Imaging my delight and surprise yesterday, when after a morning or recording and sketching notes from the original Alice in Wonderland pencil sketches by John Tenniel (with even a few rough sketches by Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Dodgson) I found out the Harvard’s collection of rare books and manuscripts included works by Edward Lear. 
While I didn’t get to see the Owl and Pusscat illustration on this visit, I did look through a wonderful collection of drawings for his 2nd book of nonsense. I was also give a copy of the Harvard Library Bulletin, special edition on the ‘Edward Lear collection at Harvard University’ (2011)
This collection is housed in the Houghton Library in Harvard Square. If you want to see some these amazing images check out the libraries webpage as they have scanned some of the work.http://www.hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/houghton/
I love the ‘Newt’ (below), while a lot of Lear’s book of nonsense poems have simple and often quite distorted characters, you can get a idea of what an accomplished illustrator Lear was form these alphabet book images. If you look at his work online, check out his watercolour works as well.
tonyflowersillustrator 