Description:

Gray, John Edward & Edward Lear (Illustrator)
Gleanings from the Menagerie and Aviary at Knowsley Hall, Knowsley Hall, [printed for private distribution], 1846,  one of only 100 copies printed folio (22 x 15 in.), 3/4 leather, with gilt lettering, with 17 hand-colored lithographed plates, heightened with gum arabic, after Edward Lear, 16 by J.W. Moore, one by D. Mitchell, printed by Hullmandel & Walton.


Note:  Edward Lear's fine drawings of the menagerie at Knowsley near Liverpool were commissioned by Edward Smith Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby (1775-1851). Lear first came to Knowsley in the summer of 1832 as a young man of 20, and his time there was one of the happiest of his life; the drawings and rhymes he produced for the Stanley children were later to become his Nonsense books. The 'Stanley Crane', illustrated on plate 14, was named after Lear's patron. All the plates, which include 9 birds, were unusual in being drawn from life. J. E. Gray of the British Museum provided descriptions of the species. Anker 189; Fine Bird Books p. 79; Nissen IVB 392; Wood p. 368; Zimmer p. 273.

  • Condition: Some minor abrasions to boards; interior tight; plates very good with occasional foxing; one tissue guard with some chipping to lower edge; some very minor edge nicks to plates.

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January 24, 2025 11:00 AM CST
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