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.
