Chapter I: Front Matter

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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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