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INTRODUCTION

In offering this little book--the third of its kind--to the public, I am
glad to take the opportunity of recording the pleasure I have received at
the appreciation its predecessors have met with, as attested by their wide
circulation, and by the universally kind notices of them from the Press. To
have been the means of administering innocent mirth to thousands, may
surely be a just motive for satisfaction, and an excuse for grateful
expression.

At the same time, I am desirous of adding a few words as to the history of
the two previously published volumes, and more particularly of the first or
original "Book of Nonsense," relating to which many absurd reports have
crept into circulation, such as that it was the composition of the late
Lord Brougham, the late Earl of Derby, etc.; that the rhymes and pictures
are by different persons; or that the whole have a symbolical meaning,
etc.; whereas, every one of the Rhymes was composed by myself, and every
one of the Illustrations drawn by my own hand at the time the verses were
made. Moreover, in no portion of these Nonsense drawings have I ever
allowed any caricature of private or public persons to appear, and
throughout, more care than might be supposed has been given to make the
subjects incapable of misinterpretation: "Nonsense," pure and absolute,
having been my aim throughout.

As for the persistently absurd report of the late Earl of Derby being the