The Hunting of the Snark (Presentation Copy) by Carroll, Lewis [Charles Dodgson] - 1876

London: Macmillan and Co, 1876. First edition. Near Fine. One of approximately 100 copies in the publisher's deluxe binding of red cloth issued for presentation; the present was inscribed by Carroll two days after publication. Full gilt illustration on the front cover, all page edges gilt, dark blue end papers, Burn bindery ticket on the rear paste-down. In pleasing Near Fine condition overall, with just a touch of toning to the spine and gentle wear to extremities. Front hinge tender but holding. Complete with all nine illustrations by Henry Holiday. With misprint "Baker" not "Butcher" on p. 83 (also found in later printings). Inscribed by Carroll on the half title: "Mary Evans from the Author. March 31, 1876" (2 days after the publication date). This copy last appeared on the market in 1938 at the Parke-Bernet Galleries sale in New York. Housed in a custom half morocco case with chemise.

"Although best known as the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871), Lewis Carroll...was also an avid reader and writer of poetry. He greatly enjoyed the poems of the Victorian writers Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Christina Rossetti. His own poems were varied -- some humorous nonsense, some filled with hidden meanings, and some serious poems about love and life...[Snark] stands out from all the other poems that Carroll wrote. It has inspired parodies, continuations, musical adaptations, and a wide variety of interpretations...Carroll originally intended it as a set of verses to be included in another of his children's stories, but it grew too long and became a book in its own right...Although issued in a pictorial buff coloured cloth, he had copies bound in red, blue, green, and white cloth, all with gold decorations, to give away to his friends and family" (Wakeling). The present copy is one of these, bound in striking red and gilt. Near Fine.