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.
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