3SS& THE LEWIS CARROLL SOCIETY ff^^'flB OF NORTH AMERICA ^x^^ Number 18 February 1983 Special Notice: In an effort to make the Knight Letter more useful and informative, we would like to solicit your aid in publishing it more frequently. Please send any comments, useful information, or other contributions to the editor, Sandor Burstein, 2233 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94115. Notice #2: Annual dues are now payable. Please send your checks to the Secretary, LCSNA, 61 7 Rockford Road, Silver Spring, MD 20902, in order to ensure your continued membership, mailings of the Knight Letter, and receipt of the next publication. Regular memberships: $15 per annum; Sustaining memberships, $50 per annum. The Fall meeting of the Society was held in the beautifully panelled and elegantly furnished Trustee Room of the New York Public Library on December 11, 1982. President Schaefer opened the proceedings with some announcements, and then introduced Dr. Ernest Abeles and his wife, Professor Francine Abeles. Using remarkable photographic slides, the Abeles duo reported on their week-long walk in the footsteps of Deacon Dodgson during the Society's pilgrimage to England last Summer. Shown were Tom Quad, Dodgson's room and photographic studio, Hall, the Deanery, Binsey, Godstow and Nuneham along the Thames, the Ashmolean Museum and the Bodleian Library, Christ Church Cathedral, and Brighton. Mrs. Abeles' commentaries made the pictorial record part of an unforgettable experience. Those of us not fortunate enough to have made the trip were partially compensated by reliving the memories with those who went. Some twenty-five pilgrims travelled from the United States and Canada, and were joined by two brave souls from Japan. A particular high-point was the visit to Dr. Selwyn Goodacre's home and enjoying his fabulous collection and his gracious hospitality not only to our Society, but to members of the Daresbury and London-based Societies. The group portraits taken by Dr. Abeles should be of great historic interest, and it is to be hoped that he will be able to have copies made available. Dr. Joyce Hines continued the tale with a report on the meaning of the Oxford Common Rooms during Victorian times, as related to older traditions, and how it has been continued in our era. Her report of the Society's visit to Christ Church and her own feelings and sentiments were greatly appreciated. Next on the agenda was a short business meeting, and the election of the Society's officers. By unanimous consent, Maxine Schaefer was re-elected Secretary, and Raymond Wapner the Treasurer. Mrs. Janet Jurist accepted the new position of Program Director. August I. Imholtz, Jr. became the new Vice-President, and Sandor G. Burstein accepted the Editorship of the Knight Letter and the Presidency. Earlier we had been welcomed by Francis Mattson, Curator of Rare Books for the NY Public Library, who had made all the meeting arrangements, and had prepared a lovely little exhibition of memorabilia from earlier LeGallienne productions of Alice. He had also obtained some proof sheets from Barry Moser's forthcoming Through the Looking Glass and was able to show them. He at this time introduced Dr. Vartan Gregorian, Director of the Library, who welcomed the group most graciously, and extended warm invitations to return. We are all most grateful to these two fine gentlemen, and will feel quite comfortable in accepting their offers for the future. Miss Sabra Jones, producer of Eva LeGallienne's revived Alice in Wonderland musical play, discussed the history of the production and her own roles in this fiftieth anniversary re-creation. Her personal and intimate reminiscences of Miss LeGallienne were joyously received. The insight she gave into the difficulties of financing a Broadway play was remarkable. Stories such as having to imagine and rewrite the orchestrations since the original music had been lost gave fuel to the fiery desires to see the play. The next speaker, heralded by announcements of mystery, was our very own Professor Edward Giuliano! In his usual erudite and witty manner he investigated use of symbols and meaning in the works of Carroll under the formal title of "Semiotics". Dr. Giuliano's thorough explanations produced much thinking as judged by the number and quality of comments and questions from the audience. We all anticipate with pleasure the publication of this talk so that it can be read, and reread and digested as it deserves. Sadly, the discussion had to be truncated in order for the group to reach the restaurant in time. Dinner in the Italian manner at the Cheers Restaurant (not the bar of the television series) gave opportunities for socializing and renewing friendships. Afterwards, some fifty members proceeded to the Virginia Theater for the Alice in Wonderland performance. Most comments were favorable, and Tenniel and Carroll seemed to be faithfully represented. Miss LeGallienne with great charm and grace consented to receive a small delegation from the LCSNA after the performance. Stan Marx thanked her on behalf of the Society, and gave her a plaque reading: "Presented to Eva LeGallienne in recognition of her devotion to 'Alice in Wonderland' on the occasion of the 1982 revival of the play. The Lewis Carroll Society of North America." In addition, on authorization of the Executive Committee, the president asked Miss LeGallienne is she would accept honorable membership in the Society. With her consent, then, she became the third recipient of this tribute. (Arthur Houghton and Norman Armour were also honorary members. ) Alice Berkey will prepare a certificate to formalize this event. Our Next Meeting Is Tentatively Planned For May 28, 1 983 In The Folger Shakespeare Library In Washington, D.C. Please Save This Date. A Stimulating Program Is Being Prepared. Further Details Will Be Forthcoming. Diversions and Digressions: David and Maxine Schaefer returned to London for the dedication of the Lewis Carroll stone in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey on December 17th last, and represented the LCSNA with glory. An impressive program from the occasion includes a short introductory biography by Selwyn Goodacre, lists the order of the Evensong Service, and records the hymns and prayers as they were presented. The Reverend Ivor Davies addressed the congregants who afterwards moved to the Memorial Stone where Brian Sibley read from the last chapter of AAIW. Mr. Philip Dodgson Jaques, great-nephew of CLD unveiled the stone, and Ms. Lindsay Fulcher offered the stone to the Dean in the name of the Lewis Carroll Society. Misses Holly and Kirsten Luke, granddaughters of Mr. Jaques lay flowers on the stone, and were followed by the Schaefers who presented a tiger-lily wreath in the name of our society. The services concluded, honored guests were received in Bishop Partridge Hall in the Dean's Courtyard. A short message from the LCSNA was read at this time, expressing our thanks to our colleagues in England who had crusaded for five long years to make this event possible. Television camera crews recorded portions of the festivities, and a short segment of some of the highlights was seen on the evening networks here, next day. It is rumored that the Schaefers have a videotape of the event to add to their collection. Mollie Panter-Downes' "Letter From London" in the January 31, 1983 New Yorker is devoted to the ceremony and must be read by all. The Society's current publication, The Soaring of the Dodo, should be distributed by the end of February to all paid-up members. Edward Giuliano and James Kincaid edited the special December issue of English Language Notes from which our hardcover version has been taken. Copies of the original journal are available from Miss Pat McEahern, English Language Notes, Department of English, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309. Checks for S3. 50 should be made out to English Language Notes. Dr. Giuliano's "The Complete Illustrated Works of Lewis Carroll" published by Avenel in the U.S. is a great bargain and a must-purchase at $7.98. Ed's selections and introduction are absolutely perfect. Also available is the Chancellor Press version from England at $7.95 from Barnes & Noble. Alice's Adventures in Jurisprudencia is written by an attorney much taken by Humpty Dumpty and the distortions of meaning found in our law-courts. Nicely illustrated by Sally Richardson, it is available from the author, Peter F. Sloss, through the Borogove Press, 78 Bay View Avenue, Belvedere, CA 94920. Price: $4.95 in wrappers. The name of the press alone promises great things. William Kaufmann's Centennial Edition of the Hunting of the Snarh is still available from the publisher in Subscriber's and Collector's Editions at the original prices. The trade edition at $18.95 is also well worth having. Martin Gardner updated his annotations, and Selwyn Goodacre listed Snark editions in a terminal essay. NOW, the first printing of the trade edition contained eight egregious errors which were corrected in the second printing. Speculators and investors in rare book mistakes should be delighted that the first printing has been remaindered for $7.98 and is bound to be a collector's rarity. It can be identified by the lack of blurbs on the inner jackets, and by the reproduction of the first edition of the Snark at the beginning of the book. If you cannot find a copy, write to the publisher at 95 First Street, Los Altos, CA 94022. Mark Burstein has written a glowing review of the book for Fine Print, vol. 8, #4, October, 1982. $7.50 per issue, P.O. Box 3394, San Francisco, CA 94119. Also in Fine Print, this time in vol. 8, #3, for July 1982 is Dr. Giuliano's four-page review of Barry Moser's Pennyroyal Alice. There couldn't be anyone who hasn't seen either the $1000-plus hook, the University of California's Collector's Edition at $195, or the trade edition at $19.95-24.95. This book is not for children, but every adult should have several copies. Mr. Moser has promised recently that the $15(X) Looking Glass will be released earlier than July. Alice in Pnzzleland by Raymond Smullyan, "A Carrollian Tale for Children Under Eighty", with an introduction by Martin Gardner and illustrated by Greer Fitting has been published by William Morrow at $12.50. This is a simply delightful collection of puzzles, logical and metalogical problems, and dark philosophical paradoxes. CLD would have loved it. William Rushton reads Alice in Wonderland on a two-cassette package from Listen For Pleasure, Ltd. , of Canada, #7063, mono, at your book or record store for about $13. Cassette Classics from The Mind's Eye, P.O. Box 6727, San Francisco, CA 94101, also has two cassettes: one Alice, and one Looking Glass . Introductory price is $4.95 each. Cassette Productions, 811 South 500 West, Bountiful, Utah 84010 has produced AAIW and TTLG unabridged on cassette tapes as read by Professors Richard and Marilyn Scharine of the University of Utah. These sell for $7.95 per set (less 25% for Society Members, or $5.96) plus $1.50 for postage. The World of Entertainment: (Audio-visual department) The Public Broadcasting Service's Movie of the Week for the last of December was a series of Betty Boop cartoons. Included prominently was "Betty in Blunderland". On January 2nd, the ABC television network program, "Ripley's Believe It or Not" re-created the Golden Afternoon on the Isis. Jack Palance narrated the story, gave a short word-picture of Carroll, and showed a smiling Alice listening to every word. Film clips from the Charlotte Henry classic were interspersed into the tale, and the fateful auction during which Dr. Rosenbach bought the manuscript was shown. This scene even had a smiling Mrs. Hargreaves portrayed. Credit for the publication of AAIW was given to the urgings of Henry Kingsley alone, but otherwise it was more believable than not. Alice in Blunderland, an antinuclear musical play was seen in several cities in Ohio during the summer. Legacy, Inc. sponsored the production, and plans to show it to Congress this Spring. A short version was recorded by Audio Recording Studios in Cleveland. The editor has not been able to track down any further data and would appreciate assistance in finding a source for the record. Mark Burstein presented an illustrated lecture on "Aliceology" to the Chapin School in New York last winter. A report was published in the Chapin Limelight for April 1982. Also Noted: AAIW was given daily by the San Francisco Shakespeare Company in Levi Plaza during the last two weeks of December. No reviews are available. AIW by the City of Toronto Ballet opened October 16th in Syracuse, New York. TTLG, an exhibit found at Wistariahurst Museum, Holyoke, Mass, Nov-Dec '82, featured Moser engravings and old movies. Morton Cohen lectured on Lewis Carroll and His World for the Smithsonian Institution on October 21st. Valerie Bierman of the Edinburgh Children's Book Group sent a Carrollian exhibition throughout Scotland from May to October which included items from Dodgson family collections. Scientific American Medicine's 1982 chapter on Neurology mentions the "Alice in Wonderland Syndrome". Mad Magazine for September '82 has a parody of "60 Minutes" with many Alician characters looking at nuclear power. Columbia University's Alumni magazine for June '82 relives the 1932 exhibit and ceremonies of that frabjous day when Alice Hargreaves came to town. Douglas Adams' series of novels, dramatized on public TV as "The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy" has scattered Carrollian themes, often lightly disguised: e.g., the answer to the ultimate question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is "42". The Stamp Collector for July 12, 1982 featured the British Post Office's Alice stamp, and a fairly long story about Carroll next to a recipe for the orange marmalade encountered during "the fall". Ken Oultram of the Lewis Carroll Society of Daresbury asks if anyone knows the location of a photograph taken by LC of Walton Hall near Warrington around 1860? The picture is believed to be in the U.S. (Clatterwick Hall, Little Leigh, Northwich, Cheshire, England.) Please Do Not Buy "Queen of Hearts" by Kaye Dobkin, Dell/Danbury, $3.50. This outrageous piece of trash has the ghost of CLD attempting rape of a modern pre-pubescent Alice, and then inciting her to murder! Your editor threw up. More Bargains: Dr. Morton Cohen's fabulous two-volume collection of "The Letters of Lewis Carroll" has been reduced from $60 to $12.98. TennieVs Alice, edited by Garvey and Bond, reduced to $3.50 at the Metropolitan Museum Shop. (Wrappers) "Grandville's Animals" by Holme, $8.95, and Grandvilles' Collected Works (in German) reduced to $19.98 (two volumes). Grandville's animal-people hive been accused of being the models for the Tenniel drawings and Carroll's sketches. "Camera, Victorian Eyewitness' by MacDonald, down to $9.95. Julia Cameron's photo of Alice Liddell is on the jacket and there are CLD photos inside. "The Gardener's Song", from an edition limited to 99 copies, is available from Joseph Vogel, 26 W. Dunedin Rd. , Columbus, Ohio 43214. Each page is done in different hand-lettering by this 77-year old artist. Originally $30, now $25, this edition is worth seeing. Mr. Vogel has also done the Jabberwocky, and promises a full refund if the books are returned for any reason. Libraries at both Harvard and Princeton have copies. Messner's Classic Editions published by Simon & Schuster released AAIW and TTLG in a handsome volume illustrated by John Speirs just in time for Christmas last. "Filled with unexpected whimsical details and lyrically magical renditions of the characters, this book absolutely sparkles." The "fantasy drawings" are not always near the section of text to which they relate, but otherwise this is a significant new set of artistic interpretations. $14.95 Ivor Wynne Jones, our correspondent in Wales, has designed stamps for the Llechwedd Slate Caverns Railway Underground Post commemorating the 150th birthday of LC and the 130th of Alice Liddell. Bilingual sheets of the stamps are available from the Lelchwedd Slate Caverns, Blaenau Ffestinoig, Gwynedd, LL41 4NB, Wales, U.K. Specify the Alice Issue. $2.50 includes the airmail postage. Charles M. Ware, 127B Arkansas Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, is offering Society members large discounts on his superb, fantastic Alician art. The Alice Suite, ten etchings and engravings on Arches paper, have been sold for $125 each and are now $75 a sheet. Larger and smaller works in various media are $35 to $350 each, and each is a signed, limited edition, original graphic production. Mr. Ware's sci-fi and fantasy works have been widely displayed, and are much sought-after. Write to the artist (or to the editor) for a descriptive list. Milli Graffi of Milan has an interesting new Snark. Copies may be ordered from Rocco Fontana, Edizione del Labirinto, via Rosario 7, 75100 Matera, Italy. Ask for the Carta Scoperte with the Snualo. L. 10,000 plus postage. The Knight Letter is the official newsletter of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America and is distributed free to all members . It is edited bySandor Burstein, in cooperation with the Society's Editorial Board. Subscriptions, business correspondence and inquiries should be addressed to the Secretary, The Lewis Carroll Society of North America, 61 7 Rockford Road, Silver Spring, MD 20902 . Submissions and editorial correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Sandor G . Burstein, Editor, The Knight Letter, 2233 Post Street, Suite 102, San Francisco, CA 94115. Lewis Carroll Society of North America Non-Profit Org. 617 Rockford Road U.S. Postage Silver Spring, MD 20902 PAID Permit No. 2815 Silver Spring, MD