La Guida di Bragia

In his youth, Lewis Carroll wrote a number of marionette plays to entertain his brothers and sisters, but only one, La Guida di Bragia, is known to have survived. Written in his late teens, this giddy little play is peopled by a host of outrageous characters in situations that foreshadow Monty Python and The Goon Show, among others. The hapless (and clueless) friends Mooney and Spooney decide to take jobs at a railway station, and a series of misunderstandings and mishaps ensues. The title is a play on the popular train timetable of Carroll’s day, Bradshaw’s Guide. There are surreal set pieces, silly songs that parody popular operetta, and even young Carroll’s own version of Mrs. Malaprop. A lightweight charmer, this piece was only published once in a British magazine in 1931, and then in our own Knight Letter magazine in 1999. That version included delightful illustrations by talented LCSNA member Jonathan Dixon. This expanded edition includes an introduction by Peter Heath, a facsimile of the original manuscript, and additional illustrations created by Dixon especially for the occasion. Our volume represents La Guida’s first publication in hardcover. A curiosity, a collector’s item, and a delight.