THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK. An Agony, in Eight Fits.
With Nine Illustrations by Henry Holiday. London: Macmillan and Co., 1876. Original buff cloth pictorially decorated in black, all page edges gilt.
First Edition of this poetical nonsense tale, both funny and subtle, that "describes with infinite humour the impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature" [WM&G]. The crew consists of a Bellman, a Bonnet-Maker, a Barrister, a Broker, a Billiard-Maker, a Banker, a Butcher, a Baker, a Beaver and (the only one not illustrated) "a Boots." In his dedicatory verse to Gertrude Chataway, Carroll hid the child's name twice.
This is a very good-plus copy: as usual with these flexible boards, there is bubbling of the cloth, but there is little soil or wear other than some dirty-fingers on a few pages; the dark green-coated endpapers are intact. Williams Madan & Green 115. Item #15873
Price: $775.00