It may be tricky to type, and it could be a struggle to fit it on your business card, but it sure is memorable.

Dr Michael Pritchard, a regular contributor to the British Photographic History Blog, has alerted us to his cautionary tale about the uncertain world of eBay bidding. The above daguerreotype, which if you can’t read it is captioned “Charles L. Dodgson Christ Church 1858,” recently sold on eBay for £3,300, about [...]]]>

Who are you?

Dr Michael Pritchard, a regular contributor to the British Photographic History Blog, has alerted us to his cautionary tale about the uncertain world of eBay bidding. The above daguerreotype, which if you can’t read it is captioned “Charles L. Dodgson Christ Church 1858,” recently sold on eBay for £3,300, about $5,300. The image, if you can’t see it either, is clearly not of Dodgson, in fact the sitter looks more like a cross between Benjamin Disraeli and the Mock Turtle. The suspicious back story to the sale and the insights of the photographic experts all make interesting reading here.

Christie's Sale 5475, Lot #212

On November 30, Christie’s in London will be [...]]]> Mentioning every Carroll-related item that comes up for auction would be impossible, and not the good do-it-before-breakfast kind of impossible either. Nevertheless, here’s a couple of lots coming up at the end of this month that seem worth a mention.

Christie's Sale 5475, Lot #212

On November 30, Christie’s in London will be auctioning a number of  books and pamphlets. Lot #212 (pictured left) is a uniformly bound set containing the first published edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (the true first edition was recalled by Carroll due its unsatisfactory reproduction of Tenniel’s illustrations) and a first edition of Through the Looking-Glass. Sale 5476 also features Algebraical Formulae and Rules for the use of candidates for responsions (Lot #214), never mentioned in the author’s diary, but possibly an expanded version of Algebraical Formulae for Responsions.

The following day, on the other side of the world, the Leonard Joel auction house in Sydney, Australia, will be auctioning a facsimile of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground (Lot #294), signed by the author and dated November 15, 1895. The lot also includes two letters to Olive Gould and one to Mrs Gould and, intriguingly, “part of a poem on bats.”

A photo of the poem is below. With a bit of squinting I can read that it begins “She gave it both some bread [and?] milk / and felt its furry wings / which were as soft as softest silk / and said all sorts of things,”  but I can’t make out much of the rest. If you can decipher it, please leave a transcription in the comments! Click on the photo to see a larger image.

Part of a poem on bats. Leonard Joel Lot #294

Last week we blogged about an upcoming auction with an interesting lot: ceramic plaques, hand painted by Sir John Tenniel with characters from Alice’s adventures, used as menu cards at Tenniel family dinners.

We have just heard that the [...]]]>

Inscription reads: "Presented to H.R.H. the Princess Alice by the Author, Mar. 25, 1890."

Last week we blogged about an upcoming auction with an interesting lot: ceramic plaques, hand painted by Sir John Tenniel with characters from Alice’s adventures, used as menu cards at Tenniel family dinners.

We have just heard that the same auction contains another interesting item: a presentation copy of The Nursery Alice inscribed by Carroll for Princess Alice, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

The inscription, written in blue ink on the half-title, reads not ”Alice, meet Alice,” unfortunately, but the rather more formal: “Presented to H.R.H. the Princess Alice by the Author, Mar. 25, 1890.”

On March 25, 1890, Princess Alice Mary Victoria Augusta Pauline was exactly seven years and one month old – just one month older than Carroll’s Alice when she fell down the rabbit hole. Was this a late birthday present perhaps?

The book will be auctioned by PBA Galleries this coming Thursday in San Francisco. It is estimated to go for between $8,000 and $12,000.

Six small hand-painted porcelain plaques by John Tenniel, [...]]]> Menu cards  (porcelain plaques), created by John Tenniel for family dinners, based on his illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s Alice books, are up for auction at PBA Galleries (133 Kearny St, San Francisco) – low estimate $20k, high estimate $30k. The product description from their website:

Six small hand-painted porcelain plaques by John Tenniel, each with its own wrought-iron miniature easel. Each has a character from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or Through the Looking-Glass taking up about a quarter of the plaque, with the remainder blank, and “Menu” written at the top of each. The plaques measure 5×3½; the easels are about 7½” high.

Marvelous and unique group of original hand-painted plaques used as menu cards for the Tenniel family dinners, descended in the family over the years. The night’s fare was evidently written in the blank spaces with a crayon or grease pencil, then wiped off after the meal was completed. The characters pictured are The White Rabbit (with his pocket-watch), the Mock Turtle (crying away), the Frog Footman (delivering a letter), the Walrus (without the Oysters and the Carpenter), the Leg of Mutton (taking a bow), and a frog with a rake. The plaques have a small wooden case with a removable top, on which is a label with writing “China (Delicate)”. The case top has two sides missing, some other wear.

Which reminds me, if you are interested in helping organize a fabulous [...]]]> Another fundraiser for the 2015 event is a weekly auction of very fun items donated by the family of the great Carrollian collector Carolyn Buck. Check it out, and keep checking back as new items will be added every week this fall.

Which reminds me, if you are interested in helping organize a fabulous event, send Joel Birenbaum an email. Every little bit helps!