de KNIGHT LETTER de The Lewis Carroll Society of North America

Spring 2004 Volume II Issue 3 Number 73 de CONTENTS de

The Rectory Umbrella He Will Brook No Nonsense g Sarah Adams A Cultural Critique of Miles Franklin’s “Tea with Alice” Elementary, My Dear Dodgson with a New Afterword Sarah Adams Sanjay Sircar 1 Masterpiece Theater Daniel Singer A Boston Tea Party Mark Burstein Golden Keys and Silver Locks 11 Ruth Berman Mr. Dodgson and the Royal Family, Part II Viva Vivaldi Edward Wakeling Sarah Adams 15 Mrs. Carroll’s Alice The Capture of the Snark Robert Arnold Hall E. Fuller Torrey, MD and Judy Miller 21 Chasing the White Rabbit Sarah Adams Twenty-First-Century Views of Dodgson’s Voting Method Francine F. Abeles Shadowplay 26 Gregory Williams  Carrollian Notes MischMasch 38 g Addenda, Errata, Corrigenda, & Illuminata Leaves from the Deanery Garden Sic, Sic, Sic 28 Fairest Helena. In Memoriam: Kay Rossman, Yulii Danilov, Sir Peter Ustinov Lights! Camera! Auction! 29 The Library of Babel Ravings from the Writing Desk Ready, Willing and ABELL Alan Tannenbaum Contrairwise 30 Sarah Adams Serendipity All in the Golden Afternoon 31 French and Music Of Books and Things 32 Armelle V. Futterman From Our Far-Flung Ghiuselev’s Alice-trations Correspondents There’s Something About Mary 47 Books—Articles—Cyberspace—Conferences and Lectures—Exhibitions—Performances Noted—Auctions—Media—Things de A Boston Tea Party mark burstein de

h, Boston and environs. Famous for its A. Houghton Jr., class of 1929, Harvard (founded in tea party, and a place where Wonderland 1636) became the first American university to con- Alies not just in one’s imagination but at struct a separate research facility for the housing and the end of the “Blue” MBTA subway line (it’s a grey- study of rare books and manuscripts by establishing hound-racing track in Revere). Erstwhile home to the the eponymous library in 1942. Girl’s Latin School, where the only one of Carroll’s The meeting began with a few announce- pennings to be published exclusively ments by our president, Alan outside of England was printed, and pres- Tannenbaum,2 including sad ent home to the Harcourt Amory collec- news about Kay Rossman (p. 29), tion, where Carroll’s own vellum-bound the schedule of our next meet- copy of Wonderland now is housed. More ings (p. 30), and a proclamation below. heralding the present author’s On Friday, the Maxine Schaefer ten years of editorship of the Memorial Reading took place at the Knight Letter. Perkins School for the Blind in nearby Peter Accardo, whose title is Watertown. The Perkins School, founded “Acquisitions Bibliographer, De- in 1829,1 educates blind and deaf-blind partment of Rare Books” at the students, and is proud to be the alma Houghton, bade us welcome. He mater of Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller. led off with an excerpt from John Maxine’s daughter Ellie began the hour- Ruskin’s autobiography, Praeter- long visit, attended by about fifty students ita, describing an afternoon tea from their middle- and high school classes, Armory Collection bookplate. with the Liddell girls, and went on by explaining who Maxine was and why she to discuss the Houghton’s Carroll was so important to our society. Despite holdings. In 1926, the university being a bit “under the weather,” the fabulous Patt received the oustanding Lewis Carroll collection Griffin performed a memorable rendition of the Cat- of Harcourt Amory, class of 1876.3 Just a minuscule erpillar scene. After the enthusiastic applause died sample of their noteworthy holdings were on display: down, Alan Tannenbaum, David and Mary Schaefer downstairs in a case were Carroll’s own copy of the and grandson Mickey Salins answered questions. 1865 Wonderland, bound in white vellum; handwrit- The students and the school library were then pre- ten manuscripts of one of the issues of the Rectory sented with CDs of Wonderland, the first time the fund Umbrella and one of Mischmasch; the table-of-contents has been used in a medium other than books. “It page for Looking-Glass with Carroll’s handwritten cor- truly warms my heart to see the children’s excitement rections;4 and other treasures. Scattered around the when they attend one of these readings and receive meeting room or in Accardo’s hands were: a copy of their gift. The readings have occurred for over seven Phantasmagoria with Carroll’s corrections and hand- years now! My mother would be so proud!” ~ Ellie written copies of reviews; a first-edition Looking-Glass Schaefer-Salins. with drawings, touched-up proofs, and letters from The general meeting took place the next day, Tenniel to the brothers Dalziel bound in; and a large a hot, muggy Saturday, May 8, within the air-condi- electrotype (raised white-on-white letters!) edition tioned comfort of the Houghton Library at Harvard of Wonderland made, coincidentally, for the Perkins University in Cambridge. We sat in a darkish green, School for the Blind (above) in 1904. And these were neo-Georgian room amidst glassed-in incunabula just the “teasers” from their vast collection. and other books with brown bindings and gilt stamps, Our first speaker was Frederick C. “Rick” Lake, a room in which Mr. Dodgson would surely have felt Harvard class of 1980, lyricist, ballroom dancer, and most at home—save for the laptops and digital pro- investment advisor⎯to give you just a flavor of his jectors, of course. Through the generosity of Arthur wide-ranging mind. He presented warm, anecdotal

10 11 sional layout and design skill from Andrew Ogus, the Knight Letter gets better with each issue. Finally, you may have noticed that the Society is now accepting online payment for meetings and membership dues, using PayPal. This free and secure payment system will be expanded in the near future to pay for the Society-published books in our inventory. We plan to make the process easy by having forms on our Web site, but in the interim, you can simply use the PayPal account [email protected] to send money to the Society and save the time and expense of an envelope and postage. We also accept major credit cards through PayPal. See you in California!

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Kirk: We’re not leaving until g McCoy is released. Wonderland Parmen: This isn’t the Enterprise. © 1998 Carol Borzyskowski You are not in command, captain. Reprinted by permission. This work Philana: Why discuss it? Get rid previously appeared in the American Poetry of them. Monthly. Parmen: No, my dear. That might offend the good doctor. You wish Black, cold, narrow to stay? By all means. You can imitable vocalizing is available in the as a grave, help us celebrate our anniversary. compilation CD Golden Throats: I didn’t see the hole — In the process, I hope we can The Great Celebrity Sing-Off didn’t look before I stepped persuade you to join our tiny (Rhino, 1988), the original LP al- down. republic. bums (Shatner’s The Transformed Long, long I fell Man, 1968; The Two Sides of McCoy: You won’t persuade me. Leonard Nimoy and his The Way I past shards Parmen: I think we will. Feel, both 1968) and all over the Net empty as plastic Kirk (singing): “I’m Tweedledee, wherever horrid singing is celebrated. champagne glasses, he’s Tweedledum,” Shatner’s rendition of “Lucy in the Sky past deflated balloons with Diamonds” must be heard to be pink and yellow, Spock:“Two spacemen marching believed. past a magician’s to a drum.” empty black hat Kirk & Spock: “We slither among g dead rabbit, the mimsy toves Eli Cross (Peter O’Toole) to curiouser And gyre among the borogoves.” Cameron (Steve Railsback): Now and curiouser. The Star Trek (original series) episode listen to me: That door is the 65, “Plato’s Stepchildren,” aired No- looking-glass, and inside it is Past the touch of your lips vember 22, 1968, and featured this Wonderland. Have faith, Alice, brushing my neck — abysmally sung duet. The episode itself close your eyes and enjoy . . . a silver moth in flames, has a place in history for containing onto barren lunar landscape The Stunt Man (1980) the first-ever interracial kiss—be- I stopped. tween Kirk and Uhura while under telekenetic influence—to be shown on And Alice, American network television. it’s true what they say Both Mr. Shatner and Mr. Nimoy it’s not the fall produced dreadful albums of their that kills you. “singing” during this era. Their in-

30 31 Eachtraí Eilíse i dTír na nIontas from Edwin Dodgson to “My Dear- The Disney Channel’s early (Wonderland in a new translation est Maggie” and a complete trans- ’90s TV series Adventures in into Irish, but you knew that) literation of it, speaking about the Wonderland has a fan site at from Coiscéim & Evertype, 2003. difficulties of sending and receiv- www.lanceandeskimo.com/ See www.evertype.com/gram/ ing mail. The article is illustrated journal/alice.shtml. One of the eachtrai-eilise.html. Best way to with Tristan stamps commemo- programs (also in book form) was order is through the An Siopa rating Dodgson’s arrival on the the rather peculiar White Rabbits Leabhar bookstore. Email them island and the ships involved in his Can’t Jump, featuring O. J. Simp- a credit card # or send it via post: voyages. The article can be read son as the title character. [email protected]; An online at www.gibbonsstampmon Everything known about Kaulbach Siopa Leabhar, 6 Harcourt Street, thly.com. You must register (free) Island (Canada) and its 1976 Won- Dublin 2, Ireland. Hardcover before reading it. derland stamps can be found at   20.00 + postage, paperback 7.50 The Vandeboncoeur Collection of Im- www.rpsc.org/Library/kaulbach/ + postage. ages, Issue Three (March 2002) more8.htm. has a 13-page color section on g A picture of the Cheshire Catmo- Harry Rountree, including his articles bile from the 2001 Burning Man Alice work. [email protected]. Festival at www.wired.com/news/ The Lincoln Center Theater Review, 3809 Laguna Ave., Palo Alto CA culture/0,1284,46557,00.html. Issue 37 (Winter/Spring 2004) 94306. $20. “Twisted Alice, a spiritual prophy- discusses the play King Lear, here lactic” rant at cosmicircus.com/ directed by Sir Jonathan Miller g twisted.htm. and starring Christopher Plummer cyberspace A Mad Tea Party of mechanical in the title role. The front cover Internet navigator—and a lot dolls at www.ellenrixford.com/ photograph was J. M. Cameron’s more!—Alexa (www.alexa.com) htmls/2mechdollsdispla.html. King Lear Allotting His Kingdom to rates sites daily on the basis of traf- His Three Daughters, 1872, featuring fic (of other Alexa toolbar users). The “word of the day” on March Alice Liddell as Cordelia. Inside Under “Lewis Carroll,” the LCSNA 12 at Merriam-Webster’s online was her Alethea, also featuring Miss has two of the top five (our Soci- site www.m-w.com was “jabber- Liddell. ety page is #2, our Lewis Carroll wocky.” “This nonsensical poem An article by Ruth Gledhill in the home page #4). Surprisingly, caught the public’s fancy, and by Times (London), March 24, 2004, the #1 most visited site is Ruth 1902 ‘jabberwocky’ was being used discusses Princess Louise, Queen Zaroff’s interactive adventure (KL as a generic term for meaning- Victoria’s sixth child, and alleges 58:22), #3 is the Carroll page at less speech or writing. The word that the Reverend Robinson www.literature.org, and #5 is the ‘bandersnatch’ has also seen some Duckworth, he of the trip-up-the- Pazooter Works’ “Secrets of Lewiss use as a general noun, with the Isis fame, was Louise’s lover as well [sic] Carroll Revealed (KL 67:27). meaning ‘a wildly grotesque or bi- zarre individual.’ It’s a much rarer as her religious guide. Speaking of our Web site, there is word than ‘jabberwocky,’ though.” In Children’s Literature, the annual a new page about the Knight Letter of the Modern Language Associa- at lewiscarroll.org/kl/kl042004/ All you need to know about tion Division on Children’s Litera- KnightLetter.htm. Our “Lewis “Cheshire cells” (“The Cheshire ture and The Children’s Literature Carroll Home Page” is averaging group is the space group of the Association, Volume 32, 2004, is 22,000 hits a month, from 132 crystal when its material contents “The Boy Who Lived: From Car- countries. are removed leaving only the sym- metry elements, like the smile roll’s Alice and Barrie’s Peter Pan “Alice in Wonderland: A Children’s that was left when the Cheshire to Rowling’s Harry Potter” by Amy Book or a Migraineur’s Diary?” Cat disappeared”) can be found Billone. It asks the question, who by Deborah Wirtel suggests Car- on www.ccp4.ac.uk/ccp4/html/ is today’s most beloved child char- roll was actually a migraineur, and cheshirecell.html. acter and argues that Harry Potter that Alice’s manifestations in the competes with Alice and Peter Pan book were representative of his Cutesy Korean cartoon charac- and wins, by combining both of migraine auras, which she dis- ters called “Pucca” took a trip to them inside himself. cusses, along with “Alice in Won- Wonderland in June, according “Missionary Mail from Tristan da derland Syndrome.” It is a good to their downloadable icon and Cunha, Part 2” by Robin Taylor in summary and has some useful “cross-stitche” [sic] patterns. Visit Gibbons Stamp Monthly, June 2004, links. headaches.about.com/od/ puccaclub.com/eng/. contains a photograph of a letter profiles/a/carroll_l.htm.

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