Lewis Carroll's Library - The Epping Hunt

From Lewis Carroll’s extensive library, this is his personal copy of Thomas Hood’s “ The Epping Hunt” illustrated with six very charming engravings on wood after Cruikshank. According to the pencilled note in Dodgson’s hand on the inside rear cover he acquired the book from W.Hutt’s catalogue, 1890 priced 15/-. A later booksellers’catalogue snipping is pasted to the inside front cover priced at 12/- stating “ Lewis Carroll’s copy”. The book is included in the published works on the library and is a first edition 1829, Charles Tilt, London. The Bristol bookseller who sold me the book in September 2009 had acquired it from the widow of an avid book collector of many subjects.

One of Twenty Blue Cloth Copies

This book is one of twenty specially bound copies of The Hunting of the Snark printed in 1876 by Macmillan for Dodgson to give away to friends. The dark blue cloth variant is usuallyinscribed by the author and a census of known copies has I gather been recently compiled . This copy is unusual in not being inscribed ( and therefore unspoilt!)

In September 2006 I searched ABE the book search engine, as I frequently did in those days and saw this book for sale as a first edition in very good condition. I was a little worried by the description – the cloth was blue and not beige as the first 10,000 copies were. Either the book had been coloured or dyed, or the bookseller was colour blind or….it was one of the special twenty copies. It took a few days to arrive from New Zealand ( the Snark being popular among the Maouri), a few seconds to unwrap and ….a moment of glory when one is forgiven for many previous extravagancies. I paid the going rate for a first edition of the 1876 Snark. A green cloth variant, uninscribed, in poorer condition than this fine copy, sold at auction in 2005 for a shade under £2000.

1866 Alice

My copy of the 1866 Alice purchased in 2006 after a sale in conversation with the late Dominic Winter. The book had not quite reached its’ reserve in the bidding and I bought it after the auction.

One of 4,000 of the second edition and probably one of the earlier 2,000 with pale blue endpapers. The other markers of a true 1866 Alice are present – 30 on pg.30 is preserved without a draw;  inverted S on the list of contents page ( In Chapter 12, Alice’s Evidence); mistake of pagination “ Pig and Pepper” pg. 76 should be 67, also on list of contents page. The book is taller than the later editions of this 6/- Alice. There has been some professional restoration with the original cloth re-backed. There is a contemporary cloth and slipcase.

Jabberwocky - Vansittart Pamphlet

Twas Brillig indeed to be the successful bidder for this copy of Vansittart's fine translation of Lewis Carroll's famous poem, tipped onto the front endpaper of a 10th thousand of Looking Glass. The book also had the ownership signature of William Warner, a contemporary of Dodgson at Christ Church, in the college purple ink.

An Early Lewis Carroll Puzzle

In The Monthly Packet of 1881 appeared, in Charlotte Yong’s periodical, a new puzzle devised by Mr Lewis Carroll, called Mischmasch. On the last page of Vol.1 (third series) appeared the seven rules. I bought a bound volume in 2005 for £10 on Ebay. This would I suspect keep a lot of people perfectly happy. However in 2006, the late Peter Howard of Serendipity Books in Berkeley California had an original for sale, a snip really at $1500, which needed a little TLC along part of the hinge and was restored for me by an archivist in York. It was printed in 1882 by the Oxford University Press, and not reprinted in this form. The word game apparently kept lots of Victorian folk very happy in the days before the internet and i-pads and Big Brother.

A Dodgson Pamphlet on Voting

Lewis Carroll wrote many works under his real name and this is one of his pamphlets on voting. He applied his mathematical expertise to several other subjects, tennis and politics to name but two. This pamphlet is in very nice condition, with a deletion in Dodgson’s hand of a word in the last line of pg 5. The pamphlet is a first ( and only) edition printed in Oxford in 1874 by the University printers. It came in a group of Carroll pamphlets from the same source as the Objections/Quadrangle pamphlet shown earlier here. A thing a collector might see or be offered once in a lifetime.

Bedtime Reading for Queen Victoria

After Alice was published in 1865 Dodgson’s next work was a mathematical piece called “Condensation of Determinants” , a work important enough in scientific circles to be published in the Proceedings of The Royal Society in 1866. The piece shown here is an offprint from this journal in rare plain paper covers. The well known story that Queen Victoria, being impressed by Alice, requested that Dodgson sent her a copy of his next work, referred to the Determinants of 1867 but in fact this piece came out first. Imagine how thrilled she would have been with either!

Wonderland and Looking Glass Quadrilles 1872

These two rather beautiful items are, once again, very hard to find although, being essentially sheet music, one might think they would be found in the piles of music in secondhand shops. The Wonderland Quadrilles, published by Robert Cocks and Co in 1872, have five magnificent lithographs by Alfred Concanen ( after John Tenniel) on the front cover and I complete . The Looking Glass Quadrilles have nine; the cover only present. They came to me when I made a post-auction enquiry. I certainly didn’t want a collection of 400 plus sheet musical items but I knew that these two items were in the single lot. I made an offer for the two items to the successful bidder of the lot ( in Phillip’s of Oxford) which was from the library of Eric Quayle, who wasn’t, thankfully, an Alice collector. The colours of the artwork are exquisite, as if printed yesterday.

Dodgson’s Objections against proposed alterations in the Great Quadrangle of Christ Church, Oxford 1873

Dated 16 May 1873, Dodgson had copies of this pamphlet privately printed, his protest at the changes proposed to the narrowing and lowering of the terrace and the substitution of a grass slope for the existing stone wall. He had also objected to the new double entrance to the cathedral and to the new belfry in other now famous pamphlets. His protest against a grass slope may have helped as the low wall in the quadrangle is still there today.

The piece is large, printed over 4 pages, pgs 2-3 numbered, and described in WMGC 95. It came to me via a bookseller in Berkeley, California who had a number of rare Dodgson pamphlets for sale and he in turn had bought them from a New York collector of all sorts of books.

This pamphlet is ultra-rare because of the low original print number and the ephemeral nature .A few private collectors have a copy, as do some public collections. 

Bumblebee Bogo’s Budget Presentation Copy from Lewis Carroll

In 1886 Dodgson helped a friend, William Webb Follett Synge in publishing a volume of children’s verse illustrated by another recent acquaintance, the artists Alice Havers. 500 copies of the first edition, in red cloth with a bees and bramble decorative gilt cover design, were published in 1887. Follett Synge ordered 25 to be gilt edged, 20 for his use and 5 for Dodgson’s use for presentation.

In November 2006 I was informed by Ebay that a book entitled “ Bumblebee Bogo’s Budget” was newly listed in an auction. I had several titles on my wants list for notification in this way. The listing described an attractive illustrated book of verse obviously written for children, with gilt edges and a very neat presentation inscription on the half title. No further details of this inscription were given or illustrated. I added it to my watch list and refreshed my knowledge of the book. The red cloth with gilt edges and presentation inscription meant the book was either presented by Follett Synge, or ( I could barely contain myself)  Dodgson. Five days  later I was  ready to put in my last minute bid and was successful – at a hammer price of £4.99. The book duly came on a Saturday morning and I gave it to my son and said, “Open this, it may be signed by Lewis Carroll!” I had a 1 in 5 chance. He opened it and started to say the words “Dorothy Furnifs…” and I jabbered “What colour is the ink? “ and he said “ Purple”. And it was – a wonderful white stone moment for a Lewis Carroll collector.

Presentation Copy of Doublets

Lewis Carroll presented a copy of Doublets inscribed to his child-friend Edith Miller. This book, a third edition, I bought at the Nicholas Falletta Sale at Christie’s in 2005 ( lot 78). I don’t have many inscribed presentation copies in the collection although many appear for sale ; again I suppose this is my predilection for the rare and unusual over the abundant. In terms of Dodgson’s handwriting I have preferred to have a few autograph letters and books from his library. This example of a presentation copy I chose for the lovely flowing inscription and flourish in purple ink. There is an ink stain on the front cover -  it was obviously used as a book of puzzles would be.

Presented by the Author for the Use of Sick Children

Lewis Carroll was a generous man and from time to time prepared copies of his books to be given away to hospitals for the use of sick children.

This book, in poor condition, was rescued from an auction and tells a story all of its’ own.

In July 1890 Lewis Carroll presented copies of his “Nursery Alice” printed in 1889 to hospitals. These are identified by a rectangular ink stamp at the top of the half title page saying “Presented by the Author for the Use of Sick Children July 1890”. The binding was a brown linen cloth and here a loop of string is perhaps a vestige of a tie on the ward. This 1889 printing was designed for an American first edition but the hospital copies, unlike the copies that went to America, did not have the 1889 title page replaced with an 1890 title page mounted on a stub (see Goodacre, Jabberwocky Summer 1994 pg.34).

This copy is brought alive by the graffiti and drawings of one Maud Amelia Spence aged 10, who was a patient in Cot No 16 on Louise Ward, Great Ormond Street in 1890. She seems to have taken ownership of the book and done everything except tear it to shreds – just as Dodgson himself said he intended for child readers of the Nursery Alice.

The book was acquired in July 2005 at Cheffins of Cambridge for £82. I thought it was rather special and touching.

Unusual Things in Unusual Places

In April 2006 Holloways of Banbury held an Antique Furniture Sale, which contained a single lot of a box of Lewis Carroll books. They all had one thing in common – they came from the estate of Sir Harold Hartley, the famous scientist and Lewis Carroll collector. One of the books was a People’s edition of Through the Looking Glass signed by John Tenniel; several had Hartley’s bookplate; there was a copy of the Bumpus special edition 1932 Lewis Carroll Centenary catalogue signed by all the executive committee; and others. The highlight was the two volume Parrish collection catalogue set with an original slipcase and a memoranda note, although not naming him, but to “you and all your family”. The set was numbered in red ink “10”, a low number signifying an important collector.

Shown in the pictures is Harold Hartley’s “The Pursuing Conscience” bookplate. It was a good find in an unusual sale. I found it using the search engine at www.the-saleroom.com using the search word Tenniel, because Carroll had been mis-spelt Carrol.

Charles Dodgson Senior

According to Lewis Carroll’s Diaries ( ed Edward Wakeling) Vol 1, pgs 16-17, the family had moved from Daresbury into Croft Rectory by February 1843 when Charles Dodgson Senior was presented to the living of Croft. Rev Charles Dodgson ( father of Lewis Carroll) had published various essays and sermons in pamphlet form and in The Carrollian issue 16 ( Autumn 2005) I describe two of these that I acquired , dating from around that period . Since then I have found two other CD senior pamphlets, shown in the pictures ; these are very rare and hard to find. They were often bound up in volumes and then sold as disbound items by booksellers.

Signed Association Copies

Just occasionally copies of books that are quite common bear important inscriptions. Always read the small print !  Here are three books written by Lewis Carroll’s nephew, Stuart Dodgson Collingwood ( son of Mary Dodgson) written at the time of Carroll’s death in 1898. One has a presentation inscription by Wilfred ( Carroll’s brother), the second bears M. Dodgson’s inscription ( either Mary or Margaret)  and the Lewis Carroll Picture Book is inscribed by the author to a Mrs Fuller, from the family home The Chestnuts in Guildford, with an autograph letter on the rear endpaper. The photograph shows four books ; the fourth contains an autograph third person letter by Dodgson himself dated 8 June 1884 in purple ink. This item I was very pleased to have because I already had a letter also by Dodgson dated 4 days earlier to the same bookseller Meehan of  Bath