Victorian author and artist Edward Lear possessed "an odd, maybe a unique genius," wrote Roger Lancelyn Green in Tellers of Tales: British Authors of Children's Books from 1800 to 1964. Lear's nonsense verse and limericks, especially his classic The Owl and the Pussycat, are known all over the world and have influenced many artists and writers. Dictionary of Literary Biography contributor Celia Catlett Anderson asserted: "Lear's chief impact on children's literature is that, along with Lewis Carroll, he broke the didactic mold into which books for juveniles were poured. But the absence of didacticism does not imply a lack of meaning. Lear's cleverness at mixing and matching diverse elements, whether of language or emotions, is endlessly intriguing. Everyone has witnessed a crying child jollied back into laughter by some silly sight or sound. This is precisely Lear's approach to discontent."

Lear spent many years of his life wandering, mostly in...