Edward Lear

Edward Lear had an eye for landscapes and an ear for rhyme, but it was neither as a travel painter nor as a poet that he first displayed his prolific talent. Between 1832 – when he was just 20 – and 1838, Lear created 80 bird portraits for the naturalist and entrepreneur John Gould. For many, they are the world’s finest ornithological illustrations. David Attenborough’s complete collection, reproduced for the first time. Published to mark the bicentenary of Edward Lear’s birth. David Attenborough first saw one of Lear’s plates in the 1950s and was so struck by its precision and grace that he determined to collect them all. When the collection was complete, he had them encased in an original 19th-century leather binding. Now, to celebrate the bicentenary of Lear’s birth, Attenborough has kindly allowed us to reproduce the entire volume in facsimile. The majority of the plates are from The Birds of Europe, a vast publication issued in 22 parts between 1832 and 1837. The rest are from subsequent publications by Gould, including a volume devoted to the toucans. An imperial Folio edition crafted in the image of the great 19th-century bird books.

Illustrations of birds drawn for John Gould