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Lewis Carroll. The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony, in Eight Fits. London: Macmillan and Co., 1876. First edition, first printing.
First edition, first printing of Lewis Carroll’s celebrated nonsense poem, illustrated with nine full-page illustrations by Henry Holiday. First-issue text with “Baker” on page 83, rather than the later “Butcher” reading. Includes the famous intentionally blank “Ocean-Chart.”
Bound in the original buff pictorial cloth, with Henry Holiday’s elaborate black-printed nautical design to the front cover and “It Was a Boojum” design to the rear. Original dark coated endpapers present. The nine illustrations are finely detailed and remain generally clean and well preserved.
Condition: A complete but binding-challenged example. Front board detached but present; backstrip substantially perished with portions of the original spine cloth remaining. Boards show considerable rubbing, soiling, edge wear, and areas of surface loss. Rear board remains attached with a weak hinge. Interior generally quite well preserved in comparison, with scattered foxing and occasional spotting, principally to preliminary and peripheral leaves. Text and illustrations remain clean and strongly printed overall. Original endpapers present, with separation along the front hinge associated with the detached board.
Despite the binding faults, an appealing and unrestored example retaining its original pictorial covers, considerably preferable for collection or conservation to a copy that has been rebound. An important first edition of one of Carroll’s best-known works, with the desirable first-printing textual point intact.
