scarcely found at auction, and rarely seen in such beautiful condition and in original wrappers.

This lot is located in Philadelphia.

Provenance

From the collection of Justin G. Schiller

(Lear, Edward). A Book of Nonsense. By Derry Down Derry