
Luke Batterham
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Senior Valuer
Having been commissioned by Edward Smith Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby to record animals from his menagerie, Edward Lear spent long periods between 1831 and 1837 at Knowsley Hall, making drawings and watercolours of both animals and birds. The largest private zoological gardens in England, Knowsley occupied nearly 170 acres, with upwards of 1250 birds and 340 mammals at the time of the Earl's death. The seventeen plates in this volume comprise birds (9), mammals (7) and a turtle. See illustration overleaf.