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Should you be hunting for a snark, this might be helpful. Henry Holiday drew this for the first edition of Lewis Carroll’s Hunting of the Snark, but it never saw print. As Holiday recalled later: "Mr. Dodgson wrote that it was a delightful monster, but that it was inadmissible. All his descriptions of the Boojum [Carroll’s name for the snark] were quite unimaginable, and he wanted the creature to remain so. I assented, of course, though reluctant to dismiss what I am still confident is an accurate representation. I hope that some future Darwin, in a new Beagle, will find the beast, or its remains; if he does, I know he will confirm my drawing."
Requires Photography
The Snark, for "The Hunting of the Snark"
1876
Medium/Technique
Graphite pencil on tracing paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 20.8 x 19.4 cm (8 3/16 x 7 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
John H. and Ernestine A. Payne Fund
Accession Number55.2304
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsDrawings
Should you be hunting for a snark, this might be helpful. Henry Holiday drew this for the first edition of Lewis Carroll’s Hunting of the Snark, but it never saw print. As Holiday recalled later: "Mr. Dodgson wrote that it was a delightful monster, but that it was inadmissible. All his descriptions of the Boojum [Carroll’s name for the snark] were quite unimaginable, and he wanted the creature to remain so. I assented, of course, though reluctant to dismiss what I am still confident is an accurate representation. I hope that some future Darwin, in a new Beagle, will find the beast, or its remains; if he does, I know he will confirm my drawing."
DescriptionHoliday prepared this drawing for the 1876 edition of "The Hunting of the Snark," but Lewis Carroll decided to omit the work from the publication.
ProvenanceHarold T. Hartley, England (b. 1851 - d. 1943); Sir Harold Hartley, London, England (b. 1878 - d. 1972); 1955, purchased from Hartley by the MFA . (Accession Date: April 14,1955)