# Is "A Book of Nonsense" by Edward Lear (as 'Derry down Derry') a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear (as 'Derry down Derry') (Thomas McLean, 1846) is identified by: Issued anonymously on 10 February 1846 under the pseudonym 'Derry down Derry,' not under Lear's own name.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Issued anonymously on 10 February 1846 under the pseudonym 'Derry down Derry,' not under Lear's own name
- The first edition is entirely lithographed — both text and pictures reproduced directly from Lear's own hand-lettering and drawing rather than typeset — and comprises seventy-two limericks printed on one side of the leaf only, bound in two separate oblong-octavo parts
- About 500 copies were printed
- Justin Schiller's 1988 bibliography Nonsensus located just twenty-three surviving copies, of which only eleven were complete, reflecting how rarely both parts survive together
- Publisher imprint reads Thomas McLean
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Edward Lear (as 'Derry down Derry') |
| Publisher | Thomas McLean |
| Year | 1846 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | Issued anonymously on 10 February 1846 under the pseudonym 'Derry down Derry,' not under Lear's own name |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Issued anonymously on 10 February 1846 under the pseudonym 'Derry down Derry,' not under Lear's own name. The first edition is entirely lithographed — both text and pictures reproduced directly from Lear's own hand-lettering and drawing rather than typeset — and comprises seventy-two limericks printed on one side of the leaf only, bound in two separate oblong-octavo parts. About 500 copies were printed. Justin Schiller's 1988 bibliography Nonsensus located just twenty-three surviving copies, of which only eleven were complete, reflecting how rarely both parts survive together.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The book most readers actually encounter is the enlarged 1861 edition published by Routledge, Warne & Routledge — typeset (letterpress) rather than lithographed, with wood-engraved rather than lithographed illustrations, expanded with additional limericks, and issued under Lear's own name rather than the 'Derry down Derry' pseudonym. It is a different, later book and should not be mistaken for the true 1846 first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Book of Nonsense* by Edward Lear (as 'Derry down Derry') a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-book-of-nonsense
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.