The lithographs in this exhibit were reproduced from John Gould's The Birds of Europe and Birds of Edward Lear: a Selection of the Twelve Finest Bird Plates of the Artist, edited by Adrian Thorpe. These volumes are part of the holdings of Cornell University's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections.

The Ewell Sale Stewart Library at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia has a large collection of books containing Lear’s natural history illustrations. Forty-two of the plates from The Psittacidae and all seventeen plates from Gleanings are presented digitally on the Academy's website.

For further reading:

Chitty, Susan. That Singular Person Called Lear: A Biography of Edward Lear, Artist, Traveller, and Prince of Nonsense. New York: Atheneum, 1989.

Gould, John. The Birds of Europe. London: printed by R. and J. E. Taylor: published by the author, 1837.

Hyman, Susan; introduction by Philip Hofer. Edward Lear's Birds. New York: Morrow, 1980.

Lambourne, Maureen. The Art of Bird Illustration. New York: Knickerbocker Press, 1997.

Levi, Peter. Edward Lear: A biography. New York: Scribner, 1995.

Noakes, Vivien. Edward Lear, 1812-1888. New York: H.N. Abrams. 1986.

Noakes, Vivien. Edward Lear: The Life of a Wanderer. London: Collins, 1968

Noakes, Vivien, ed. Edward Lear: Selected Letters. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Pasquier, Roger F. and John Farrand, Jr.; foreword by Roger Tory Peterson. Masterpieces of Bird Art: 700 Years of Ornithological Illustration. New York: Abbeville Press, 1991.

Reade, Brian. Edward Lear’s Parrots. London: Duckworth, 1949.

Thorpe, Adrian, ed. Birds of Edward Lear: A Selection of the Twelve Finest Bird Plates of the Artist. London: Ariel Press, 1975.