The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in Eight Fits.

CARROLL, Lewis. [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson].

Item Number: 127841

London: Macmillan and Co., 1876.

First edition, first issue of Carroll’s whimsical nonsense poem. Octavo, original publisher’s decorated cloth, all edges gilt, with nine illustrations by Henry Holiday. In near fine condition.

Written between 1874 and1876, The Hunting of the Snark borrows the setting, some creatures, and eight portmanteau words from Carroll's earlier poem "Jabberwocky" in his children's novel Through the Looking-Glass (1871). The plot follows a crew of ten trying to hunt the Snark, which may turn out to be a highly dangerous Boojum. The only one of the crew to find the Snark quickly vanishes, leading the narrator to explain that it was a Boojum after all. Carroll often denied knowing the meaning behind the poem; however, in an 1896 reply to one letter, he agreed with one interpretation of the poem as an allegory for the search for happiness. Henry Holiday, the illustrator of the poem, considered the poem a "tragedy".