Lear on Limbo
Journal of a Landscape Painter
on the Island of Limbo
The historic island of Limbo, off the north coast of Asia, was famed in ancient times as the place where the unbaptized were sent after death. Edward Lear, who as well as being a famous "nonsense" writer, was an indefatigable traveller and illustrator, visited Limbo in 1854, and wrote a journal of his travels. In unfortunate circumstances, his manuscript was lost, and presumed destroyed. Though he always planned to rewrite it, he never did so.
Lear's unorthodox departure from Limbo, resulting in his even more unorthodox arrival on the British commander's private yacht, it is now clear, was the main precipitating factor in the Crimean War.
In the days of sailing ships, few people ever managed to leave Limbo, because all prevailing winds converged on it. Due to those winds, the island was effectively isolated for thousands of years. Untouched by outside influences, the culture, the flora, and the fauna of Limbo were, when Lear visited, most unusual.
Following the Crimean War, the island was annexed by Russia. Though with the advent of steamships it had become possible to leave Limbo, visitors were banned, because of the island's strategic importance. This state of affairs continued when the communists took over in 1919. In fact, the island remained so closely guarded that, until very recently, it did not appear on most maps.
With the breakup of the USSR in the early 1990s, Limbo was racked by civil war, factional fighting, and insurrection. Now that the warring parties have reached an uneasy truce, the government of Limbo (currently renamed the Isle of Batrony) has plans to allow tourists to visit.
Another effect of the breakup of the USSR was the opening of the archives of the KGB (and its predecessors, NKVD, OGPU, and Okhrana) to the public. A descendant of one of Edward Lear's local guides, while searching the Okhrana archives in a quest to discover what became of his great-great-aunt, stumbled on the manuscript of Lear's journal, preserved in excellent condition.
As a result of this discovery, the journal is now published for the first time, complete with some of Lear's own rough sketches. Annotations by V. Xixonu, the discoverer of the manuscript, bring the content as up to date as can be expected in the circumstances.
The book - the only work on this country currently available in English - covers in detail the most famous phenomena of Limbo: the former concentration camp at the Bay of the Dead (currently being converted into a luxury resort), the peculiar fauna, the famous River of Jam, the jellified city, and the daily levitation of monks at the summit of Mount Oggodoggo, where the five winds meet.
In addition to its historic value, and its usefulness to travellers, this book will be of great interest to students of Edward Lear. Reading it, one realizes that much of what was regarded as Lear's "nonsense" had its roots in his summer on Limbo. Even the word "limerick," until now suspected (on flimsy evidence) to refer to a part of Ireland, is now revealed to be based on a folk-song from the eastern Coromandel coast.
Though Edward Lear published several of his travel journals - from Albania, Greece, and Corsica - all were carefully edited by him, removing any personal touches. The Limbo journal, presented in its candid entirety. will be of great interest to followers of Edward Lear (those who know of the Edward Lear Home Page, as well as an interesting revelation to historians of the Victorian era.
September 2006: The book is now finished, and can be read online, pending publication.
First epilogue: Edward Lear's responsibility for the Crimean War.
Second epilogue: Limbo after the Crimean War.
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