Teapots and Quails, and Other New Nonsenses

“There was an old person of Brussels, Who lived upon Brandy and Mussels. When he rushed through the town, He knocked most people down, Which distressed all the people of Brussels.”

Edward Lear made limericks fashionable in the mid-19th century, entertaining children and adults alike with his clever illustrations and imagined characters, such as Teapots and Quails’ Scroobious Pip. Lear was the youngest of twenty-one children in his family, a fact that may explain his penchant for attention-getting nonsense words and invented creatures. Particularly interesting in this book is his “Flora Nonsensica,” such as his Fork Tree that never grows more than 463 feet in height.

The Smithsonian Library's copy of Teapots and Quails is a first edition of never-before-seen poems, published more than 60 years after the British author, illustrator, and poet's death.