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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Typ 55.3

Edward Lear drawings for An original nonsense alphabet made for Miss Lushington

Overview

Original pen and ink drawings by Edward Lear, the English artist, illustrator, author and poet.

Dates

  • Creation: 1865

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.

Extent

.04 linear feet (1 volume)

The letters, one to a leaf of paper (33.5 x 20.5 cm., each), are illustrated with a pen and ink drawing and autograph manuscript lines of verse. The paper leaves are mounted on linen bifolia (with silk bound edges) sewn into a quire of 14 leaves. Each leaf is 39 x 26.5 cm. Date taken from watermark. Drawings are not published.

In a tray case (41 x 29 cm.) Title from tray case cover: An original nonsense alphabet : made for Miss Lushington (circa 1860).

Biographical / Historical

Edward Lear (1812-1888) is remembered primarily for his nonsense rhymes and limericks, but in his own lifetime he sought recognition as a landscape painter.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

42M-221. Gift of William B. Osgood Field, Westfield House, Lake Mohegan, New York; received: 1942 July 27.

Bibliography

See: W. B. O. Field, Edward Lear on my shelves (1933), page 262 for details.

Processing Information

Processed by: Hope Mayo, with the assistance of Bonnie B. Salt

Title
Lear, Edward, 1812-1888. Edward Lear drawings for An original nonsense alphabet made for Miss Lushington, ca. 1865: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou02428

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

Contact:
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