FIRST EDITION, 428pp., map frontispiece, 20 tinted lithograph plates, tissue guards, publishers blue cloth, title in gilt to spine, Royal 8vo, London, Richard Bentley, 1851 Edward Lear describes the mysterious country of Albania “There is luxury and inconvenience on the one hand, liberty, hard living and filth on the other”.  In 1836 Edward Lear, the British poet and painter known for his absurd wit, decided to devote himself exclusively to landscape painting, leaving behind bird painting, from which he gained high recognition. Between 1837 and 1847 he travelled extensively throughout Europe and Asia.  Lear travelled to Albania on an originally unplanned journey. His initial route was blocked due to an outbreak of cholera. It was the British ambassador in Constantinople who managed to get the requisite papers for him to travel through what was then considered the wilds of the Ottoman Empire. The meticulous journals offer a unique insight into the Balkans in this period; the difficulties and romance of travelling in Albania - especially as an Englishman, visiting places never previously seen by foreigners; and the profound effect of the landscape and its people on the artist's mind. Starting from Salonica, he arrived in Monastir (Bitola) on 20 September 1848. From there, he continued on to Ohrid, Struga, Elbasan, Tirana, Kruja, Lezha and Shkodra, which he reached on 2nd October. After several days in Shkodra, he returned to Tirana and Durres and continued southwards to Berat (14-18 October), Ardenica, Apollonia, Vlora, the coast of Himara (21-30 October), Tepelena, Gjirokastra and on to Janina (5 November). He describes in detail the architecture, traditional costumes, the hundreds of pelicans of Zverneci, the strange fashion of women in Gjirokastra, and much more. After his return to England, Lear’s travel journals were published in several volumes as The Illustrated Travels of a Landscape Painter. Popular and respected in his day, Lear’s travel books have largely been ignored in the twentieth century. These Journals offer an intimate portrait of a wild yet captivating corner of Europe.