THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS
Extraordinary first state of the sequel to ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, one of only three known copies of the book containing two original pencil sketches by Tenniel.
Very good.
Price: $75,000.00
THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS
"Dodgson considered illustration a paramount aspect of his Wonderland stories." – Schiller, Census
Few works can claim the breadth of cultural influence of Carroll's two Alice books. In this book, Alice returns to Wonderland by stepping through a mirror, playing out her journey like a game of chess. THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS is quoted in works as wide ranging as FINNEGANS WAKE and HARRIET THE SPY, and inspired the Beatles song "I Am The Walrus." It also contains the great English nonsense poem "Jabberwocky."
This copy bears pencil sketches of Humpty Dumpty (reproducing, in reverse, the illustration from page 118) and Alice holding a fawn (page 63). The images are reversed in imitation of what Tenniel would have drawn on the wood. This copy is unrecorded in Schiller's 1990 Census, "Drawings Made by Tenniel as Part of Inscriptions of Books." Schiller lists two copies of this title with original drawings. Tenniel scholar Matthew Demakos notes that there is a third in the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas (this one with only one sketch), making the total four (including this copy). Two of those copies (housed at The Watkinson Library of Trinity College and the Berol Collection of NYU) have two sketches, as in this copy. The drawings in this copy are different from those in the other three. Based on the two censuses, this is the only remaining copy of THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS in private hands that contains original pencil drawings by Tenniel.
A remarkable literary rarity from one of the great author-illustrator pairings in English literature.
Read more: Schiller, Census of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; Amanda Lastoria, "Lastoria List of Titles for Tenniel's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Illustrations" in The Carrollian, No. 26; Williams, Madan, Green and Crutch, Lewis Carroll Handbook, 84.
The Object
London: Macmillan and Co, 1872. Full title: Through the looking-glass, and what Alice found there. Octavo. 7'' x 4.5''. Original full red cloth, triple gilt-rule borders, central gilt-stamped icons on both boards, gilt-lettered spine. Blue coated endpapers, all edges gilt. Half title. Wood-engraved tissue-guarded frontispiece and 49 in-text wood engravings by Dalziel after Tenniel. One page of ads at rear. [12], 224, [4] pages. Half title inscribed ("Ever yours / JT") and illustrated by Tenniel with two pencil sketches from the book: the top portion of TTLG118 (Humpty Dumpty offering his hand) and TTLG63 (Alice clasping her arms round Fawn). Half title with additional ink gift inscription. Burn & Co. binder's ticket on rear pastedown. Housed in a custom maroon slipcase and chemise. Boards moderately soiled, spine toned and soiled, with additional wear to spine extremities, light bump to front corner, expert repair to hinges, a few instances of soiling to text.
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