“The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” has delighted generations of children, and this thoroughgoing picture book biography carefully documents the life of its author, Edward Lear (1812–1888).

Much childhoodâ and adultâ delight can be attributed to a certain Edward Lear who conjured up, among other beings, an old man with a beard that housed "Two Owls and a Hen, Four Larks and a ...