The Beaver

This is about an illustration in a well known book: Lewis Carroll's and Henry Holiday's The Hunting of the Snark . [top]: Redrawn segment of the print orartie van de Professor L. Wolsogen over syndroom en de nytlegging van de felue gadaen ... by an anonymous artist (1674). The print now is located at British Museum, BM Satires 1047, reg.no. 1868,0808.3286 . [bottom]: Segment of an illustration by Henry Holiday to the chapter The Hunting in Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (1876)

[left (colored mirror view) and right (original)]: a segment from an illustration (1876) by Henry Holiday to The Hunting of the Snark [center]: Portrait (1615) of Mary Throckmorton Lady Scudamor by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger. Here Holiday's creativity and playing with zoomorphism gave life to a scarf. · The coloring of the gloves I added to Henry Holiday's illustration based on Lewis Carroll's poem . The Beaver's color I just guessed ;-) · · 057· · He came as a Butcher: but gravely declared, · · 058· · · · When the ship had been sailing a week, · · 059· · He could only kill Beavers. The Bellman looked scared, · · 060· · · · And was almost too frightened to speak: · · 285· · But the Butcher turned nervous, and dressed himself fine, · · 286 · · · · With yellow kid gloves and a ruff -- · · 287· · Said he felt it exactly like going to dine, · · 288· · · · Which the Bellman declared was all "stuff." · · 409· · Such friends, as the Beaver and Butcher became, · · 410· · · · Have seldom if ever been known; · · 411· · In winter or summer, 'twas always the same-- · · 412· · · · You could never meet either alone.

Henry Holiday reinterprets Marcus Gheeraerts II in The Hunting of the Snark [left]: Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger: Catherine Killigrew , Lady Jermyn (1614) [right]: Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger: Mary Throckmorton , Lady Scudamore (1615) [center]: Henry Holiday: Segment of an illustration to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (1876) · · 057· · He came as a Butcher: but gravely declared, · · 058· · · · When the ship had been sailing a week, · · 059· · He could only kill Beavers. The Bellman looked scared, · · 060· · · · And was almost too frightened to speak: · · 285· · But the Butcher turned nervous, and dressed himself fine, · · 286 · · · · With yellow kid gloves and a ruff -- · · 287· · Said he felt it exactly like going to dine, · · 288· · · · Which the Bellman declared was all "stuff." · · 409· · Such friends, as the Beaver and Butcher became, · · 410· · · · Have seldom if ever been known; · · 411· · In winter or summer, 'twas always the same-- · · 412· · · · You could never meet either alone.

In Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark , the intertextuality of the poem is paralleled by the interpictoriality of Henry Holiday's illustrations: Here Henry Holiday reinterprets Marcus Gheeraerts I+II. The image above shows Henry Holiday's illustration to the chapter The Banker's Fate . (A small part of the left side has been removed in order to achieve a 4:3 ratio. The largest size is 5696 x 4352 pixels.) To Holiday's illustration I added images from which, in my opinion, he had borrowed shapes and concepts: (1) Under the Banker's arm: * Horizontally compressed segment of The Image Breakers (1566-1568) aka Allegory of Iconoclasm , an etching by Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder (British Museum, Dept. of Print and Drawings, 1933.1.1..3, see also Edward Hodnett: Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder, Utrecht 1971, pp. 25-29). I mirrored the "nose" about a horizontal axis (yellow frame). (2) Under the Beaver's paw (mirror views): * [top]: Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger: Catherine Killigrew , Lady Jermyn (1614) * [bottom, mirror view]: Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger: Mary Throckmorton , Lady Scudamore (1615)

Illustration by Henry Holiday (cut by Joseph Swain) to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark , 1876. Why should a peaceful activity like lace-making (see below or lines #277 to #280 of the Snark ) have "proved an infringement of right"? This image may have been used to symbolize dissection in context with C. L. Dodgson's (aka Lewis Carroll's) involvement in the vivisection debate . 053 · · The last of the crew needs especial remark, 054· · · · Though he looked an incredible dunce: 055· · He had just one idea--but, that one being "Snark," 056· · · · The good Bellman engaged him at once. 057· · He came as a Butcher: but gravely declared, 058· · · · When the ship had been sailing a week, 059· · He could only kill Beavers. The Bellman looked scared, 060· · · · And was almost too frightened to speak: 061· · But at length he explained, in a tremulous tone, 062· · · · There was only one Beaver on board; 063· · And that was a tame one he had of his own, 064· · · · Whose death would be deeply deplored. 065· · The Beaver, who happened to hear the remark, 066· · · · Protested, with tears in its eyes, 067· · That not even the rapture of hunting the Snark 068· · · · Could atone for that dismal surprise! 069· · It strongly advised that the Butcher should be 070· · · · Conveyed in a separate ship: 071· · But the Bellman declared that would never agree 072· · · · With the plans he had made for the trip: 073· · Navigation was always a difficult art, 074· · · · Though with only one ship and one bell: 075· · And he feared he must really decline, for his part, 076· · · · Undertaking another as well. 077· · The Beaver's best course was, no doubt, to procure 078· · · · A second-hand dagger-proof coat-- 079· · So the Baker advised it-- and next, to insure 080· · · · Its life in some Office of note: 081· · This the Banker suggested, and offered for hire 082· · · · (On moderate terms), or for sale, 083· · Two excellent Policies, one Against Fire, 084· · · · And one Against Damage From Hail. 085· · Yet still, ever after that sorrowful day, 086· · · · Whenever the Butcher was by, 087· · The Beaver kept looking the opposite way, 088· · · · And appeared unaccountably shy. And if that was not enough: 273 · · The Boots and the Broker were sharpening a spade-- 274 · · · · Each working the grindstone in turn: 275 · · But the Beaver went on making lace, and displayed 276 · · · · No interest in the concern: 277 · · Though the Barrister tried to appeal to its pride, 278 · · · · And vainly proceeded to cite 279 · · A number of cases, in which making laces 280 · · · · Had been proved an infringement of right . 421 · · But the Barrister, weary of proving in vain 422 · · · · That the Beaver's lace-making was wrong, 423 · · Fell asleep, and in dreams saw the creature quite plain 424 · · · · That his fancy had dwelt on so long. (from Lewis Carroll's and Henry Holiday's The Hunting of the Snark , 1876) Links: o Charles Darwin: www.ipernity.com/doc/goetzkluge/album/370833 o Eva Amsen, Alice's Adventures in Animal Experimentation , 2007-09-19, easternblot.net/2007/09/19/alices_adventures_in_animal_experimentation o Lewis Carroll, Some Popular Fallacies About Vivisection , Fortnightly Review [London: 1865-1934] 23 (1875 Jun): 847-854; Online at Animal Rights History, 2003. www.animalrightshistory.org/animal-rights-quotes/literatu... o On the usage of lace-needles with microscopes see pg. 391 in Darwin, C. R. 1849, On the use of the microscope on board ship , in Owen, R., Zoology. In Herschel, J. F. W. ed., A manual of scientific enquiry; prepared for the use of Her Majesty's Navy, and adapted for travellers in general. London: John Murray, pp. 389-395. "Circular discs of fine-textured cork, of the size of the saucers (with one or two circular springs of steel-wire to keep the cork at the bottom of the water), serve for fixing objects to be dissected by direct instead of transmitted light. For this end short fine pins and lace-needles should be procured; wherever it is possible, the animal ought to be fixed to the cork under water." darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=side&i... o Jed Mayer: The vivisection of the Snark , 2009-06-22: Victorian Poetry (Amazon etext in HTML) www.amazon.com/vivisection-Snark-fictional-animal-Report/... o Rod Preece: Darwinism, Christianity, and the Great Vivisection Debate , Journal of the History of Ideas - Volume 64, Number 3, July 2003, pp. 399-419 www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3654233 o Letters on vivisection from/to Charles Darwin: www.darwinproject.ac.uk/advanced-search?as-corresp=&as-person=&as-place=&ask-content=vivisection&asv-content=as-body&as-year-from=&as-year-to=&as-set=&as-physdesc=&as-volume=&as-repository=&as-calnum=&as-n=&intercept=adv&asp-page=0&as-type=letter&asdesc=#type=letters&secondKeyword=vivisection&sort=date&itemsPerPage=25&currentPage=1&filterOperand=AND o People related to vivisection and Charles Darwin: www.darwinproject.ac.uk/advanced-search?as-corresp=&as-person=&as-place=&ask-content=vivisection&asv-content=as-body&as-year-from=&as-year-to=&as-set=&as-physdesc=&as-volume=&as-repository=&as-calnum=&as-n=&intercept=adv&asp-page=0&as-type=letter&asdesc=#type=people&keyword=vivisection&sort=title&itemsPerPage=25&currentPage=1&filterOperand=AND

"What can science reveal of the nature of man and the universe of which it is a part? This is the quest of the Snark." (Philo M. Buck: "Science, Literatur, and the Hunting of the Snark ", College English, Vol. 4, No. 1, Oct., 1942 ) I too think, that Carroll's poem is about science. It also is about the challenges of scientific research, to beliefs. This depiction of the Snark hunting party conducting a land expedition is one of Henry Holiday's illustrations to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (1876).

From Henry Holiday's illustrations to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (1876) 357 · · So engrossed was the Butcher, he heeded them not, 358 · · · · As he wrote with a pen in each hand, 359 · · And explained all the while in a popular style 360 · · · · Which the Beaver could well understand. 361 · · “Taking Three as the subject to reason about— 362 · · · · A convenient number to state— 363 · · We add Seven, and Ten, and then multiply out 364 · · · · By One Thousand diminished by Eight. 365 · · “The result we proceed to divide, as you see, 366 · · · · By Nine Hundred and Ninety Two: 367 · · Then subtract Seventeen, and the answer must be 368 · · · · Exactly and perfectly true. 369 · · “The method employed I would gladly explain, 370 · · · · While I have it so clear in my head, 371 · · If I had but the time and you had but the brain— 372 · · · · But much yet remains to be said. 373 · · “In one moment I’ve seen what has hitherto been 374 · · · · Enveloped in absolute mystery, 375 · · And without extra charge I will give you at large 376 · · · · A Lesson in Natural History.” High resolution: - www.ipernity.com/doc/goetzkluge/37490830 - www.ipernity.com/doc/goetzkluge/36365750 - www.academia.edu/11375165/The_Beavers_Lesson

From Henry Holiday's illustrations to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (1876)

The color markers in both images show, to which pictorial elements in a 1674 print Henry Holiday alluded in his illustration to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (lower image, 1876) in the chapter The Hunting . The print (upper image by an anonymous artist, redrawn by me) is the orartie van de Professor L. Wolsogen over syndroom en de nytlegging van de felue gadaen ... . The animals in that print are based on illustrations by M. Gheeraerts the Elder to Aesop's Fables. (The print now is located at British Museum, BM Satires 1047, reg.no.: 1868,0808.3286 . A scan of the original print showing more details can be obtained from the museum.) Holiday alluded to that 1674 image depicting William III as well as the allegorical figures for "religion" and "liberty". He discussed with Dodgson (Carroll) about the possible allegorical depiction of "care and hope". Interestingly, the two female members of the hunting crew also are quite similar to the allegories of "religion" and "liberty" shown in the 1674 print, the conflict between both probably being also conflict for the reverend Dodgson. I made this image in the year 2010. The little inset with the yellow frame was my first presentation (2009-07-09) of the comparison.