Edward Lear

English author, poet, painter, and traveler. Born in London in 1812, he passed away in San Remo, Italy, in 1888. He was of Danish descent. At the age of 19, while working as an employee of the Zoological Society of London, he created one of the first illustrated books published on birds and animals ("The Family of the Psittacidae", 1832). However, Lear became more widely known for his illustrated books featuring humorous poems and stories (limericks), including "A Book of Nonsense" (1846), "Nonsense Songs" (1871), "Laughable Lyrics" (1877), among others. After 1840, Lear devoted considerable time to landscape painting, traveling to Mediterranean countries and periodically publishing illustrated books with his travel impressions. The first book in this series was dedicated to Rome and its surroundings, followed by portraits of Greece, Albania, and the Ionian Islands. At the age of 52, in 1864, he decided to visit Crete for health reasons. The result of this journey was his famous "Cretan Journal".