Gleanings from Knowsley Hall
John Edward Gray. Gleanings from the Menagerie and Aviary at Knowsley Hall. Liverpool: 1846.
Lord Stanley (after 1834 the thirteenth Earl of Derby) was a wealthy and influential landowner from northern England with a strong interest in natural history. As a member of the Linnean Society and president of the Zoological Society of London, he followed with keen interest in the scientific studies of his day. When he saw Edward Lear's magnificent book on parrots in 1832, he recognized Lear's talent as an artist and invited him to paint the birds and mammals in his private menagerie at Knowsley Hall (near Liverpool). Seventeen of the hundred or more paintings Lear made for Lord Derby were published in Gleaning from the Menagerie and Aviary at Knowsley Hall.
It is today one of the rarest and most sought after of Edward Lear's many publications. All 17 illustrations from this publication are presented Gleanings Gallery 1 and Gleanings Gallery 2.