THE LEWIS CARROLL SOCIETY

fioffiht Letter

OF NORTH AMERICA

NUMBER 45 Summer 1993

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New York Gathering Looks at New Opera, Old Photographs

On a warm, sunny afternoon some 42 (or so) Carrol Hans climbed past the somnolent lions guarding the Fifth Avenue stairs of the New York Public Library for our general meeting in the Trustees' Room. We love coming to the NYPL and this meeting was, as always, very ably arranged by our program coordinator, Janet Jurist. The curator of the Berg Collection, Mr. Frank Matson, heartily welcomed us to NYPL once again. In the space of a few moments he sketched for us the history of the Berg Collection from Dr. Albert Berg's initial bequest in the early 1940s. Like the great research library that NYPL itself is, the Berg Collection is actually made up of several collections formed and acquired by Dr. Berg. The three major collections constituting the Berg Collection contain 73 titles by Lewis Carroll and from them Mr. Matson had mounted for us an exhibition of some of the most famous Carroll books and interesting personal effects (including Lewis Carroll's own dice).

LCSNA president Charlie Lovett thanked Mr. Matson and NYPL for their welcome. Charlie summarized the main topics discussed at the earlier meeting of the LCSNA executive committee. Briefly, they are:

1) Progress on the Society's publication of the Lewis Carroll Pamphlets Series. The first volume, The Oxford Pamphlets, edited so ably by Edward Wakeling, was recently issued by the University Press of Virginia. The second volume, The Mathematical Pamphlets, edited by Prof. Fran Abeles, is in production; and the third volume, Games and Play, to be edited by Martin Gardner, is in process. The University Press of Virginia will continue to distribute the Pamphlet Series volumes but from now on the Society will be sole publisher rather than co-publisher. 2) Our Carroll Studies series will be continued. August Imholtz is investigating the publication of the lectures on Carroll recently

presented (mostly by LCSNA members) at the Smithsonian Institution. Several other publications were also suggested for what would essentially be a further experiment in desk-top publishing like the Society ' s recent edition of The Hunt- ing of the Snark illustrated by Jonathan Dixon.

3) Future meetings schedule and con- tent. Our Fall meeting will be at the Houghton Library of Harvard University on the morning of November 20. Details are on page 5. From June 9- 12, 1994, the Society will sponsor the Second Interna- tional Lewis Carroll Conference which will be held at the Graylyn Executive Conference Center in Winston-Salem, NC. There has been some concern on the

part of certain members of the Society (continued on page 2)

Carroll 's Photograph "St. George and the

Dragon, " and "Le Petit Nemrod, " by J. J.

Tissot. Two works of art compared by

Nancy Finlay at the Spring meeting.

Show and Tell

Those members attending the Spring meeting of the LCSNA in New York were delighted when Dr. Sandor Burstein agreed to share with us his most recent acquisition to his marvel- ous Carroll collection. Imagine our sur- prise when he withdrew from a bat- tered suitcase Alice Hargreaves' pi- ano-accordion.

Dr. Burstein was able to play a few notes on the instrument, which he brought to New York for repair. In spite of his inability to play "Santa Lucia," we could all imagine what a consolation the instrument must have been to Alice in her later years.

Editorial —

Go Forth & Multiply

Whenever I attend a LCSNA meeting, or pick up one of the Society's publications, I have to remind myself that this organization is completely supported by volunteers. We do not have the support of a university with graduate students and grants at our disposal. We are not funded by a government agency or a corporate foundation. Despite this, our society not only grows and flourishes, but it also consistently produces programs and pub- lications of a professional quality which are a tribute to both the members of the LCSNA and the man whom it honors.

With membership in a successful volun- teer organization comes a certain amount of responsibility, however. Our $20 or $50 per year (which we all try to remember to pay on time) supports this newsletter and the afore- mentioned meetings and publications, but there are other contributions that members can make to the Society. Many have given their time and expertise in planning pro- grams, or writing, editing, and producing publications; others have given funds to sup- port these programs. I speak here, however, to the ordinary member, who may be far from our meeting places, have a small income, and little knowledge of editing or printing. What can you do to help the Society?

In the past few years, our membership has steadily grown, recently topping the 400 mark. After many years of having around 300 members, we finally seem to have succeeded in growing. How did this happen? The LCSNA does not advertise on cable TV or in the New York Times. We advertise only one way — through you, our members. Each year, members recruit new members, and while a few old members may drop out, the balance has worked in our favor in the recent past.

It doesn't take a mathematician of Carroll's caliber to realize that if each mem- ber meets another fan of Alice and convinces him that it is worth $20 to receive this news- letter and suport research and publishing ef- forts which will increase our knowledge and appreciation of Carroll, the Society will double its size. While I don't expect such dramatic growth, I do encourage you to prostletize.

It is amazing how many Carroll enthusi- asts there are out there who have never heard of the LCSNA simply because we have never been on Donohue. Mention the Society to such a person and they are thrilled to join and find others who share their enthusiasm. So, please spread the word. By increasing our membership we can not only provide better and better programs and publications, we can also ensure our survival for years to come.

MEETING (continued from page 1) that our meetings may have become too much slanted toward the lighter side. We continue, however, to seek a mixture of intellectually stimulating talks and inter- esting presentations for our meetings, in keeping with the eclectic nature of our membership. Anyone with suggestions for speakers or other programming is asked to contact Janet Jurist, 510 East 86th St., NY, NY, 10028.

4) Finances. Our treasurer, Prof. Fran Abeles, reported that the Society is solvent. We have sufficient funds to cover the publication expense of the next Pamphlet Series volume and hope that income will cover the expenses of the remaining volumes.

5) Membership. The Society's mem- bership has increased to 410 individual and institutional members, although some have been rather slow in paying their dues.

6) Recognition of Professor Edward Guiliano. The president thanked Prof. Guiliano for his 18-year service as chair of the LCSNA publishing committee which under his hardworking and me- ticulous editorial leadership has issued an impressive series of scholarly publi- cations. Prof. Guiliano was presented with a gift by Charlie Lovett and he was warmly applauded by all. The president took this opportunity also to thank the other officers all of whom give so enthu- siastically to our undertakings.

And now for the program itself. We began with a presentation by a young American composer, Susan Botti. Ms. Botti explained a little about the nature and genesis of her chamber opera Wonderglass, which had its world pre- miere to enthusiastic reviews as part of the American Artists Series at Cranbrook in the Detroit area on February 2 1 , 1993. Ms. Botti has said that the opera is "as much about Lewis Carroll and the world he was coming from as it is about the Alice tales ... It is an exploration of the ageless territory of the imagination." Ms. Botti played a number of excerpts faith- fully recorded from the Detroit perfor- mance beginning with the prologue "Dreamscape" through the fall down the rabbit hole, the interrogation by the Cat- erpillar, the kitchen scene, and more, until the final "Farewell to Alice." Our

great thrill and enjoyment, however, was hearing Ms. Botti, herself a soprano with a wonderful voice, and three of her sing- ers, Sherman Ray Jacobs, David Frye, and nine-year-old Carly Baruh, sing Ms. Botti' s recreation of "Alice and the Cheshire Cat." All were splendid. We only wish that despite the wonders of teutonic audio-engineering we could have heard more of Ms. Botti' s voice and those of her singers whose facial acting expressions could not have better suited the work.

From the bright art of music we turned to the dark art of photography. Our next speaker, Professor Jeffrey Spear of New York University, presented a paper en- titled "Such Lovely Forms of Children: Charles Dodgson and the Eye of the Camera." While commenting on Carroll's long and expert interest in pho- tography, especially the photographing of little girls in only natural attire, Profes- sor Spear expressed the opinion that Carroll was pushing at the boundaries of morality in his time. By Spear' s reading of some of the posed photographs, with clothed and unclothed subjects, it is dif- ficult to accept Carroll's own protesta- tions of innocence on the subject of the "most beautiful thing God has made." Spear' s scatophilic interpretations raised a number of questions, but it seemed, at least to this listener, that the psychoana- lytic case still is not proven. Nonethe- less, Spear did offer some enlightening comments on composition of the photo- graphs and other topics such as Dodgson' s concern with time.

Dr. Nancy Finlay, formerly of the Houghton Library at Harvard and now on the staff of NYPL, gave us an intrigu- ing talk on Lewis Carroll's photographs and the paintings of J. J. Tissot. Finlay focused upon a number of Carroll' s pho- tographs in comparison with Tissot' s paintings which were very popular in English society during the 1860s and 1870s. She pointed out strikingly clear compositional similarities between some of Carroll's photographs and paintings like Tissot' s "Le Petit Nemrod." Carroll and Tissot knew and created studies of some of the same children in their re- spective media. Tissot was known to have "borrowed" arrangements from (continued on page 7)

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New Editions of Alice

Running Press, whose minitaure books have become regu- lar fixtures at bookstore counters across the nation, has finally added Alice to its list. Their edition of Alice in Wonderland is retold by David Blair and illustrated by Graham Evernden, whose credits include stamp designs for the British Royal Ma'l. The illustrations have a proponderence of orange and brown, not my favorites, and are not particularly original. They are unobjectionable, however, and if they do nothing to greatly enhance this edition, the overall effect is still charming. Blair does a good job of fitting the text into the limited space, editing rather than rewording so the spirit of the original is not lost. Buy several now and use them for stocking stuffers. ($4.95 at most bookstores).

The revived Everyman's Library is another series which includes Alice. In this case Carroll's story is one of the ten initial titles published in the series. Alice is illustrated by Tenniel — not surprising unless you recall that the Everyman's edition that went through many printings from 1929 until the late 1970s was illustrated with Lewis Carroll's own drawings from Alice 's Adventures Underground. ($1 2.95 at most book- stores).

Inspired by Carroll

Susan Sontag's new play, Alice in Bed, is described by its publisher, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, as a free dramatic fantasy based on a real person, Alice James, the brilliant sister of William and Henry James. In the play Alice James merges with the other great Alice of her period, the heroine of Carroll ' s Alice in Wonderland. A tea party is convened where Alice is counseled by Emily Dickenson and Margaret Fuller and by two exemplary angry women from the nineteenth-century stage. (Hardcover $25; paperback $12.00 in most bookstores).

Another fantasy which draws inspiration from Carroll is much less likely to be worth the read. Published by the vanity press Vantage Press, Cousins in Wonderland by Michael J. Williams is described as the story of five lost cousins who encounter incredible creatures in a magical forest fantasy. The book is for ages 6-11. ($7.95, from the publisher, 1-800-882- 3273).

Alice in the Art World

Archival Framing (1729 L Street, Sacramento, CA, 95814) presented a special exhibit honoring Lewis Carroll during August. The show featured works by over a dozen artists who were invited to interpret his many characters and stories visu- ally for this exhibition. A variety of media and styles were represented, from the surreal drawings of Robert Pengelly to

the colorful sculpture characters cre- ated by Miriam Davis. For further information call (916) 444-9624.

A series of Alice murals com- missioned by the WPA in 1936 will

be reunited at the Bronx Museum of the Arts on October 1 . Abram Champanier created sixteen seven foot tall panels for the children' s ward of New York' s Gouverneur Hospital on the theme of Alice in Wonderland in New York. In the series, Alice steps out of a book, flies over the East River bridges, rides the subway with her friends, and visits the Empire State Building, Central Park, and Coney Island. The Hospital which contained the murals closed in 1970, and the City of New York sold the building in 1981 with the stipulation that the murals be pre- served. Since then, the paintings have been removed, and five of them have been fully restored and distributed to area hospi- tals. These five will be displayed at the show "A New Deal for Public Art: Murals Commissioned by the Federal Work Programs of the 1930s and 1940s."

Fodder for the VCR

First, the bad news. Disney's series "Adventures in Won- derland" is now available on videotape, for $ 1 2.99 per episode. These means you can save the cost of subscribing to the Disney Channel and still see this show based on Carrollian characters. I recommend, however, that you also save $12.99 and skip the show. In spite of all its hype, its endorsement by various teacher organizations, and its winning of an Emmy Award, I've still yet to encounter anyone, grown-up or child, who finds this pro- gram even mildly entertaining. Insipid seems to be the general consensus.

If you are feeling surreal, try ordering Jan Svankmajer's film Alice from Critics Choice Video (P.O. Box 749, Itasca, IL, 60143-0749). For $59.95 plus $5.50 shipping and handling, you will receive probably the least watched and most imagina- tive Alice film ever made. Using techniques of stop-action animation and an eclectic collection of antique toys and strange settings, Svankmajer creates his own Wonderland that has the dreamlike quality Carroll portrayed in his book. Though certainly not for those who like to limit their entertainment to half-hour sitcoms, Alice is a film which will make you think, imagine, and dream.

Lucerne Media (37 Ground Pine Road, Morris Plains, NJ, 07950; 800-341-2293) offers three Carroll related videos, but you may have trouble obtaining personal copies, as they are intended for sale to schools and libraries only. The animated productions are Alice in Wonderland (26 minutes, $59.95), The Walrus and the Carpenter (6 minutes, $80), and The Hunting of the Snark (25 minutes, $295). That last price is not a misprint — now you know why the cost of education is so high!

Special Supplement:

Alice in the Age of Computers

In the past few years Alice has proliferated in electronic form. She has become available through on-line databases, in computer software programs, and on CD-ROM. Carroll collectors have also taken advantage of computers to keep track of their collections. Scholars of Carroll 's logic and mathematics have published articles discussing Carroll's own work as a precursor to the computer database, and there can be no doubt that many of Carroll's pamphlets are examples of early desktop publishing. With all this in mind, we offer a brief look into a Lewis Carroll database as an introduction to regular coverage of computer related topics. The 1994 International Lewis Carroll Conference will include not only a demonstration of the database, but also a panel discussion on the subject of Carroll and computers.

Saga of an Alician Database

by Joel Birenbaum

Although this is an article about an Alice in Wonderland database, I will try to make it a little less dry than the Mouse's rendition of William the Conqueror. If I fail in this valiant endeavor, please feel free to hose yourselves down at suitable intervals. When I first started collecting illustrated editions of Alice, I set out to get a first edition of every book listed in The Illustrators of Alice in Wonderland by Ovendon and Davis. After all, this was the source of all knowledge in this area. I was warned that this was a formidable task and one not to be taken lightly. That was 15 years ago and I'd like to repeat this warning to others with a similar pursuit. If such a warning deters you, you are a smarter person than I.

One thing I learned on my joyous journey is that there is no source of all knowledge for the collectors of Alice. This to me seems a correctable situation. All you have to do is list all the editions of Alice and keep it up to date. Once again I have been warned that that this is yet a more impossible task. To me this means I should be able to do it six times before breakfast.

How would Lewis Carroll have approached this job? He maintained a letter register of the thousands of letters he wrote noting date, addressee, and subject. He kept track of children he invited to dinner and what he served them. These are clearly examples of pre-electronic databases. Think of the number of disks this man would have filled had he been alive today. The answer was clear.

Now that the decision was made to create an all encompasing electronic Alice database, I decided to get some concensus on how to set it up. Needless to say, Carroll collectors were not quite ready for this upheaval. Most were quite content to stick with purple ink and paper. At the risk of seeming autocratic, I decided to create the database as I saw fit. Pioneers suffer from lack of input, but ah the freedom. So, if you have any complaints, please tell me where you were a year ago.

Get those hoses ready — we're going to get technical. The first matter was to choose a database program. I chose DBASE IV because it was widely used, ran on IBM compatible PCs, and I had a copy. The good news is that the files created by DBASE IV can be used by many other database programs. So far so good. The next matter was to design the structure of the database. Some of the decisions made were to preserve memory on my 20MB hard disk. Now that machines come with over 100MB hard disks, these decisions may seem overly con- strained. The other factor that entered into the equation was my

distaste for typing. For this reason, the three titles to be kept in the database, Alice, Looking-Glass, and the two combined in one volume, were abbreviated to one character each. Other fields added were illustrator, publisher (abbreviated four char- acter code), copyright date, edition date, reference number, and description field. The description field is a DBASE IV memo field, which means it is stored as an address to the data (is that running water I hear?). This allows the field to be variable length and saves memory. This would be done even in machines with 100MB disks. There are also a couple of binary flag fields for First Edition and also illustrated by Tenniel. These are fields with a value of yes or no. If the field is marked "Y" then the book is the first edition thus in one case and illustrated by Tenniel in the other. Can you imagine how many times I saved myself the trouble of typing "Tenniel, John"?

The reference field is a concept that is truly Carrollian. This is a sequentially allocated number that uniquely identifies the book described in the data record. What did he say? For example, there is a record that contains (illustrator) Robinson, Charles; (publisher) cass (for Cassels); (country of publication) Eng (I know this should be UK, but old habits die hard); (copyright date) 1907; (date of edition) 1907; (first edition thus) Y; (also illustrated by Tenniel) N; (reference number) 1 19; and (description) page dimensions, pagination, etc. The reference number, 119, is now effectively the name of this edition of Alice. It doesn't really matter how that number was chosen as long as it is unique (not also assigned to another data record) and never changes. Unlike Humpty Dumpty, this name doesn't tell you what shape the book is, but armed with the reference number and a copy of the database you can not only find the shape of the book, but the color, pagination, number of illustrations, and all manner of interesting dinstinguishing characteristics. I can now ask a fellow collector, "Do you have a copy of 1 19?" The question is totally unambiguous. True, it is less colorful than asking, "Do you have a copy of the first edition of Alice with the Charles Robinson illustrations?" But you won't get a question in return like this, "Is that the one with the blue cover or the brown cover?"

Another benefit of the reference field is that it allows each collector (with a PC) to set up a related database. I don't begin to believe that I have created a database that has all the information that everyone wants. I have created a database that has the basic information about each edition. The reference

field can be used to link the base database to a user's personal Alice database. For instance, your personal database can have information about books in your collection. It may have fields like condition, puchase date, purchase place, cost, and refer- ence number. By putting the same reference number as the edition has in the base database, you save yourself the pain of reentering the descriptive data already contained there. If you are the type of person who wants to keep track of what your books are worth, you can add fields for valuation date and value. This can be used for insurance purposes or for the pleasure of watching the value vs. cost ratio rise over the years.

The main reason that I created the Alice in Wonderland database is to allow a collector to identify any edition of Alice. The side benefits are that we can more easily carry on discus- sions about collections, particularly when this is being done intercontinentally. The database construct also allows reports to be written. That is, the data can be sorted any which way and printed. You can also filter the data for a report, so as to print all editions by one illustrator, or all editions by a publisher. This is a very useful tool. Best of all, you can do online searches. You can search the database based on one field or a combina- tion of fields. This allows you to find the record of a specific book instantaneously (well, very quickly).

I have also created similar databases for Alices illustrated by Tenniel only and editions of Alice in foreign languages. I still need much help in populating the latter. If anyone has a contact in a foreign country associated with the library or university or

just willing to do bibliographical research, please pass the information to Joel Birenbaum, 2486 Brunswick Circle, Woodridge, IL, 60517.

For those of you interested in statistics, there are currently 1430 editions illustrated by other than Tenniel, 1231 editions illustrated by Tenniel only, and 1266 editions in foreign lan- guages populated in the database. Whereas there was no precedence for the structure of the database, I am pleased to say that I am indebted to the bibliographers who have gone before me for a substantial start on the data. Data has been gleaned from Alice in Many Tongues, Alice One Hundred, Lewis Carroll at Texas, Lewis Carroll 's Alice: An Annotated Check- list of the Lovett Collection, and Much of a Muchness. My thanks also go to Jon Lindseth for providing me with a listing of his vast collection and Bea Sidaway for taking time to answer my many questions on his holdings. David and Maxine Schaefer have also kindly provided me with a list of their foreign translations. Thanks also go to the first brave users of the database, Mark Richards, Edward Wakeling, and August Imholtz. I would be remiss if I did not thank Alice Berkey, Sandor Burstein, Linda Pringle, and Selwyn Goodacre who have been a source of bibliographical information over the years.

If you would like to see the database in all its glory, it will be on display at the International Lewis Carroll Conference on June 11, 1994. There will be tutorials on how to use the database and how to create related databases.

Alice Software Keeps on Coming

Just as Carroll enthusiasts seem to be attracted to computers, computer experts are attracted to Carroll. Alice is now available in several electronic forms, in- cluding the previously reviewed Voy- ager Electronic Book version of The Annotated Alice, the complete text of the book on the Great Literature Personal Library Series CD-ROM, and several previously reviewed computer adven- ture games. While Alice's computer incarnations began with games, they have become more academic in nature with the availability of the text through online services, and the creation of Joel Birenbaum' s database fox Alice bibliog- raphy.

The latest piece of Alice software falls in the games category, however. Alice in Musicland, a new software pro- gram for the Macintosh available at most computer software outlets, has little to do with Lewis Carroll. A series of four games help children learn about music as they practice matching and memory skills. In each game, the illustrations of

Sir John Tenniel serve as a backdrop, and some of these illustrations have been crudely animated. The cleverest of these shows the White Rabbit disappearing down the long hallway as the computer

says "Goodbye" when the player quits a game. Completists will want to add this software to this collection, and their young children may enjoy playing the games, but the relationship to Carroll is minimal.

Fall Meeting in Boston

The Fall 1993 meeting of the LCSNA will be held at 10:00 am, Saturday No- vember 20, at the Houghton Library of Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. Regulars of LCSNA meetings should note the special time of this gathering, which will be followed by a luncheon at the Inn at Harvard. The program will include a talk by LCSNA member Rosella Howe, who will enlighten us about some of the treasures of the Harcourt Amory Collection of Carrolliana housed at Harvard. Fran Abeles, LCSNA trea- surer, will discuss her work on the soon to be published Mathematical Pamphlets of Lewis Carroll, and Glen Downey will present a talk titled "From Structural

Resynthesis to Structural Afirmation: An Examination of the Chess Problem in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking- Glass."

The Boston International Book Fair will also be held the weekend of our meeting, and program coordinator Janet Jurist will be doing her best to secure complimentary passes to the fair for So- ciety members. For those looking for accomodations, Janet has made special arrangements with the Hotel Eliot, which is conveniently located near the Book Fair and a short bus ride from Harvard. Reservations can be made by calling 617-267-1607.

See you in Boston!

Registrations for 1994 International Conference Now Being Accepted

Places at the 1994 International Lewis Carroll Conference may now be reserved by LCSN A members. Between now and November 1 , registration will be limited to current members of the LCSNA. There are only sixty spaces available, so we encourage you to register early to secure a spot.

The conference will be held at the Graylyn Conference Center of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. Graylyn is a former private estate which has been made into one of the nation's finest conference centers. The elegant stone manor house will be the sight of conference events, including gourmet meals, lectures and panel discussions, and films and other entertainment. For attendees who are able to find some free time in the busy conference schedule, Graylyn provides swimming, tennis, and even croquet facilities.

Many conference delegates will be housed in the manor home, while others will have rooms in nearby guest houses. All rooms include private baths. A limited number of special "antique rooms" are available. These rooms are furnished with beautiful antiques, and are slightly larger than the other rooms. Antique rooms are available for an additional $50 per night (or $75 per night for couples).

The Conference will begin on Thursday afternoon, June 9, 1994, and end on Sunday morning, June 12. The conference fee of $500 includes meals and snacks, room, programs, use of facilities, and even a 24 hour self serve ice cream bar. Alchoholic beverages are available at meals and some other times, and may

be charged to your room and paid for at check out.

The conference program is currently being planned, and will include lectures by some of the leading Carrollians in the world. While the theme of the conference is Lewis Carroll & America, presentations will by no means be limited to that topic. To provide a break from the serious academic nature of the conference, a variety of entertainments will be planned, including music, theatre, and film. Another conference high- light will be the third Lewis Carroll Auction. The conference will also include demonstrations of computers adapted for Carrollian uses, exhibitions, and a forum for collectors to buy, sell, trade, or just share their favorite items.

A variety of publications are being prepared for distribution at the conference, and when it is all over, the conference proceedings will be published and distributed to those who attended. Other will be able to purchase the proceedings for a small fee.

Don't miss this exciting opportunity to be part of Carrollian history and spend three days in a setting which would make Carroll's aristocratic friends feel right at home. The $100 pre- registration fee is non-refundable, and will reserve you a place as soon as it is received. Please indicate if you would like a regular or antique room. Antique rooms, as well as other conference places, will be awarded on a first come first serve basis, so we encourage you to register early to ensure that you won't miss this wonderful experience.

Second International Lewis Carroll Conference

Registration Form

Please reserve place(s) at the International Lewis Carroll Conference. I

understand that my registration fee is non-refundable and that the full price of the conference is $500.

Please reserve an antique room for

people. I understand that an additional

charge of $150 for one person or $225 for two people will be added to the basic cost of the conference for this room.

Name and Address:

Amount Enclosed ($100 per person)

Return to: Joel Birenbaum, Registration Coordinator, LC Conference, 2486 Brunswick Circle, Woodridge, IL, 60517

Carrollian Notes

Society to Hold Auction

A highlight of the 1994 International Conference (see opposite page) will be the third Lewis Carroll auction. Previ- ous auctions have raised over $4000 for the Society's publishing program, and proceeds from this auction will be used for that and to help finance the conference and its publications. It's not too early to think about contribut- ing items to next year's auction. In the past, members' contributions have in- cluded everything from editions of Alice (in English and many other languages) to works of art, collections of ephem- era, and other related materials. Alan Tannenbaum, current Vice-President of the LCSNA, will coordinate contri- butions to the auction, and we encour- age you to scour your closets for some- thing special to make this our best sale yet. Some members are even produc- ing crafts and original artworks to con- tribute to the auction. Bidding at the sale will not be limited to those attend- ing the conference — anyone may bid by mail — so plan to participate by con- tributing items now and adding new items to your collection later. All con- tributions are tax deductable to the extent allowed by law. Please send items to Alan at 2431 NE 46th St., Lighthouse Point, FL, 33064.

Fund Drive Underway

Recently Stan Marx, founder of the LCSNA and president of the Lewis Carroll Foundation, sent a letter to all LCSNA members asking them to con- tribute to the Foundation's effort to

raise funds for the Lewis Carroll Birthplace Trust in England. The Birthplace Trust hopes to establish a museum in the village of =^== Daresbury where Carroll was born in 1832. The Trust has been given two buildings, and is raising funds to convert them into a visitors' s center and library. Already the Trust has purchased the land on which the Old Parsonage, where Carroll was born, stood. The land has been prepared for tourists with fences, benches, and park- ing, and was dedicated on May 31. Many members of the LCSNA have already contributed to this worthy cause, and we encourage you to give what you can. Stan informs us that any gift, no matter how small, will be ap- preciated. We hope to be able to say that the American lovers of Lewis Carroll and Alice, both children and adults, helped to create this lasting memorial to this great author.

Barefoot Oysters Pop-Up

Nick Bantock has followed up his re- cent pop-up edition of "Jabberwocky" with a similar edition of "The Walrus and the Carpenter." The book is pub- lished by Viking and retails for $9.95.

Bantock's whimsical pop-ups work even better here than in his earlier Carrollian effort. The surreal qualities of some of his scenes reminded this reviewer of Tanguy and Magritte in their more lighthearted moments. One wonders, however, if Bantock has paid more attention to his artistic predeces- sors than to the text of the poem he illustrates. The very page on which Carroll informs us that the oysters "hadn't any feet" includes an illustra- tion of oysters with feet. Bantock's oysters, unlike Carroll's, however, do not have shoes.

MEETING (continued from page 2)

photographs, as Findlay showed, but the intriguing question of the direction of influence requires further exploration. To what extent did Lewis Carroll try to reproduce in his photographs the compo- sitional structure of famous or at least well-known paintings, and did Carroll's photographs influence painters like Tissot? We hope that she will be able to publish her results in this fascinating interdisciplinary field.

Following the meeting, most of those gathered adjourned to the home of Janet Jurist who served as hostess for a lovely party which gave us all time to renew old friendships and talk of Dodgson and other topics of importance. We thank our speak- ers, the NYPL, and Janet for a lovely day in New York.

book Lewis Carroll's Alice ^ L *-* '-' L ^-^ ^J ill.

was published, expert bibli- ""*^™^ ographer Hilda Bohem wrote me a kind note in which she pointed out that I had mis-identified the true first edition of Through the Looking-Glass. Ms. Bohem' s superb article in Jabberwocky, which chronicled her investigation of the early printing history of this title, proved that the book was published in America before the London edition was issued, and therefore only the first American edition should be called the "First Edition." I promised Ms. Bohem an errata slip to correct this and other errors, but never managed to get one printed. I mention all this not only to publicly set the record straight about this book, but also to make a point about bibliogra- phy. It can be frought with inertia, and it is sometimes difficult to overcome the accumulated mistakes of decades of reference books with one superbly written article, especially when the only outlets for such articles are relatively obscure journals. Kudos to Ms. Bohem for reminding us all not to ignore the right answer for the more widely published one.

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Another Carrollian ski area has been sighted, this one at Winter Park, CO. Trails are named after characters from the Alice books from the easy slopes such as March Hare and Mock Turtle, to the advanced run, Cheshire Cat, which curves in the shape of a large grin.

The New Ink Festival of the San Fran- cisco Symphony played LCSNA mem- ber David Del Tredici' s "Virtuoso Alice" on April 17th.

SPymagazineforMay 1 993 printed what was supposed to be a humorous compari- son between Alice Liddell and Katie Beers (the child who was kidnapped and imprisoned by a family friend on Long Island recently). We were not amused.

Fritz and Floyd have produced a series of Alice in Wonderland porcelain pieces. Included are a Queen of Hearts cookie jar ($135), Mad Tea Party tea pot ($95), Tweedles salt and pepper shakers ($25) plus 14 other pieces. Find a dealer near you by calling 1-800-527-5211; order from Pass the Salt and Pepper, 3337 N. Broadway, Chicago, IL, 60657 and pos- sibly receive a 20% discount negotiated by LCSNA member Joel Birenbaum; or see the Potpourri catalogue for Spring 1993 which has several of the pieces pictured on the front and back cover.

Barbara Raheb (31032 Elizabeth Ct., Agoura Hills, C A, 91301) publishes min- iature books and has the following Carroll titles in print: AAIW, $30; TTLG, $35; Snark, $24; Selected Poems, $25; and an upcoming Walrus and Carpenter pop- up. Shipping is $2.50.

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Peake Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Winter 1992), contains Gavin O'Keefe's "A Snark from Sark: Mervyn Peake' s Illus- trations for Lewis Carroll's Hunting of the Snark." Copies of the publication of the Peake Society may be ordered from G. Peter Winnington, Les 3 Chasseurs, 1413 ORZENS, Vaud, Switzerland.

Curiouser and Curiouser, Reflections on Alice by the Occidental Community Choir is a charming musical cassette tape. For information write to the Choir at P.O. Box 691, Occidental, CA, 95465. A mixture of classical Alice and contempo- rary comments (e.g. "There are So Many Mad Hatters," reflects on the Washing- ton, D.C. scene, the Rodney King trials, and so on).

In the book Peppers: A Story of Hot Pursuits, by Amal Naj, Dr. Irwin Ziment defends the actions of the cook in AAIW, claiming that pepper in chicken soup makes for an excellent treatment for the common cold. Perhaps the baby was just a little congested.

A current exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York titled "The Waking of Dream," features photographs from the Gilman Paper Company Col- lection, including a copy of Lewis Carroll' s famous portrait of Alice Liddell as beggar maid. The New Yorker said of Carroll's photograph and one by Hugh Diamond Welsh that they are "so charged with the currents that lay below [Victo- rian England's] surface that it's hard to stop looking."

Boston' s Museum of Fine Arts, P.O. Box 1 044, Boston, MA, 02 1 20-0900, offers a double-sided costume for $45 (reduced). By a flip of the hood Alice becomes the White Rabbit. Two sizes, 2-5 & 6-8. Phone orders, 1-800-225-5592.

The March 1993 issue of Smithsonian Magazine includes an article on topiary art starting on page 100. Several photo- graphs of the Wonderland garden at Longwood, Lennet Square, PA, are re- produced, including a full page image of a frog footman and several smaller pic- tures.

The Arena Players in East Farmingdale, NY, presented the world premiere of Ron Mark's new play, Satan in Wonder- land, this past February and March on their Main Stage. In the play, a woman unlocks the horrors of her childhood (she was kidnapped and abused by a Satanic cult) using Alice in Wonderland as the key. There is much about transformation taken from Carroll's book, and much about abuse as well. The New York Times' printed a favorable review, while Newsday's critic was apparently unimpressed. Running at the same time at the Arena Players' Second Stage next door was a production of Alice in Won- derland for children. Newsday points out that "there are no subliminal satanic messages in this children's theater pro- duction."

Mervyn' s Department stores in Califor- nia sell Alice boxer shorts for about $20. They are silk, made in China, and show Alician figures dancing about a blue- black background.

For assistance in preparing this issue we would like to thank: Joel Birenbaum, Gary Brockman, Sandor Burstein, Nancy Finlay, Johanna Hurwitz, August Imholtz, Vito Lanza, Stephanie Lovett, Lucille Posner, Princeton University Library for permission to reprint the photographs on page 1, and David and Maxine Shaefer.

Knight Letter is the official newsletter of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America. It is published quarterly and is distributed free to all members. Subscriptions, business correspondence, and inquiries should be addressed to the Secretary, LCSNA, 617 Rockford Road, Silver Spring, Maryland, 20902. Annual membership dues are $20 (regular) & $50 (sustaining). Submissions and editorial correspondence should be sent to the Editor, Charles C. Lovett, 10714 W. 128th Ct., Overland Park, KS, 66213.

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