Why is a raven like a writing desk?
This week marks 150 years since the publication of Lewis Carroll鈥檚 Alice鈥檚 Adventures in Wonderland (the yearly celebration, 鈥楢lice鈥檚 Day鈥, took place on 4 July) and with it the start of many years of tea parties, rose painting and flamingo croquet. The book itself is the most translated children鈥檚 book ever written and has inspired a number of adaptations on both stage and screen.
In amongst the Special Collections鈥 Guy Lee bequest is a copy of Carroll鈥檚 Eight or nine words about letter-writing, first published in 1890, this copy between 1910 and 1915, in which the author outlines the dos and don鈥檛s of correspondence. While it may at first seem to be slightly tongue-in-cheek, especially when one considers the several imagined interruptions of the reader鈥
Next Address and Stamp the Envelope. 鈥淲hat! Before writing the Letter?鈥 Most certainly.
鈥 and satirical misogyny...
And never, never, dear Madam (N.B. this remark is addressed to ladies only: no man would ever do such a thing), put 'Wednesday', simply, as the date! 'That way madness lies.'
鈥he points he makes, a selection of which can be seen below, are of serious use:
The essay ends with several examples of the perfect correspondence, which at first glance look unnecessarily complicated. However, Carroll assures the reader that 鈥榶ou will find it perfectly simple, when you have had a little practice鈥.
Alongside the essay is a Wonderland Postage-Stamp Case, an invention of Carroll鈥檚 that he describes as such:
This Case is not intended to carry about in your pocket鈥 No, this is meant to haunt your envelope-case, or wherever you keep your writing-materials. What made me invent it was the constantly wanting Stamps of other values, for foreign Letters, Parcel Post, &c., and finding it very bothersome to get at the kind I wanted in a hurry. Since I have possessed a 'Wonderland Stamp Case', Life has been bright and peaceful, and I have used other. I believe the Queen鈥檚 laundress uses no other.
Such high praise comes as no surprise, though a closer inspection of the case itself would suggest that it is warranted. In a carefully planned act of surprise on the slip case, the image of Alice carrying the Duchess鈥 baby gives way to the image of Alice holding a pig, as told in the story. Furthermore, on the back of the slip case, one can see the familiar image of the smiling Cheshire Cat in a tree, whilst the back of the stamp case shows him fading away. These details make for a charming curiosity, with a mischievous in keeping with the tone of the source material.
This article was contributed on 7 July 2015 by Richard Sellens, Library Graduate Trainee 2014-2015.