The (almost really) Complete Works of Lewis Carroll

This is (or rather: should be) a complete edition of all texts by Lewis Carroll.¹ Well, of course it isn’t. But it is the most complete collection I know of, and according to the scope (which I think is a very reasonable one) only a few texts are missing in it.

It started as a personal project to collect some texts, but then grew more and more until it reached its current state. Originally I only planned a PDF file generated from a LaTeX source, but then decided to also produce HTML files. Both versions should have the same content, similar formatting, and only differ in the presentation.

The Scope of This Collection

The most difficult thing in creating a collection is to decide on the scope. No matter how you decide, once you try to follow your plan, you will end up adding more and more works, because if you added this, then you also have to add that, and so on. One example: You might try to limit the collection to all literary works by Lewis Carroll. This will exclude Euclid and his Modern Rivals. Sure, this is a mathematical book by C. L. Dodgson. But it also is a literary work with Carrollian humour. So you just have to add it, as the collection would be incomplete otherwise. But once you added that, you no longer have a real reason to exclude other mathematical books (after all, some of them contain literary portions, too), so you will add those, and so on.

I first tried to limit myself to published works. This seemed to work well, but there were a few unpublished works I wanted to add, too. And the few works soon became more and more, until I could hardly declare them as a few exceptions. So I decided to give up on a restrictive limit of the scope.

On the other hand, there are a few problems with adding all works. Even in electronic form they take away space. And it takes time to add them properly. The current rules about which works are included into this collection and which aren’t are these:

Carroll wrote almost 50 books (including some larger pamphlets, which make about half that number). All these are at least listed. Some “uninteresting” mathematical books are only very partially included, and some not at all. “Uninteresting” is of course very subjective, but means that more or less nobody would even think about looking at that book if it had a different author. Also parts by other authors are omitted, this also applies to translations of Euclid. Some parts like the table of contents and advertisements have been omitted for all books.

Carroll also contributed several hundreds (the number depends very much on whether and how you count all the “Doublets” columns, and will be either about 200 or about 300) of articles and letters to almost 50 magazines and newspapers. These are all included. But given that this collection is the only one (at least the only one I know of) to mention and reprint “The Priest in Absolution” from the Pall Mall Gazette and Mr. Gladstone’s New Book from the St. James’s Gazette (well, this actually is mentioned in the Lewis Carroll Handbook, but without proper citation),² there sure are still some unknown articles waiting hidden in some archives to be found.

Offprints and reprints from contributions to magazines and newspapers are in most cases just mentioned, but even in case of small changes not included additionally. Many of these reprints are actually nowhere listed, Lewis Carroll and the Press mentions some, but searching digitized newspaper archives will give many more.

In a few cases magazines published letters Carroll sent to the editor, but probably didn’t intend to have them published. These are not included in this collection.

Carroll also had hundreds of pamphlets (again the number depends on how you count, and will be something up to 200) printed, or (since 1877) produced them himself with an electric pen or similar devices, or (a few since 1888) with a typewriter. These, too, are included. The exceptions are the offprints mentioned above (though in some cases the border between an offprint and a separate pamphlet is hard to draw), circular letters (including most of what he had printed as Curator of Common Room), works he only compiled, and some other strange stuff. For these omitted pamphlets sources are given, so you can find them if you want to read them.

Carroll left some unpublished galley proofs, either because at some point stopped working on them, or because he died before he could finish them. Of these a few are also included into this collection, for legal reasons only if they have been published long enough ago. Galley proofs of books he did publish are not included.

The most difficult part are the lots of manuscripts: It is almost impossible to draw the line between manuscripts that deserve inclusion among his works and those that are mere scribbles on note-sheets. I took the Lewis Carroll Handbook and the Pamphlets series as rough guidelines as to which of them to include. I excluded all manuscripts not in English, that is, the two known poems in Latin, the first one from 1844, quoted by Collingwood (Life and Letters, p. 23), the second from 1882 in a scrapbook of Thomas Verse Bayne (https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/179a125e-2800-4d02-982c-a019bc761392/surfaces/88c913e4-fe5a-4991-b794-c27774965183/). Again, for legal reasons only those published long enough ago are included. In the section with missing manuscripts I listed more manuscripts that still exist, but still excluded several papers that don’t seem worth for listing there. Most of these are mentioned and some reprinted in the notes to the published diaries.

Among the works out of scope of this collection are his diaries, including the Russian Journal from 1867.

Also excluded are his letters, but there is one exception: Poems from letters (or inscribed into book presents, etc.) are treated like manuscripts, that is, most are included, especially if they are reprinted in traditional “complete” collections. A few of these poems were printed by him with minor variations, in most cases these are not included additionally. Also note that in some cases the only known source is not the final poem, but only a draft version Carroll kept for himself.

Also missing in this collection are Carroll’s photographs and drawings (except for a few exceptions).

Of course most of his sermons are missing, in fact, only one sermon was published. But at least a list of all known (from his diaries, note that the diary for the time of his first sermons is missing, and he might not have recorded all his sermons) sermons is given here, as the choice of topics is very interesting and much neglected until now. (Very interesting: While working on liar problems in logic, he preached on “All men are liars.”) Unless otherwise noted the date is always an “ordinary” sunday. Where Carroll gives quotes for the text, I took them unchanged (and in a few cases corrected the verse number), where he only gave a verse number, I added the quote (hoping the verse is correct). When he preached on the same text more than one time, the quote is only given for the first time (which allows you to quickly identify such repetitions).

And of course the riddles and stories he told many times, but never wrote down, are missing here, too.

Some of these missing contents you can find in other books, there are some lists in the section on Further Reading.

The Contents of This Collection

While the previous section gave you a rather technical overview about what kinds of text you will find in this collection, this section will tell you more about its contents.

Of course, you will find the Alice books which made Carroll famous. There’s not much to say about them except for the fact that much can be said about them. But there are many books that do so, first of all Martin Gardner’s annotated editions, and they do this much better than I could do it.

Among the novels there are also the two volumes of Sylvie and Bruno. This sometimes is viewed as a difficult work, and—indeed—it is not easy. I had to read it several times before I could really understand and appreciate the book, but it is a book you not only can read several times, but which you should read several times.

You will also find a lot of texts dealing with some Oxford matters. Many of them a hard to understand today, because they allude to people and events long forgotten. The Picture Book has some introductions and the Oxford Pamphlets extensive notes that will help you. Again, these books do a much better job than I could do.

Since Carroll was a mathematician, this collection also contains many mathematical books. The early ones deal with geometry, with Euclidian geometry, to be precise, because non-Euclidian geometry was still very young in these days, and Carroll rejected these new ideas like many others on more or less philosophical grounds.

Starting with voting on university matters Carroll wrote about mathematical voting theory, later turning his interests to parliamentary elections. You will find many interesting ideas among these texts, some which are a matter of course today, some that are as new today as they were then.

Some of his mathematical texts deal with infinitesimals. At that time they were just a shadowy idea not clearly understood. A strict foundation of Analysis without infinitesimals was developed only since the 1870s, which now forms the usual basis of mathematics. But in 1961 Robinson developed a strict theory of infinitesimals, which formalizes the intuitive ideas of Carroll and his contemporaries.

Take for example Carroll’s view in the Note on Question 7695. Most modern mathematicians will agree with Simmons, but in Nonstandard Analysis Carroll’s view can be formalized: Choose some infinite nonstandard natural number, and let the players play for that many rounds at most. Then the inifinite sum will become a *-finite one. To be precise: Let $\omega ∊{\mathbb{N}}^{*}\setminus \mathbb{N}$. Then A’s chance is $k\sum _{i=0}^{\omega }((1-k)(1-l){)}^i=k\cdot \frac{1-((1-k)(1-l){)}^{\omega +1}}{1-(1-k)(1-l)}=\frac{k}{k+l-kl}\cdot (1-((1-k)(1-l){)}^{\omega +1})$ Similarly B’s chance is $\frac{(1-k)l}{k+l-kl}\cdot (1-((1-k)(1-l){)}^{\omega +1})$. The probability of a draw is what remains to 1, i. e. $((1-k)(1-l){)}^{\omega +1}$. This actually means that the ratio, of A’s expectation to B’s, is exactly $\frac{k}{(1-k)l}$, but there is still an infinitesimal chance of a draw, the ratio being $k:(1-k)l:(k+l-kl)\cdot \frac{((1-k)(1-l){)}^{\omega +1}}{1-((1-k)(1-l){)}^{\omega +1}}$.

Some other treatment of probabilities can be explained by its state at that time. To properly understand in which cases probabilities are additiv, it is necessary to understand the different kinds of infinity. This theory was developed by Cantor in the late 1870s, and only accepted some time later. The consequences for probability theory were first really understood by Kolmogorov in the 1930s.

The question 9588 can be interpreted in two different ways: Modern mathematicians will again agree with Simmons, on the ground that there are countably many rational points, but uncountably many irrational ones. But is this the interpretation Carroll had in mind? Can a point be randomly selected that ca’n’t be constructed? If you use as base only constructible points, the paradox appears as stated by Carroll, since there are only countably many constructible points. The solution is that there isn’t a natural random distribution: Any random distribution on the set of all constructible points must give to some points a positive chance of being selected, and different points can have different chances. Without an explicit distribution the question ca’n’t be answered if thus interpreted.

Pillow-Problem 45 suffers from a similar difficulty, neither do we know how the random breaking is done, nor how many “an infinite number” really is. Also problem 58 lacks an explicit random distribution, and allows for different solutions with different results, being similar to the Bertrand paradox.

On the other hand, the famous Pillow-Problem 72 isn’t a problem in probability theory, but in “Transcendental Probabilities”. That is, it is a clever paradox, the real problem is to detect the fallacy in the solution.

In his later years Carroll turned to logic. As I understand it, he tried to formalize the natural language and its reasoning. This is different from modern logic which has given up in trying to adapt to “normal reasoning”, and therefore is sometimes regarded as strange. The most difficult part is to formalize “if a then b”. Modern logic uses two different symbols in different situations, $a\to b$ and $a⊢b$. That two different symbols are necessary can be seen in What the Tortoise Said to Achilles. But why shouldn’t there be a third? “If the moon were made of cheese, it would taste like chocolate” is true in modern logic, but Carroll would say it is false. It would taste like cheese, not like chocolate. (You can find a more mathematical example in Euclid and His Modern Rivals.) Note the tight connection to existential import: “All moons made of cheese taste like chocolate” is a similar or even equivalent variant. Unfortunately, we ca’n’t know what kind of formalization Carroll would have invented had he lived long enough to complete his studies, but perhaps it would have been similar to Hugh MacColl’s ideas.

But not only late works are included, you will also find very early works in this collection, including La Guida di Bragia, which really deserves more attention than it got by only reprinting the prologue. Also included are his family magazines and other early manuscripts.

You will even find some books that never were published. Carroll listed his literary plans in his diary on March 29, 1885:

(1) Supplement to “Euclid and Modern Rivals,” now being set up in pages. This will contain the review of Henrici and extracts from reviews of “E. & M. R.” with my remarks on them. I think of printing 250.

(2) 2nd Edition of “Euc. and Mod. Rivals,” this I am correcting for press, and shall embody above in it.

(3) A book of Math. curiosities, which I think of calling “Pillow Problems, and other Math. Trifles.” This will contain Problems worked out in the dark, Logarithms without Tables, Sines and angles do., a paper I am now writing, on “Infinities and Infinitesimals,” condensed Long Multiplication, and perhaps others.

(4) “Euclid V,” treating Incommensurables by a method of Limits, which I have nearly completed.

(5) “Plain Facts for Circle-Squarers,” which is nearly complete, and gives actual proof of limits 3.14158, 3.14160.

(6) A symbolical Logic, treated by my algebraic method.

(7) “A Tangled Tale,” with answers, and perhaps illustrated by Mr. Frost.

(8) A collection of Games and Puzzles of my devising, with fairy pictures by Miss E. G. Thomson. This might also contain my “Mem. Tech.” for dates &c., my “Cipher-writing,” scheme for Letter-registration, &c., &c.

(9) Nursery “Alice,” for which 20 pictures are now being coloured by Mr. Tenniel.

(10) Serious poems in “Phantasmagoria.” I think of calling it “Reason and Rhyme,” and hope to get Mr. Furniss to draw for it.

(11) “Alice’s Adventures Underground,” a facsimile of the MS. book, lent me by “Alice” (Mrs. Hargreaves). I am now in correspondence with Dalziel about it.

(12) “Girl’s Own Shakespeare.” I have begun on “Tempest.”

(13) New edition of “Parliamentary Representation,” embodying supplement &c.

(14) New edition of “Euc. I., II,” for which I am now correcting edition 4.

(15) The new child’s book, which Mr. Furniss is to illustrate: he has now “Peter and Paul” to begin on. I have settled on no name as yet, but it will perhaps be “Sylvie and Bruno.”

I have other shadowy ideas, e. g., a Geometry for Boys, a vol. of Essays on theological points freely and plainly treated, and a drama on “Alice” (for which Mr. Mackenzie would write music) […]

What became of these? (1), (2), (7), (9), (11), (14) and (15) were published as planned, (10) under the title “Three Sunsets and Other Poems” and without drawings by Mr. Furniss. (3) was published with less content than planned, but you will find some parts of the omitted content in the fragments of Curiosa Mathematica. Part III. Carroll started publishing (6) with The Game of Logic, which can be called “volume zero” of the series, and also the real volume one. The rest exists in some galley proofs and manuscripts, some of them included in this collection. Some content of (5) survives, you will find the preface in this collection. Most of the content of (8) exists, the fairy pictures made it into Three Sunsets and Other Poems, the scheme for letter-registration into Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter-Writing, and many games had been published separately and will be found in their own section in this collection. One essay on theological points exists, Eternal Punishment. The dramatization of “Alice” was done by H. Savile Clarke, with music by Walter Slaughter. Carroll’s additions are added to the poems in the poem section.

Speaking of poems, the poem section will give you not only the popular and often reprinted poems, but also early variants of them, as well as some not so widely spread ones.

This collection also contains some texts where it is not clear whether Lewis Carroll really is the author. These texts all have a note mentioning this fact. On the other hand, I excluded several poems found in other collections, because they are most certainly not by Carroll. The poem Who Killed Cock Robin? appeared anonymously since mid-1881 in many newspapers. The first appearance I could find is from June 4, 1881 in the Rothesay Chronicle (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001909/18810604/062/0004), titled The Transvaal Muddle. This first variant has one additional verse and some other variations. Since then it was reprinted frequently and with modifications. Apparently Carroll just copied the poem. The poem starting “I have wandered” from A New Theory of Parallels appeared as The Fate of Genius in Punch’s Pocket Book for 1861. The poem “He took a second-story flat” from a letter written Feb. 28, 1890 is actually quoted (though not very accurately) from Beauty and the Beast by Albert Smith. And then there are lots of poems he wrote next to his photographs. These are often (sometimes explicitely, sometimes implicitely) attributed to him, and in most cases erroneously so. These poems are: To a Child (“O child! O new-born denizen”) by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Children on the Shore (“We are building little homes on the sands”) by Menella Smedley, The Daisy (“No sooner does the sun appear”) by Edwin Lee (in his book The Botanical Looker-out Among the Wild Flowers), My Daughters on the Beach (“Pretty little legs”, though it is actually “Pretty rosy legs”) by John Richard Green, The Vision of Sin (“You are bones, and what of that?”) by Alfred Tennyson, The May Queen (“There’s many a black, black eye”) by Alfred Tennyson, A Lay of the Early Rose (“A rose once grew within”) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, some lines from The Lady of the Lake (“Come one, come all! This rock shall fly”) by Walter Scott and from Twelfth Night (“My father had a daughter loved a man”) by William Shakespeare. The only of these verses that I ca’n’t find a source for are the other “daisy” verses (“Sweet, all sweets above”, https://figgy.princeton.edu/viewer#?manifest=https://figgy.princeton.edu/concern/scanned_resources/a744c172-b7f7-4f17-8a0b-2768f654153f/manifest&c=&m=&s=&cv=18&xywh=-3758%2C-687%2C17985%2C13708). This might be by Carroll, it could even be part of his acrostic on “Daisy Whiteside” (July 15, 1875),³ but even if it is I do not think these four lines worth for inclusion among the poems.

Typography and Changes to the Texts

The texts have been transcribed at different times and (when I didn’t had access to the original text, but only to modern reprints) by different transcribers. Sometimes I wanted to recreate the original look as closely as possible, sometimes I wanted to standardize it, and sometimes I was just lazy. So while the texts should look quite similar to the originals, they may deviate more or less from them.

Also the PDF and the HTML version might differ, especially for things that ca’n’t be reproduced properly in HTML (for texts with math you should use Firefox to view them, or some other browser with proper MathML support), though in some other cases the format of the HTML is better than the PDF.

The most important changes to the typography are the following: The format of the headlines (also note that in some cases the date or some other distinguishing text has been added for works with the same title) and first words of a chapter or poem have been standardized, as well as signatures. Numbering of stanzas is omitted. Underlining in handwriting has been reproduced as italics in most cases, the symbol for “and” (which could be a “&”, or a “+”, or even a Tironian Et) usually as “&”. Dashes are usually reproduced as they are, but in some cases they are changed to follow the convention to use the very long ones for interrupted speach. Seperating rules are usually reproduced by just a larger vertical skip in the PDF, while the HTML version uses different rules. References to other pages etc. have been substituted (with a few exceptions) for the correct reference inside this collection (in the PDF version, the HTML version keeps the original text with a link to the correct place). This also includes some textual changes, like from “previous page” to “this page above” etc. In all cases the reference has been kept as closely as possible to the original. Where the referenced text is not part of this collection, the original reference is kept.

In many cases Carroll published his texts in several variants. The main variant given in this collection is usually the latest version. How the other versions are treated depends on circumstances: For some mathematical books, they are simply omitted. For manuscript poems that were later published with differences, these differences are just mentioned in the header of the text. This is also done where there are only differences in punctuation or similar minor details. Otherwise the changes are marked like this and given in footnotes (if there are more versions, the footnotes will say to which of them they apply, unless they apply to all). In the HTML version the notes appear on click, for this and similar functions you must have JavaScript enabled. In some cases with many changes over a longer time only the differences to the first version are mentioned, not the ones in between. Finally for cases where the differences are too large to present them in footnotes all variants have been included, usually directly after each other, or else with a note where the other versions can be found. In the HTML version these other variants are linked.

In some cases, parts of the works have been omitted if it is some long table or similar text with no real interest. Also some parts of books like the advertisements have not been reproduced here.

Most books aren’t presented in their original form, but have their contents split into several sections, i. e. the preface is in the section with prefaces (unless it is in the same style as the text, in which case it is kept there), any dedication poem is with the other poems, the frontispiece is with the main content, the list of illustrations is omitted, but the entries used a image captions, etc. If you want to read them completely, you should refer to the next section, which lists the original order for all these books, and links to a complete source. If the cover contains images (in most cases these are circular illustrations in gold, which are a bit difficult to reproduce in print, though they are derived from illustrations in the book), they are with the preface, the front cover image at the start, the backcover image at the end.

Most mathematical drawings have been redrawn. In some books images are repeated several times on following pages, this hasn’t been reproduced here. In some cases (especially in manuscripts) the illustrations are carefully embedded into the text. This hasn’t been possible to reproduce in all cases, so sometimes such images are placed outside the text or combined with other images or such minor changes.

Some strange spellings, that could be seen as mistakes have been reproduced as they are, in early works “it’s” is always spelled this way, even if it normally should be spelled “its” (but you use an apostrophe in any other genitive form, so why not here, too?), in later works he writes “ca’n’t” etc., as explained in the preface to Sylvie and Bruno Concluded. Also note that in early works every line starts with a quotation mark when inside a spoken part. Sometimes a single quote is used as continuated quotation. This has only been reproduced in poems. Later works only repeat the quotation mark on the start of a paragraph, or not at all.

Quotes and parodies are annotated in the margin (for whole texts in the header, and in HTML only after a click). A few other remarks are given in footnotes, to distinguish them from the footnotes in the original works, these editorial footnotes start with “Remark:”. In HTML the remarks are shown after a click. Solutions to puzzles and acrostichons are given in the footer.

Of course this collection ca’n’t be better than its sources. As far as possible I used scans of the original texts rather than reprints. Where only reprints are available, in a few cases I had access to different reprints, so I could correct some errors in one reprint by looking at another. These alternative sources are not always mentioned.

All texts have been proofread at least a bit, but due to the large extent, there sure are mistakes. (Even the last volume of the Pamphlets series, which without doubt has been very carefully prepared, has errors. If you don’t believe it, then compare the penultimate line of Richard Hakluyt with the original.) If in doubt, compare with the cited source. In some cases mistakes in the original have been corrected here, sometimes (especially for obvious typesetter errors and punctuation) without note.

How this Book should be read

In Science—in fact, in most things—it is usually best to begin at the beginning. So you might expect the advice: “Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” This certainly is one way in reading this book, but depending on why you read it, it might not be the best way.

If you are interested in a list of all works by Lewis Carroll, but don’t have access to the Lewis Carroll Handbook or other bibliographical lists, or for some reason don’t want to use those, you should look at the next section. It contains several lists, together they contain almost all the works by Lewis Carroll, even those not included in this collection. While not really intended as bibliography, it certainly can be used as such.

If you are interested in one specific work, you should look for it in the next section. If it is included in this book, you should find both an external source for it and the place in this book (or several places, if it has several different parts) where you can find it. Even if it is not included, an external source might be listed. Alternatively, you can look for it in the table of contents.

If you are interested in all texts of a certain type or topic, you should go to that section and just start reading. In most sections, the works are ordered chronologically, with a few exceptions to keep similar texts next to each other. The poems are in alphabetical order, the prefaces in the order in which the books are listed in the list of works, with additional texts inserted where it makes most sense to insert them.

If you are interested in poetry, you should go to the chapter with all poems. This chapter contains even those poems published as part of a story (except for the images), with the exception of other author’s poems that appear as quote and very short rhymes.

Among them there are 23 Acrostics: A boat, beneath a sunny sky, A Nursery Darling, Alice dear, will you join me in hunting the Snark?, Alice dreamed one night, Are you deaf, Father William?, Around my lonely hearth, to-night, To My Pupil, Dear Dolly, since I do not know, Dreams, that elude the Waker’s frenzied grasp, Even while the blinding bandage lies, From the air do they come?, Girlie to whom in perennial bloom, Girt with a Boyish Garb, To my Child-Friend, Is All Our Life, Lines, Love-lighted eyes, Maiden, though thy heart may quail, Maidens, if a maid you meet, Maidens! If you love the tale, Puck Lost and Found, Round the wondrous globe, Love among the Roses

You will also find 9 Double Acrostics: Four Riddles. No. II, I saw a child: even if blind, Double Acrostic (Argles), Near Albury, so runs my lay, Double Acrostic (Kerr), Four Riddles. No. I, Three Children, Double Acrostic (Bremer), Double Acrostic (Hughes)

And 11 Charades: Dedicated to a tea-tea. Why? Oh, when?, Charade (Amy Hughes), My First has no beard, My First heads all atrocity heartrending, My First is a berry, Four Riddles. No. IV, A Riddle, My First we call her when her belt is on, My First’s a drink resembling wine, Four Riddles. No. III, They both make a roaring

And finally 8 other riddle poems: Examination Statute, A Monument, Anagrammatic Sonnet, Puzzles from Wonderland, First, the fish must be caught, The Lyceum, Tell me truly, Maidens three, Puzzle

If you think you already read almost everything (in this case I assume you read the complete Pamphlets series and all well-known books), you will want to read The Priest in Absolution and Mr. Gladstone’s New Book. Perhaps you also missed the first version of Memoria Technica. Are you aware of all the many variants of Lanrick? You might also want to check the list of mathematical books, and the manuscript poems. For example, did you ever read the complete version of Maggie’s Visit to Oxford?

If you want to read everything you can start reading from beginning to the end, but even then it could be better to read the texts in some random order for more variety.

Biographical Overview

Note how perfectly birth, publication of Alice and death are spread over the century. Every 16 or 17 years you can celebrate a round (divisible by 50) anniversary!

About the Editor

Like many others I first came across Lewis Carroll when I read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as a child (in the German translation by Christian Enzensberger). When I was learning English I read it again, this time the original, together with the other works in the so-called “Complete Works”. (By the way, did it help me in learning English? Well, I now speaks English almost as goodly as Bruno, and I’m among the few who get the apostrophes right in words like “ca’n’t”.) Several years later I decided that I wanted to read everything by Lewis Carroll, and started collecting texts I found online and offline. This collection is the result.

The name I use online, “Schnark”, is of course derived from The Hunting of the Snark. (For those who don’t know how to pronounce German, the “Sch” is like the English “sh”.) You might think that in this case I must be able to explain what the Snark really is. If so, I must disappoint you, because I ca’n’t, either. I actually don’t think the Snark is important at all. It isn’t even clear whether there are any real Snarks except Boojums. I think that the only important fact is the friendship between Butcher and Beaver.