About the poem

This object presents the short poem "There was an Old Man with a beard", published as part of Lear's 1846 collection, Book of Nonsense, as a children's pop-up book. The birds included in the edition call North America home, including the Horned Lark (the only Lark indigenous to the region), the Sedge Wren, and the Long-eared Owl.

As what we would today call a multidisciplinary artist, Lear's work often presented poems like this one in total, with original illustrations drawn by the author. Given the playfulness of his visual and writing styles, Lear's nonsense work enjoyed great success during his lifetime. Beyond not using the word "limerick" to describe his short nonsense poems, he also set them apart by ending them not by rhyming, but repeating the word that would have otherwise have been a rhyme (e.g. beard/.../beard).

The book contains the entire printed text of the short poem:

There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, "It is just as I feared!—
Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard.

About the object

"Lear's Beard" is published in an edition of 10 copies and distrbuted in a printed envelope. This edition uses papers by Canson and Pacon. The letters of the poem are hand-inked and laser-engraved. All of the parts that comprisde "Lear's Beard" were cut using a Rabbit RL-80-1290 at Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

About the artist

1812-1888, artist, illustrator, and writer known for work involving nonsense. Lear is perhaps best known for his limericks, though he never used that term to describe his short nonsensical poetry. His work in drawing and illustration ranged from the practical (illustrations of birds and travel) to illustrations accompanying his (and others') poetry. The illustration included as a photo for Lear is the drawing paired with the original publication of "There was an Old Man with a beard".