Following on from my last post on Alice in Wonderland, I thought I would check out Lewis Carroll’s other work to see if there was anything interesting to be found illustartion wise. Most people aren’t even aware of anything else writen by Carroll such is the fame of the “Alice” stories. In fact he had a wide range of interests and his literary output extended to poetry, mathematics, logic and philosophy whilst he was also something of a renowned photographer and an Anglican deacon.

The illustration of his work is, of course my main point of interest in him and his Alice stories certainly excel in this department having been interpretated by some of the finest Golden Age illustrators (see post below). Less well known but of equal quality in my opinion is the illustrative work of Henry Holiday for Carroll’s nonsense poem The Hunting of the Snark. A committed socialist, and member of the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood of art including such luminaries as William Morris, Rosetti and Burne Jones, Holiday was a personal friend of Carroll who commissioned him to illustrate Snark in 1874. The was something of a departure from his usual work in painting, sculpture and stained glass, but the results were outstanding.

The book featured 9 full page illustrations in total. Enjoy!

You can download a 300dpi page scan of the 1876 edition of The Hunting of the Snark by clicking HERE.