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THE LEWIS CARROLL

SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA

NUMBER 49 SPRING 1995

Celebration and Reflection at the Twentieth Anniversary Meeting

On Saturday, November 12, 1994, after a delightful lunch in most convivial company at the Nassau Inn, some sixty members and guests walked across the Princeton cam- pus to McCormack Hall for the twentieth anniversary meet- ing of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America. It was on January 1 2, 1 974, at the same Nassau Inn, that Stan Marx had gathered together the following people to help him in the founding of our society: Alice Berkey, Morton Cohen, Doris Frohnsdorff, Martin Gardner, Edward Guiliano, Michael Hearn, Joyce Hines, Florence Lennon, David Schaefer, Maxine Schaefer, Justin Schiller, Elizabeth Sewell, Alexander Wainwright, and Raymond Wapner. From that first fifteen, the society has grown to an international mem- bership of almost 400; has published a distinguished series of scholarly editions, chapbooks, and newsletters; and has met semi-annually across North America from New York to San Francisco and from Toronto, Canada, to Austin, Texas. At the center of all of these activities, or at least not very far removed from them, remained Stan Marx. Although there was much excitement about our twentieth-anniversary meet- ing, enthusiasm for the on-going Lewis Carroll pamphlets publishing project (which Stan had directed) and the new Alice database among many other things, the recent death of Stan Marx on July 13, 1994, tempered our joy. The fact that we were meeting again at Princeton af- ter twenty very successful years was itself a tribute to Stan Marx. At the tenth anniversary meeting, also held at Princeton, Stan had given a talk en- titled "There's glory for you." Of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America I think it could be said "There's glory for Stan Marx."

Dr. Stephen Ferguson, Assis- tant Librarian for Rare Books, wel- comed us back to Princeton and en- couraged us all to visit the exhibit of Carroll materials from the Parrish

by A ugust Imholtz

Collection that Dr. Alexander Wainwright of the Firestone Library had mounted in the lobby. Outgoing president Charlie Lovett thanked Dr. Ferguson and Princeton for their won- derful hospitality, and also acknowledged our superb pro- gram coordinator, Janet Jurist, for arranging the meeting. He then requested a moment of silence in honor of Stan Marx before introducing former LCSNA President Professor Ed- ward Guiliano who wished to say a few words, in a moving tribute to Stan, Ed recalled how he, while still in graduate school, first met Stan through Anne Clark in England, and then focused his remarks on Stan's generosity to all those whom he happened to meet. He said that he had learned much from Stan about poetry, literature, and books, but most of all about livingwell. The memory of asimple hamburger lunch with Stan in Union Square in New York City encapsu- lated for Ed the joy of living that Stan brought to everything he did.

John Wilcox-Baker had come to the Princeton meet- ing from England and spoke for all in Great Britain who knew and loved Stan Marx. John fondly recalled the warm welcome with which he was received by the Marxes when he first visited their home in Roslyn, New York, in connection with the work of raising funds for the Lewis Carroll Birthplace Trust. With a qua- vering voice John quoted the last sen- tence of Charlie Lovett 's Knight Let- ter (#47) tribute to Stan Marx: "I know that all who knew him will agree that this world is a good deal richer for Stan Marx having been here, and poorer today for his depar- ture."

Before introducing the first speaker on our program. Charlie dis- tributed a Twentieth Anniversary Meeting keepsake, a fine reprinting of Stan Marx's Shaw Alphabet "Jabberwocky" and announced the formation of a Stan Marx Memorial

Twentieth Anniversary (continued from page i)

Fund Committee to determine the kind of outreach programs to be undertaken in memory of Stan Marx. Further details will appear in forthcoming issues of The Knight Letter.

Our first speaker, Dr. Edvige Giunta of Union Col- lege, has supplied us with the following abstract of her fas- cinating and ground-breaking talk, "Wonderland Wanderlads: Lewis Carroll through James Joyce's Looking Glosses". Joyce's letters establish his first reading of Carroll as occurring in 1927, by which time Joyce had published all his works and had been working on Finnegans Wake for a few years. Joyce's claim has led critics to regard the Carrollian materials as a later addition to "Work in Progress." However, the intricate biographi- cal/literary connections between the two authors, and Carroll's pervasive role in the "Circe" chap- ter of Ulysses, completed in 1921, complicate the history of their relationship, compelling the reader to be wary of accept- ing the seemingly uncompli- cated account provided by Joyce and readily accepted by his critics. Unlike Homer, Shakespeare and Dante, who massively dominate the pan- orama of Ulysses, Lewis Car- roll represents an almost clan- destine presence in "Circe," the chapter Joyce chose to depict the descent into the uncon- scious, the "rabbit-hole" of Ulysses. Bloom's connection to Carroll, and HCE's connec- tion to both Bloom and Carroll - specifically his stutter, his sleepwalking, his somniloquy, and his attraction to young girls - trace the be- ginning of Joyce's use of Carroll to the years of the composition of Ulysses. In his letters, Joyce chose to misrepresent this reading of Carroll as "bits and scraps" he had only "heard." Instead, as he delved deep into the biography of Carroll and into his writings - long before 1927 - Joyce discovered connections between himself and Carroll that enabled him to transform Carroll into another of his "counterparts," a layer of his palimpsestic and protean literary persona. His elaborate disguise of the date of his "meeting" with Carroll elucidates his attitude towards and redefinition of the literary allusion, and his self- mocking interrogation of the relationship be- tween author and literary precursor which this notion of allusion entails. Joyce thus establishes the allusive game as a complicated intertextual

Bloom's connection to Carroll, and HCE's connection to both Bloom and Carroll — specifically his stutter, his sleepwalk- ing, his somniloquy, and his attraction to young girls — trace the begin- ning of Joyce's use of Carroll to the years of the composition of Ulysses.

exchange that shatters hierarchical distinctions between high and low genres, great and minor authors, imitated and imitator, life and fiction. Rather than striving to assert his originality, Joyce constructs his relationship to Carroll as a narrative in itself, a secret textual event embed- ded in the larger Joycean narrative, meant to function as yet another puzzle to keep "the pro- fessors busy."

We were very fortunate to hear the poet Nina Cassian as our second speaker. She is the author of over fifty books in both her native Romanian and English, as well as a com- poser of chamber music, critic, and translator into Roma- nian of authors from Shakespeare to Mayakovsky. Before reciting, almost acting, her marvelous sounding Romanian "Jabberwocky," she explained how she herself has at vari- ous times in her life identified with Alice in the Pool of Tears, or in being watched by Playing Cards, and how she has set out to traverse a very long dream of her own. She even invented her own language whose name comes from a Romanian root meaning "to break." Placing Lewis Carroll firmly in {he avant-garde tradition stretching from Villon and Shakespeare to lonesco, she also discussed the influences on her own writing and attitude to lan- guage, and acknowledged the in- fluence of the Romaian mathema- tician and poet Ion Barbu. "BtzdTbocul," her version of "Jabberwocky" was published af- ter a long delay in the journal Secolul 20 (July 1991). It begins: "Dadeau in plopot ^opi asprili / Trombind, bor^ind prin ierboteci..." and although not many of us in the audience could understand Roma- nian, all agreed that Nina Cassian had captured something very much of the spirit of "Jabberwocky" which clearly was not lost in translation.

After a brief break, Charlie rapidly led us through the business portion of the meeting. He summarized the state of the society, our financial position, publications schedule, and forthcoming meetings. The slate of nominated officers: presi- dent, Joel Birenbaum; vice president, Rosella Howe; trea- surer, Francine Abeles; and directors August Imholtz, Ellie Luchinsky, Kay Rossman, and Stephanie Stoffel was pre- sented and all were duly elected. Our retiring secretary, Maxine Schaefer, who for the past twenty years has been the only secretary the society has ever had, was praised by Charlie Lovett for her unstinting dedication to the society. A small part of her task had been answering thousands of letters. In recognition for her selfless work, Charlie presented Maxine with a custom-designed Dormouse teapot as a token of the

continued on page 5

Society Welcomes New Officers

One of the aims of this society is to promote the min- gling of people as well as ideas, in keeping with that, the following brief statements will serve as "How d'ye do's" to introduce our new president, secretary, and editor.

For those of you who haven't heard yet, 1, Joel Birenbaum, am the new president of the LCSNA. 1 imagine that up until a few years ago most of you would not have recognized my name. Before that 1 had attended meetings on and off (more off than on)^ read my Knight Letter reli- giously, and occasionally sent some tidbit in to the editor. In the last few years I have written many articles for the KL (last issue's was exceedingly long), curated an Alice exhibit at the Newberry Library, cre- ated a bibliographical data- base of all editions of /\//ce '5 Adventures in Wonderland (a work by its nature always in progress), discovered a possible origin of the Cheshire Cat, was a member of the International Lewis Carroll Conference commit- tee, and led a tour of East Coast Carroll holdings for foreign visitors.

So, what's the point? The point is that I under- stand that most members of the Society are content to remain in the background and participate passively. I believe that this is a part of

any organization's group dynamic, but, due to the geographic dispersion of our organization, this is even more pronounced. For this reason it is critical that our newsletter provide the link that ties us all together. For many members the KL is the ONLY link to the Society. 1 am confident that our new editor will provide a newsletter that is both informative and enjoy- able.

Let me share with you some thoughts about the LCSNA. The LCSNA is first and foremost a literary society whose objective is to further the study of Carroll and bring to the public a greater awareness of his accomplishments. There has been some concern that if we are not careful, we will turn into a fan club. In fact the LCSNA has been re- ferred to in these terms in a couple of articles. As every edu- cated person knows, this does not make it true. On the other hand, is being a fan of Lewis Carroll such a bad thing? If this means that you are enthusiastic about his work in gen- eral or one work in particular, I think not. There is room for both scholars and fans in the LCSNA, as long as we don't lose focus of what the Society's purpose is.

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From Stan Marx's translation oU abberwocky into the Shaw Alphabet

1 am not a Lewis Carroll scholar. I came to the Society because of my interest in collecting illustrated editions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and my desire to meet others with similar interests. I am pleased to say that the LCSNA has filled this need beyond my greatest expecta- tions. I have made lifelong friends around the globe through this pursuit. Although this is not the primary purpose of the Society, it is certainly a welcome side benefit. So, I will leave scholarly work to those more qualified. What 1 hope to bring to the position of president is a non-Alician, but very Carrollian, sense of order. I will be an administrator. That means others will have to do the hard work. We as an organi- zation will set goals and I will do all in my power to see that we reach those goals.

My predecessor, with the help of the board and membership, has kept us on the path of scholarly accom- plishments that was started by our first president, the late Stan Marx. Our publica- tions have consistently been of a high quality and we are in the midst of a very impor- tant project to publish all the pamphlets of Charles Dodgson. To date we have published two volumes and are doing well enough finan- cially to continue with the next volume. I am pleased to announce that Charlie Lovett has agreed to be the chairman of the publications committee. I am certain that he will main- tain a level of quality that will be a source of pride to us all and will serve to enhance our reputation in the literary com- munity.

At the Spring meeting, in turning over the virtual gavel, Charlie Lovett presented me with a challenge — to bring a new and younger generation of Carrollians into the Society. 1 will accept the challenge most gladly. I agree that this is an absolute necessity if the Society is to thrive into the next century. Aside from that, 1 love a challenge. I feel there is a timeless quality to Lewis Carroll that has, and will surely attract every generation. We simply have to make it known that we are here and ready to share current ideas and to en- tertain new ones.

I welcome all suggestions, criticisms, and lavish praise from our members. Write me at 2765 Shellingham Drive, Lisle IL 60532, call me at (708) 964-1413, or e-mail me at joel.birenbaum(aatt.com. At the very least, I will be acces- sible.

continued on page 5

Alice's Adventures in Cyberspace

by Joel Birenbaum

The Lewis Carroll Home Page is now an official stop on the Information Highway. I assume that many of you are unfamiliar with the structure of the electronic community, so I will present a little background material. There is a won- drous network called the internet that allows computers from around the world to communicate with each other. Universi- ties and corporations may have direct links to the network whereas individuals may link to the network via a service provider like America on Line, Netcom, CompuServe, or Prodigy. It provides instant (well, fairly rapid) access to in- formation and graphic images with a range far in excess of any conventional encyclopedia.

Recently you may have read about a network within a network called the World Wide Web (WWW). Resident on the Web are Home Pages, which are files on computers in a specific format which contain whatever information the owner cares to put in them. Universities have Home Pages that are like the introductory pages of a catalog or brochure. Businesses may have Home Pages that promote products or are actual sales catalogs. Individuals may also install Home Pages that can be used to express personal opinions or sim- ply maintain an electronic presence. Generally this is done by college students who don't have to pay for access. These pages are composed of text and graphics, but more impor- tantly each page can have hypertext links to other pages on the Web. If you click your mouse on the blue highlighted text or border, the page currently displayed will be replaced by the page at the address referred to by the text. The page addresses can be on the same PC or on one in a different continent. Hopping from page to page is called "surfing the net". In order to participate in this electronic surfing, you must have a program like Netscape, Mosaic or Lynx loaded on your PC or accessible via your service provider.

Now back to Carroll. On January 27, 1995 the Lewis Carroll Home Page was officially opened. The page is di- vided into sections denoted in a table of contents. The sec- tions are: What's New, Lewis Carroll organizations. Infor- mation, Events, E-texts, and Graphics. The What's New sec- tion is meant to be used by people who frequent the page often and don't want to sift through all the material to find what has been added since their last visit. Lewis Carroll or- ganizations is a list of ... you guessed it. The Information section has a pointer to a woefully short biography of Dodgson as mathematician that is resident in the UK and to a list of reference books supplied by yours truly. The Events section will have upcoming LCSNA meetings and any other events of which I am made aware. E-texts are pointers to Carroll texts available on the internet in electronic form. This section also includes pointers to other HomePages that have pointers to Carroll texts. The texts include both Alice books

and the Hunting oftheSnark. The Graphics section has point- ers to graphic images related to Carroll. For the most part these are scanned in illustrations to the Alice books and the Snark, but there are also a couple of photographs and an

Whereas I am sure Carroll would have been more comfortable travelling by rail, I think he would be pleased to know he was travelling at electronic speeds on his 165 th birthday.

original artistic piece. The bulk of scanned illustrations and those of highest quality are hosted at the University of Sus- sex at Brighton.

The Carroll Home Page can be found at URL (address) http://ux4/cso/uiuc/edu/--jbirenba/carroll.html. 1 would like to thank my son. Josh, for taking time from his busy sched- ule at the University of Illinois to install this page and make the numerous updates. I will try to get this page added to the many internet literary directories as I believe this will give more people access to information on Carroll and will pro- vide more exposure for the various Carroll organizations. Perhaps this is one place to look for the next generation of Carroll enthusiasts.

Whereas I am sure Carroll would have been more com- fortable traveling by rail, I think he would be pleased to know he was traveling at electronic speeds on his 165th birthday.

New Officers (continued from page 3)

Twentieth (continued from page 2)

Dr. Genevieve Bruaet Smith, who has most graciously consented to take on the responsibilities of Secretary, was born near Versailles. Her intention was to become a psychia- trist, but her medical studies were cut short by an unfortu- nate train accident. She came to the United States in 1962 in the company of her husband, Clark Smith. It was while earn- ing her doctorate at the University of California in Berkeley that a mentor proposed that she write her thesis on the influ- ence of Lewis Carroll on Eugene lonesco, Jean Cocteau, and three other French poets. In her own words, "I was very taken by the subject and did a lot of research on Lewis Car- roll. Later on, though, 1 had to change mentors and wrote my dissertation on lonesco." She has lived mainly on the East Coast since then, currently dwell- ing in Washington D.C., and is the Artistic Director of the The- atre HISTRIO, which performs at the French Embassy, as well as being an instructor at both the Smithsonian Institute and Johns Hopkins University. Her address corresponds with that of the So- ciety, below.

Mark Burstein, the new editor of the Knight Letter, claims a genetic predisposition to all of this madness. His late grand- mother Lottie decorated the nurs- ery in her house with Alician wallpaper, which may have had a subliminal effect on her son, Sandor, whom most of you know as a renowned collector of Lewis Carroll, past president of the LCSNA, and Master of the Press of the Roxburghe club. Mark

went to school at the University of California at Santa Cruz, where his independent major, "Number, Symbol, Myth, and Consciousness" (with a mathematics minor), produced a the- sis on a structuralist analysis o\ Through the Looking Glass, which story is recounted in his popular talk "To Catch a Bandersnatch". Together with his father, he formed the first authorized branch of the LCSNA, the West Coast Chapter, in 1979, where he served as "Warden of Outland" and edited The Herald. The WCC flourished for a good ten years before disbanding after accomplishing many of its major goals, in- cluding the geographic decentralization of the LCSNA. He has given a multitude of talks to the Society, including "Alice Does Wonderland" (on Alician erotica), "Alice Through the Television Tube" and has written for Jabberwocky, Fine Print, and other magazines. In his other lives, he is a com- puter programmer, supernumerary for the San Francisco Op- era, and renowned authority on, and collector of Walt Kelly.

gratitude of us all. Dr. Genevieve Smith has generously agreed to serve as interim secretary.

August Imholtz spoke last on the program on the topic "Jabberwocky Revisited: More Noncsense?" He reviewed some newer critical readings of "Jabberwocky," presented some observations on the philosophical meanings of non- sense, indulged in an outrageous speculation of his own on the Russian verb meaning "to capture a chess piece" and the decapitation of the Jabberwock in Carroll's poem, and concluded with an obscure parody of "Jabberwocky." He began with Sidney Halpern's 1965 Psychoanalytic Review article "The Mother Killer," in which the author sees "Jabberwocky" as an echo of the Sumerian creation epic

Enuma Elis in which matriar- chy is replaced by filiarchial forces in the form of Enlil (the very model of a beamish Sumerian boy). From Sumerian clay tablets, he jumped ahead four thousand years or so to Shakespeare's quartos and folios for critic Frank McCormick's analysis of "Jabberwocky" as a kind of Hamlet-\he. The linguistic ba- sis for his argument may be found in Horatio's "gibber" speech in the first act of Ham- let. And in this vein he finally assessed Professor Jean- Jacques Lecercle's recent re- valuation, or transvaluation, of Dr. Abraham Ettleson's Through the Looking-Glass Decoded in an article entitled "Lewis Carroll and the Tal- mud" published in the journal SubStance (vol. 22, no. 2/3. 1993). At times it was somewhat difficult to follow August's explication of these texts because he was laughing so much as he delivered his talk. Finally, citing no less an authority than Harold Bloom, who said that the only meaning of a poem is another poem, he recited Paul Kieffer's splendid "Jerseywocky" with its "belmar blade going hackensack" and which begins (and ends): "Twas bergen, and the eric road / Did mahwah into patterson: / All jersey were the ocean groves / And the red bank bayonne."

In bringing the meeting to a close, president Joel Birenbaum thanked Charlie Lovett for so ably and effec- tively serving as president of the society for the past four years, as editor of The Knight Letter, as a coordinator of the Second International Lewis Carroll Conference, and as co- editor of the Lewis Carroll pamphlets publishing project. Charlie was applauded by all for his contributions to the society and the memory of Lewis Carroll.

Memorandum © Leslie Allen 1995

Ink on Paper - Created for the Knight Letter

Editorial—

By Mark Burstein

"He thought he saw a Garden-Door

That opened with a key:

He looked again, and found it was

A Double Rule of Three"

It is with great excitement, humil- ity, and trepidation that 1 begin my stint as editor of this august journal (pun in- tended). Perhaps it is unwise to begin with an apologia, but as I write this I have no doubt that there will be some rough edges in this first issue. Charlie Lovett has done such a fine job, stand- ing on the shoulders of giants as it were, bringing the Knight Letter into the elec- tronic / desktop arena among other lit- erary accomplishments. I had hoped to simply take his templates and churn out an issue. No such fortune. He do Mac, I do Windows.

This meant I had to start nearly from scratch while attempting to keep the design elements the same. I will spare you the litany of my travails with a new (for me) page making software yclept, naturally, PageMaker. We're just now starting to become tentatively friendly, after I got over the fact that their manual lies through its metaphori- cal teeth.

Due to constraints of a variety of schedules and circumstances, I will not be able to see this before it hits the printed page, so may I beg your indul- gence and pardon in advance for any compromises I have had to reach in or- der to produce this issue on time. 1 have fretted inordinate amounts of time over the logo, for instance, to little result.

Let me again express my deepest gratitude to August and Joel for supply- ing so much of the text. Issue #49 (a number fortuitously coincident with our local sports franchise) marks (intended again) a new beginning with promise of greater things to come.

'"But why don't you scream now?" Alice asked, holding her hands ready to put over her ears again."

'Why, I've done all the scream- ing already,' said the Queen. 'What would be the good of having it all over again?'"

/ Carrollian

Notes

Alice in Wondertown

Daniel Diaz Torres 's 1991 film Alicia en el pueblo de Maravillas is to Cuban cinema what The Birth of a Nation is to ours - the most controver- sial film in the history of the nation. After a critically and popularly ac- claimed run of just four days, the movie was yanked from circulation by the government and has been the sub- ject of a raging political struggle ever since. y4/zc/a tells the story of a young woman who finds herself in the gro- tesque, surreal, satirical universe of a small town sanitarium. Animation, Carrollian references and the absurdist spirit of Wonderland abound. Diaz Torres, the subject of a lengthy inter- view in Cineaste, vol. XX no.l, says that Alicia will be rereleased in Cuba this year.

Alice in Wonderglass

August Imholtz reported seeing a "splendid" performance of Susan Botti's chamber opera Wonderglass, which played December 15th and 16th in New York City. Ms. Botti, the com- poser, librettist, and soprano produced this work under the auspices of the

New York Foundation for the Arts and the National En- dowment for the Arts. The piece featured a octet of live musicians, animated films, and six operatically-trained singers (Carly Baruh, her "Alice", was eleven), and is described as "exploring the visions and adventures of Lewis Car- roll and his creations".

Aldous in Wonderland

Julia ("Judy") Arnold was a young favorite of Dodgson's, whom he photo- graphed "in Turkish fashion" posed in his study "gazing 'through' a looking glass" in 1871. Small wonder that her son, Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), had such a strong affinity for Carroll throughout his life, and that it was he whom Walt Disney first contracted to write a treatment for Carroll's best known tale.

A fascinating article "Huxley's 'Deep Jam' and the Adaptation oi Alice in Wonderland'" which appeared in The Review of English Studies (Clarendon Press, Oxford), vol. XLIII no.l 69, Feb- ruary 1992, throws light on an otherwise most obscure piece of film history. Piec- ing together the story with access to the Disney archives and Huxley's corre- spondence, the authors, Leon Higdon and Phill Lehrman, spin a fantastic yarn.

Apparently, Walt Disney had originally envisioned a film to be called Alice and the Mysterious Mr Carroll

continued

Whether you are looking to begin a collection, increase your knowledge of books and book collecting, or hold your own in a conversation with bib- 1 iophi les. Everybody s Guide to Book Collecting is for you. Written by col- lector/dealer/retiring LCSNA presi- dent Charlie Lovett and humorously illustrated by LCSNA member Jonathan Dixon, it is organized in a series of questions and answers, from "What is an antiquarian bookfair like?" or "How can I find a book re-

BIBLIOGRAPHER'S

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storer or binder?" to "How should I catalog my collec- tion?". Lucid, informative, and highly recommended for everyone from neophytes to mavens and everyone in-be- tween. The price is $9.95 postpaid from Write Brain Publishers, 10714 West 1 28th Court Suite 201 , Overland Park, Kansas 66213.

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which would combine animation and live action. The frame story would involve Carroll, a purported romance with Ellen Terry, Alice, Dodgson's hopes and struggles to be- come a librarian, Oxford politics, the governess Miss Beale (Disney always relished a strong villainess) and Queen Victoria as the deus ex machina who provides the denoue- ment.

In an early meeting, Disney is quoted as saying "I'll tell you what has been wrong with every one of these pro- ductions of Carroll. They have depended on his dialogue to be funny.. .There is a spirit behind Carroll's story. It's fantasy, imagination, screwball logic. ..but it must be funny. I mean funny to an American audience. To hell with the English audiences or the people who love Carroll..." [Excuse me? - ed.]

So Huxley was hired as a "fiend" of the subject of Alice, in a letter he speaks of "preventing producer and director from putting in too many anachronisms and im- possibilities." An epic struggle was clearly in the making. Ultimately, however, Disney rejected the script for being "too literary" and the movie which emerged six years later did not name Huxley as one of the thirteen story editors listed in the credits for the movie "Based on the Story by Lewis Carrol (sic)". However, the complete story treatment as reprinted in this article presents a fascinating possibility - one that may have been somewhat realized in Dennis Potter 'sDreamc/?/ Wand in innumerable stage productions.

Bibliographic Request

Jon Lindseth and Bea Sidaway are attempting to com- pile a census of the recipients of the 1872 First Edition presentation copies of Through The Looking Glass which Lewis Carroll inscribed "Christmas 1871". According to his diary, he inscribed one hundred copies. Their census is up to forty names now and they would much appreciate hear- ing from anyone who is fortunate enough to have one of these copies or know something about the subject. They can be reached at 1 -800-321 -31 70 x 2059 or at The Kindt- Collins Company, 12651 Elmwood Ave., Cleveland OH 44222 or at 21 6-252-5639 (Fax).

Art

The Concord, Massachusetts, Free Public Library, 129 Main Street, Concord MA 01 742, Special Collections, has four small (ca. 8" x 11") dioramas by Louise Stimpson,

creator of the large three- panel Alice diorama at the Boston Public Library.

Silver State Fine Art Gallery is putting out a gar- ish $2500 serigraph by Ms. Jett Jackson called "Alice in Won- derland" due out in March. Contact 1 -800-999-9ART.

LCSNAmemberTony Diterlizzi is from Jupiter (literally). He's an illustrator who has had his fantasy art published by TSR, the company that brought you Dungeons and Dragons. Joel writes, "One feels comfortable walking into his studio, but then you realize you are being watched. There are Muppet-like creatures peering from every nook and cranny. Tony is into several different media including character soft sculpture. His dormouse is so realistic that you are tempted to shake it and wake it up. He has also brought to life Tenniel's Cheshire Cat, White Rabbit, and painter cards. Adding to the Carrollian at- mosphere is a collection of antique camera equipment placed strategically around the house. Tony also does conventional drawings, paintings, computer-enhanced art, and will some- times accept commissions." Contact him at 1 20 Sherwood Circle #9B, Jupiter FL 33458 or (407) 743-4393.

Unexpected Fans Department

From an interview published \n Mediterranean Review, V^\x\{cx 1971:

Oliver Evans: What other writers do you particularly admire?

Paul Bowles: I'm always more inter- ested in living writers than in dead ones. ..and then of course there's Alice.

OE: Alice?

PB: In Wonderland. It's one of the books I've most enjoyed in my life. I'm always rereading it...

Paul Bowles, composer, translator, expatriate, and author of The Sheltering Sky, Let It Come Down, etc.

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Publications

"A Lewis Carroll Pillow Problem: Probability of an Obtuse Triangle" by Stephen Portnoy, Professor of Statistics at University of Illinois, takes Carroll's 1 893 problem of the odds of three ran- dom points having an obtuse angle, and corrects Mr. Dodgson's statistical rea- soning. Statistical Science, vol.9 no.2. May 1994.

For those interested, articles on "Pla- nar Boojums" have appeared in Physica, May 1992, vol. 178 no.l and in Watsonia, vol. 18, Feb. 1991

Family Fun magazine, April 1994, shows how to host an afternoon Mad Tea Party. Their suggestion that the kids change places every few minutes dis- plays a remarkable optimism.

Philosophy of Nonsense by Jean- Jacques Lecercle (Routledge) contains an important study "The Intuitions of Victorian Nonsense Literature".

Walt Kelly (1913-1973), one of America's greatest comic artists ("Pogo") and illustrators was a devoted fan of Lewis Carroll. A catalog of his published drawings of Carroll material can be found in Much Ado: The Pogofenokee Trivia Book; an essay, "Three Little Maids: Walt Kelly and the Nonsense Tradition (of Lewis Carroll and James Joyce)" can be found in The Walt Kelly Collector 's Guide and a se- ries of previously unpublished illustra- tions to Humpty Dumpty's "Little fishes" poem can be found in the Pogo Fan Club's Fort Mudge Most, issue # 41, all available from Spring Hollow Books, 6908 Wentworth Ave. So., Richfield MN 55423.

Analog Magazine's Oclober 1994 issue printed part 3 of a story called "Starmind". The White Rabbit was identified as the Mad Hatter. Shame.

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British zoologist and journalist Matt Ridley's book The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature (Macmillan, 1994) quotes TTLG and formulates "The Red Queen Theory" on sexuality and human nature.

Art & Artifacts

This fine rubber stamp is available from Ready-Made Rubber, RO.Box 563, Bownieville CA 95936.

Looking for tree ornaments? EXIMIOUS of London offers Alice, Hatter and Hare #3503 and/or King, Queen, Knave of Hearts #3703 for $40 a set @ 1-800-221 -9464. ..Bergdorf Goodman offers seven ones - hand made, hand painted fabric for $185 (®1 -800-967-3788... The Smithsonian catalog shows five porcelain and fabric decorations for $18 or $75 for the set @ 1-800-322-0344.

Gump's, 240 Post Street, San Francisco CA 94108 (1-800-284-8677) has dis-

tributed its holiday catalogue which includes a Halcyon Enamel Sea Shell box (item LH52C - $190) whose outer lid shows a beach scene, but inside is inscribed, "O oysters, come and walk with us. ..along the briny beach. Lewis Carroll".

A tin box decorated with Tenniel Alice illustrations and a functioning clock on one side is available from the Norm Th- ompson catalog #10608 for $39. 1 -800- 547-1160. PC Box 3999 Portland OR 97208.

Video

The Whole Toon Catalog, RO. Box 369, Issaquah WA 98027, features animated works on video. Their Alices include Disney's, Svankmajer's, Bunin's, "Betty in Blunderland" (Betty Boop Collection, vol.1), "Alice in Wonder- land in Paris", "Alphabet Conspiracy" {Bell Science Series) with Hans Conried as the Mad Hatter, Disney's "Alice in Cartoonland" {Cartoon Classics vo\3), "Porky in Wackyland" {Cartoon Col- lection vol.1), "Care Bears in Wonder- land", and Vince Collins' outrageous "Malice in Wonderland" {Adult Anima- tion).

Computers

Nippon Books is coming out with an "interactive museum Alice" on CD- ROM. Their catalog reads, "ALICE was created through the cooperation of three artists working in three different fields - the painter Kuniyoshi, the musician Kazuhiko Kato, and the computer graphics artist Haruhiko Shono." 1- 800-652-1410 for further information.

Softlink Europe has a library automa- tion catalogue called Alice, whose logo is an unmistakable drawing of our hero- ine. 26 Hanborough House, Lodge Road, Long Hanborough, Oson 0X7 2LH, England.

For assistance in preparing this issue we would like to thank: Joel Birenbaum, Richard Boothe, Sandor Burstein, Barbara Felicetti, Rosella Howe, August Imholtz, Janet Jurist, Charles Lovett, and Lucille Posner.

Knight Letter is the official newsletter of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America. It is publishhed quarterly and is distributed free to all members. Subscriptions, business correspondence, and inquiries should be addressed to the Secretary, LCSNA, 1655 34th Street NW, Washington DC 20007. Annual membership dues are $20 (regular) & $50 (sustaining). Submissions and editorial correspondence shold be sent to the Editor, Mark Burstein, P.O. Box 2006, Mill Valley CA 94942 or via e-mail at S=Burstein%G=Mark%Bechtel@mcimail.com.

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