The Hunting of the Snark

@snarkhunt.bsky.social

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Mainly about Henry Holiday's illustrations to Lewis Carroll’s "The Hunting of the Snark" by @goetzkluge.bsky.social ※ My Snark blog since 2017: https://snrk.de ※ SNARK! card game: @snark.games ※ 150th Snark anniversary 2026: @snark150.bsky.social

Book cover of Lewis Carroll's 'Sylvie and Bruno Concluded'
In 1872, the Christ Church College Cathedral belfry showed damages which made it necessary to rehouse its bells elsewhere. Driven by Dean Henry George Liddel, the New Belfry project started in 1872. The new bell tower was to be placed at the top right corner of Tom Quad, above the staircase to the dining hall. Alas, money run out and a very simple big wooden cube served as the new temporary belfry. It was so simple that C.L. Dodgson associated it with, among other shapes, a new design pattern for bonnet-boxes and bathing-machines. Later that economy belfry shyly went into hiding behind the walls of George Frederick Bodley’s belfry built from 1876 to 1879. Inside the belfry the wooden structure still can be seen. An excerpt from Dodgson’s Oxford squib The New Belfry of Christ Church where “Bathing-machines” are mentioned: «§ 7. On the impetus given to Art in England by the new Belfry, Ch. Ch. The idea has spread far and wide, and is rapidly pervading all branches of manufacture. Already an enterprising maker of bonnet-boxes is advertising ‘the Belfry pattern’: two builders of bathing-machines at Ramsgate have followed his example: one of the great London houses is supplying ‘bar-soap’ cut in the same striking and symmetrical form: and we are credibly informed that Borwick’s Baking Powder and Thorley’s Food for Cattle are now sold in no other shape.» Source: https://snrk.de/page_the-new-belfry/
From https://snrk.de/douglas-adams-and-lewis-carroll/ : By Douglas Adams, alt.fan.douglas-adams (quoted in http://groups.google.com/groups?safe=images&as_umsgid=adamsd.1102700746A@news.cerf.net), 1993: It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought ‘42 will do.’ I typed it out. End of story. That said (by the author himself!), did Adams know after the number 42 popped up in his head that Lewis Carroll used that number in his Alice books and in The Hunting of the Snark? Might he have enjoyed the thought, that some readers would interpret the 42 as a nod to Carroll?
Question: I can build the word "Rilchiam" from letters contained in "Richard" and "William". Is then "Rilchiam" a portmanteau? Answer (Google AI, 2026-07-14): No, "Rilchiam" is not a portmanteau. Why it is not a portmanteau ※ No blended meaning: A portmanteau must combine both the sounds and the meanings of two words (like motel from motor and hotel). ※ Just an anagram: "Rilchiam" is simply an anagram made from a pool of letters. It does not carry a hybrid definition. ※ No semantic value: The new word has no recognized meaning of its own. Key requirements for a portmanteau ※ Morphological blending: It splices identifiable segments of words together, usually the start of one and the end of another (e.g., smoke + fog = smog). ※ Semantic blending: The new word represents a combination of the two original concepts (e.g., breakfast + lunch = brunch).
https://snrk.de/starry-map/ John Tufail’s “The Illuminated Snark” (p. 15) lead me to this comparison. In 2004 he interpreted the starry night sky in Henry Holiday’s front cover illustration to Lewis Carroll’s “The Hunting of the Snark” (1876) as a map, where the white clouds represented land with rivers. I liked the suggestion, but did not find any real-world map to which Holiday might have alluded. Holiday engraved that illustration himself. I discovered John Tufail’s paper in 2009. Only today, after 15 years, I got the idea to compress and flip a large segment of a map of the British isles vertically. That’s my “slowness in taking a jest”. You see the result. Sadly, I can’t tell John that anymore. I appreciated his guidance a lot. The white clouds weren’t the land, but as for a map having been hidden in the illustration, John was right.
001 “Just the place for a Snark!” the Bellman cried, 002 As he landed his crew with care; 003 Supporting each man on the top of the tide 004 By a finger entwined in his hair. 005 “Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice: 006 That alone should encourage the crew. 007 Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice: 008 What I tell you three times is true.” 113 Then the bowsprit got mixed with the rudder sometimes: 114 A thing, as the Bellman remarked, 115 That frequently happens in tropical climes, 116 When a vessel is, so to speak, “snarked.” 117 But the principal failing occurred in the sailing, 118 And the Bellman, perplexed and distressed, 119 Said he had hoped, at least, when the wind blew due East, 120 That the ship would not travel due West! 105 This was charming, no doubt; but they shortly found out 106 That the Captain they trusted so well 107 Had only one notion for crossing the ocean, 108 And that was to tingle his bell. Source: Some lines and an illustration from 'The Hunting of the Snark' (1876) by Lewis Carroll and Henry Holiday, https://snrk.de/snarkhunt
Source: https://snrk.de/page_sphinx/ and https://snrk.de/the-bakers-uncle-yodas-relative-is/ There is no place for "The Hunting of the Snark" in Stuart Freeborn’s Yoda creation story (1979). But I assume that he knew Henry Holiday’s illustration to the chapter The Baker’s Tale in Carroll’s tragicomedy. Or Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas, the screenwriters of the Return of the Jedi (1983), got the idea to allude to the Snark. Or they just added one more variant of the many scenes to their movie, where a dying old man at the end of his life passes important knowledge to a young man. Last not least, the similarities just could be incidental.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Radio4/comments/1ryhy2e/bbc_radio_play_the_hunting_of_the_snark_and_the/ BBC Radio Play "The Hunting of the Snark" and the 150th anniversary of Carroll's Snark tragicomedy r/Radio4 - BBC Radio Play "The Hunting of the Snark" and the 150th anniversary of Carroll's Snark tragicomedy BBC Radio 4 already missed all 150th anniversaries of "The Hunting of the Snark". The tragicomedy was officially published on April 1st, 1876.
2026-07-07 Good morning, ...., I don't think that Carroll was intentionally having fun with us in a malicious way. In contrary, Carroll's puzzles enrich the life of his readers. "It is possible that the author was half-consciously laying a trap, so readily did he take to the inventing of puzzles and things enigmatic; but to those who knew the man, or who have divined him correctly through his writings, the explanation is fairly simple. Mr.Dodgson had a mathematical, a logical, and a philosophical mind; and when these qualities are united to a love of the grotesque, the resultant fancies are sure to have a quite peculiar charm, a charm so much the greater because its source is subtle and eludes all attempts to grasp it." Henry Holiday, 1898-01-29, "The Snark's Significance" https://snrk.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/HenryHoliday_TheSnarksSignificance__searchable.pdf Rather than using ambiguity to maliciously annoy his readers, Carroll plays with ambiguity to provide them with rich intellectual stimulation where words and sentences hold multiple meanings. That's more than just clever. "They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care, They pursued it with forks and hope" is a mixing up of two meanings of the word "with". As if this was not enough, Henry Holiday added a third meaning by personifying Hope and Care. Carroll liked that. I am not making this up; the example is described in Holiday's  "The Snark's Significance". Best regards from Munich, Goetz ---------------------------------- See also: https://snrk.de/?s=9.5
https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#portmanteau (from the preface of Lewis Carroll and Henry Holiday's tragicomedy "The Hunting of the Snark): «This also seems a fitting occasion to notice the other hard words in that poem. Humpty-Dumpty’s theory, of two meanings packed into one word like a portmanteau, seems to me the right explanation for all. For instance, take the two words “fuming” and “furious.” Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first. Now open your mouth and speak. If your thoughts incline ever so little towards “fuming,” you will say “fuming-furious;” if they turn, by even a hair’s breadth, towards “furious,” you will say “furious-fuming;” but if you have the rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say “frumious.” Supposing that, when Pistol uttered the well-known words​— “Under which king, Bezonian? Speak or die!” Justice Shallow had felt certain that it was either William or Richard, but had not been able to settle which, so that he could not possibly say either name before the other, can it be doubted that, rather than die, he would have gasped out “Rilchiam!”»
The bell tingling Father Time Image source: https://snrk.de/time/ The image on the lower right side is an allegorical English School painting (ca. 1610, by an unknown painter) of Queen Elizabeth I at old age together with the allegories of Death and of Father Time. The image on the upper right side is a detail from that painting. It shows the head of Father Time in mirror view. The image on the left side is a depiction of the Bellman from Henry Holiday’s front cover illustration (inset) to Lewis Carroll’s "The Hunting of the Snark" (1876).
Image source: https://snrk.de/page_elizabeth-i/ [top left]: Henry Holiday’s illustration (1876) to the front cover of Lewis Carroll’s "The Hunting of the Snark (From Alices Adventures in Wonderland: «It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other[.]» See https://snrk.de/Gutenberg/Alices_Adventures_in_Wonderland.htm#gloves") [top right]: A grey shaded reproduction of the "Ditchley Portrait" (a gift from Sir Henry Lee to Queen Elizabeth I, c. 1592) by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger. [bottom left]: Henry Holiday’s back cover illustration (1876) to Lewis Carroll’s "The Hunting of the Snark". [bottom right]: Rearranged allegorical English School painting (by an unknown artist, ca. 1610) of Queen Elizabeth I at old age with allegory of Death and Father Time. (EAN: 4050356835081. Location of original painting: Corsham Court, Wiltshire, England, UK)
https://snrk.de/page_the-broker-and-the-monk/ Left: Detail from an illustration by Henry Holiday to Lewis Carroll’s "The Hunting of the Snark" depicting the Broker (upper left corner). Right: Detail, unknown artist: Edward VI and the Pope, a Tudor anti-papal allegory of reformation (16th century).
From https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/2026/jul/alices-day-talks === Lewis Carroll, Darwin, and The Hunting of the Snark === Stephen Thetford, Lewis Carroll Society | 12.15 – 12.55 Starting with a copy of The Annotated Snark in 1974, the speaker has spent years discovering the historical and scientific background to Lewis Carroll's wonderful 'nonsense' poem. The motley crew going on a Snark hunt mimic the Pickwickian comic gentlemen of Dickens, sailing on a quest that parodies Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle. Carroll's illustrator, Henry Holiday, was an experienced science artist who could caricature Victorian explorations such as the survey of the world's oceans by HMS Challenger. Together they created a masterpiece. The Hunting of the Snark: a 2023 film by Simon DaVison 13.45 – 15.30 | Film duration 90 minutes, rated PG ‘The Hunting of the Snark’ is a feature film based on Lewis Carroll’s follow-up to the Alice books. Set on a tropical island, it is a brilliant, wonderland mix of nonsense, twisted logic and surreal adventure. It also has at its core a powerful and emotional quest – the human search for meaning and an understanding of the universe. What is the Snark? Why is it always so elusive? The film stars Ramon Tikaram (‘Kaos’, ‘Game of Thrones’) and Corinne Furman (‘Fisherman's Friends’). Film screening includes introduction and Q&A with the director, Simon DaVison.
Lewis Carroll’s 1876 nonsense poem "The Hunting of the Snark" features eight specific portmanteau words imported directly from his earlier masterpiece "Jabberwocky" (found in Through the Looking-Glass). These playfully combined terms help define the surreal, whimsical world of the Snark-hunting crew.The eight portmanteau words Carroll carried over are: ※ Bandersnatch: A swift, fiercely aggressive creature known for its long neck and snapping jaws. ※ Beamish: A blend of "beaming" and "beautiful," meant to describe something radiantly happy or bright. ※ Frumious: A famous combination of "furious" and "fuming," describing a state of intense anger. ※ Galumphing: A portmanteau of "galloping" and "triumphing," used to describe a march or gait full of victorious, clumping energy. ※ Jubjub: A desperate-sounding, bird-like creature described as "desperate" to live. ※ Mimsiest: The superlative form of "mimsy," which Humpty Dumpty famously explained is a combination of "miserable" and "flimsy." ※ Outgrabe: A portmanteau-like action that Carroll described as something between bellowing, whistling, and sneezing. ※ Uffish: An adjective coined to describe a state of being gruff, sullen, or in a decidedly bad, moody temper. Source: Google AI, 2026-06-21
Screenshot source: https://web.archive.org/web/20260000000000*/https://www.thelanesarmoury.co.uk/shop.php?code=26256 ---------------- 😐 https://web.archive.org/web/20260621080343/https://www.thelanesarmoury.co.uk/shop.php?code=26256 🙄 https://web.archive.org/web/20260621114150/https://www.thelanesarmoury.co.uk/shop.php?code=26256 ---------------- «Rare Ist Edition Of 'The Hunting of the Snark', Publication Date 29 March 1876, Subtitled An Agony, in Eight Fits By Lewis Carroll. Ist Impression. With * Supposed Error; 'Baker' instead Of 'Butcher' Page 83 Line 6. [...] First Edition. First Impression, with "Baker" instead of "Butcher" on p.83, line 6. [...] *Please note, although it is often recorded that ‘Baker for Butcher’ is a 1st Edition first impression printing error, it is supposedly a myth, and there are no actual copies that do have Butcher. This is yet another example of the numerous myths and legends that seem to surround this famed poem. Maybe it should be re-titled ‘The Hunting Of The Myth’ as it’s easier to find the myths than the likely true meaning of Dodgson’s iconic work.» Arghhhhh!
https://web.archive.org/web/20260621080343/https://www.thelanesarmoury.co.uk/shop.php?code=26256 «Rare Ist Edition Of 'The Hunting of the Snark', Publication Date 29 March 1876, Subtitled An Agony, in Eight Fits By Lewis Carroll. Ist Impression With Error; 'Baker' instead Of 'Butcher' Page 83 Line 6 The Hunting of the Snark, subtitled An Agony, in Eight Fits, is a poem by the English writer Lewis Carroll. It is typically categorised as a nonsense poem. Written between 1874 and 1876, it borrows the setting, some creatures, and eight portmanteau words from Carroll's earlier poem "Jabberwocky" in his children's novel Through the Looking-Glass (1871). First Edition. First Impression, with "Baker" instead of "Butcher" on p.83, line 6. [...] Code 26256 --- 845.00 GBP» --------------------------- https://snrk.de/baker-for-butcher-on-p-83/ «Baker for Butcher on p. 83 by Alan Tannenbaum The Snarkologist, Vol. 1, Fit 7, March 2024, p. 15~16, https://snarkology.net/journal/v1f7/ If you search for first editions of The Snark, you will invariably find booksellers using the phrase “Baker for Butcher on p. 83” as “proof” that their copy for sale is a rare first printing of the first edition. But … There has never been a copy of The Snark with “Butcher” on page 83. [snrk.de comment: There has never been a copy of The Snark with “Banker” on page 83 either.] This myth has been perpetuated throughout the years, and this article is not the first one to mention it. If you see the above phrase, gently “help” the seller by forwarding this article.»
A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700) About this entry: First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX). This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions. Quotation dates: 1584-1585 Snark, n. ※ [? Cf. Jam. snark (1882, Ayr.), mod. Eng. snark (once, 1901) to grumble, fret, later Sc. dial. and mod. Eng. snark, snork to snore.] ※ A pejorative term the precise sense of which is unclear. —a1585 Polwart Flyt. 782 (T). Sillie snark, lene raik, rak ane aik with the hinging https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/snark
Two illustrations by Henry Holiday to Lewis Carroll's 'The Hunting of the Snark' (1876) Details: https://snrk.de/boots-bonnetmaker/ Let us take all the nine crew members in order of their introduction in Lewis Carroll and Henry Holiday's tragicomedy: (1) The Bellman, their captain. (2) The Boots, a maker of Bonnets and Hoods. (A correct non-sequential interlaced portmanteau can be built from Bonnets and Hoods. Try under Linux: an -w 'Bonnets and Hoods' | grep boo) (3) The Barrister, brought to arrange their disputes, but repeatedly complained about the Beaver’s evil lace-making. (4) The Broker, to value their goods. (5) The Billiard-marker, whose skill was immense, might perhaps have won more than his share. From John Tufail I learned that in Henry Holiday’s illustration the Billiard-marker is preparing a cheat. (6) The Banker, engaged at enormous expense, had the whole of their cash in his care. (7) The Beaver, that paced on the deck or would sit making lace in the bow and had often (the Bellman said) saved them from wreck, though none of the sailors knew how. (8) The Baker, also addressed by “Fry me!”, “Fritter my wig!”, “Candle-ends” as well as “Toasted-cheese”, and known for joking with hyenas and walking paw-in-paw with a bear. (9) The Butcher, who only could kill Beavers, but later became best friend with the lace-making animal.
https://snrk.de/starry-map/ John Tufail’s “The Illuminated Snark” (p. 15) lead me to this comparison. In 2004 he interpreted the starry night sky in Henry Holiday’s front cover illustration to Lewis Carroll’s “The Hunting of the Snark” (1876) as a map, where the white clouds represented land with rivers. I liked the suggestion, but did not find any real-world map to which Holiday might have alluded. Holiday engraved that illustration himself. I discovered John Tufail’s paper in 2009. Only today, after 15 years, I got the idea to compress and flip a large segment of a map of the British isles vertically. That’s my “slowness in taking a jest”. You see the result. Sadly, I can’t tell John that anymore. I appreciated his guidance a lot. The white clouds weren’t the land, but as for a map having been hidden in the illustration, John was right.
Linda Woolverton Image source: https://www.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/alumni/made-in-the-csu/fullerton/Pages/linda-c-woolverton.aspx (Oct. 2024)
Screenshot of https://snrk.de (2026-05-12)
Screenshot from https://web.archive.org/web/20181116181356/http://theconversation.com/may-governments-brexit-aims-were-never-achievable-weve-been-hunting-a-fantastical-beast-all-along-107067, 2018-11-10
https://snrk.de/starry-map/ John Tufail’s “The Illuminated Snark” (p. 15) lead me to this comparison. In 2004 he interpreted the starry night sky in Henry Holiday’s front cover illustration to Lewis Carroll’s “The Hunting of the Snark” (1876) as a map, where the white clouds represented land with rivers. I liked the suggestion, but did not find any real-world map to which Holiday might have alluded. Holiday engraved that illustration himself. I discovered John Tufail’s paper in 2009. Only today, after 15 years, I got the idea to compress and flip a large segment of a map of the British isles vertically. That’s my “slowness in taking a jest”. You see the result. Sadly, I can’t tell John that anymore. I appreciated his guidance a lot. The white clouds weren’t the land, but as for a map having been hidden in the illustration, John was right.
https://snrk.de/monumental-snark/ The discussion whether there are 8 instead of 9 Snark hunters (or 9 instead of 10 Snark hunters, if you include the talking Beaver) certainly addresses more points than just the portmanteau argument; e.g., among other points, the fact that Henry Holiday only drew 9 Snark hunters (including the Beaver again). To keep things simple, let’s focus on the portmanteau issue. It doesn’t threaten your life to claim that that Boots might be a bootblack, and also undeniably is a portmanteau for Bonnets+Hoods: If you cannot verify that yourself, run $ an -w -m 5 "bonnets hoods" | grep "^b" | grep -v "'" | sort under BSD or Linux etc., and you’ll see that boots is among the generated portmanteaus (bends, bents, besot, besots, bests, bodes, bonds, boned, bones, booed, boons, boost, boosted, boosts, booted, booth, booths, boots, bossed), which all are, like boots, meaningful English words. Thus, the question is not whether Boots is a portmanteau or not. The question rather is whether Carroll intended to use Boots as a portmanteau. Another question is whether the lines 9 and 10 are intentionally ambiguous. Is there a Boots who is a maker of Bonnets and Hoods, or are the Boots and the maker of Bonnets two different characters? I suggest that Carroll left it to the readers to choose between 9 or 10 Snark hunters.
$ an -w -m 5 "bonnets hoods" | grep "^b" | grep -v "'" | sort bends bents besot besots bests bodes bonds boned bones bonnet bonnets booed boons boost boosted boosts booted booth booths boots bossed
SNARK ALARM! (From Simon DaVison's 2023 Snark film)
Image source: https://snrk.de/firefox-snark-theme/#DarkSnark2 Firefox theme: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/dark-snark-2/ On the right side is the Baker-visits-Uncle scene. On the left side is a snapshot of the dying-Yoda scene in 'Return of the Jedi'. The left and the right image have some interesting similarities. I believe what a nephew of Stuart Freeborn told me: His uncle did not plagiarize Yoda. But someone among the makers of the movie might have noticed the similarity of Yoda to the Baker's uncle in "The Hunting of the Snark". Keys: The Hunting of the Snark | TheHuntingOfTheSnark | Henry Holiday | HenryHoliday | Lewis Carroll | LewisCarroll | no copyright | NoCopyright | public domain | PublicDomain| Yoda | Stuart Freeborn (creator of the Yoda puppet) | StuartFreeborn | StarWars | Star Wars | ReturnOfTheJedi | Return of the Jedi | FirefoxTheme | FirefoxThemes | Firefox themes | StarWarsDay | Star Wars Day
From https://snrk.de/douglas-adams-and-lewis-carroll/ : By Douglas Adams, alt.fan.douglas-adams (quoted in http://groups.google.com/groups?safe=images&as_umsgid=adamsd.1102700746A@news.cerf.net), 1993: It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought ‘42 will do.’ I typed it out. End of story. That said (by the author himself!), did Adams know after the number 42 popped up in his head that Lewis Carroll used that number in his Alice books and in The Hunting of the Snark? Might he have enjoyed the thought, that some readers would interpret the 42 as a nod to Carroll?
Image source: https://digital.nmla.metoffice.gov.uk/IO_20b77534-2acb-491c-b8d0-9010f87f4fb3/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Poetry/comments/1saigeb/comment/ojksdy7/ From a recent (Spring 2026) translation of "The Hunting of the Snark" by Joan Gabriel López Guix: Completo estaba ya el equipaje: Botas; un fabricante de Bonetes y Tocas; Bufete, a quien llevaban para zanjar discordias; para tasar sus bienes iba Bicoca. That's a very faithful translation of lines 9 to 12 in Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark", also because it is undisputable (albeit not obvious) that: ※ "Botas" is an interlaced portmanteau of "Bonetes" and "Tocas". ※ "Boots" is an interlaced portmanteau of "Bonnets" and "Hoods". The translator kept it like that, while maintaining the ambiguity of these lines. The translation isn't a spoiler. Did Carroll intend that we discuss whether Carroll intended to create an interlaced portmanteau which is not as clearly to recognize as e.g. the word "Rilchiam", which of course was an intended interlaced portmanteau in Lewis Carroll's preface to his Snark tragcomedy?
Image source: https://snrk.de/page_edward-vi-and-the-pope/ See also: https://snrk.de/page_sphinx/ This is a comparison of four works of art (the first of them is shown together with the preparatory draft). Each of them perhaps is unusual in itself. But what connects them is fascinating as well (at least to me). This side-by-side assembly is the result of a kind of collaboration between Henry Holiday, J. E. Millais, an anonymous painter and Philip Galle (with an engraving reproducing Maarten van Heemskerck’ work). In each segment (shown here) of an artwork the younger artists alludes to the work of the older artist. Is this pictorial citation chain an insider game between artists? How about discussing that in the classroom? [1, left] – 1876, Henry Holiday (engraver: Joseph Swain): The illustration detail on the very left side is a vectorized scan from Holiday’s illustration to an 1910 edition of Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark. [1, right] – Additionally you see a segment from Holiday’s preperatory draft. You clearly can see how Henry Holiday intended to give parts of the drapery the shape of breasts. [2] – 1850, the young John the Baptist in John Everett Millais‘ "Christ in the House of His Parents" (aka "The Carpenter’s Shop"). The left leg of the boy looks a bit deformed. This is no mistake. Probably Millais referred to #3 and to #4. [3] – Henry VIII’s bedpost, 16th century, anonymous: Detail (in mirror view) from "Edward VI and the Pope", an Allegory of Reformation. The pope could be Paul III. [4] – (bedpost #3 alludes to bedpost #4): 1564, Redrawn segment of a print "Ahasuerus consulting the records" by Philip Galle after Maarten van Heemskerck. The resemblance of #4 to the image #3 (the bedpost) was shown by the late Margaret Aston in 1994 in "The King’s Bedpost: Reformation and Iconography in a Tudor Group Portrait" (p. 68). She also compared the bedpost to Heemskerck’s "Esther Crowned by Ahasuerus".
See: https://snrk.de/page_eagle-and-star/
Image source: https://snrk.de/page_the-dream-book-of-mr-pyridine/ Left: A slightly horizontally compressed rendering of 'The Imagebreakers' (1566-1568, aka Allegory of Iconoclasm), a wimmelbild etched by Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder (British Museum, Dept. of Print and Drawings, 1933,1111.3 AN1067484001, license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. See also Edward Hodnett: Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder, Utrecht 1971, pp. 25-29.). See also: https://snrk.de/page_the-image-breakers/ Right: An illustration by Mahendra Singh to his 'Dream Book of Mr. Pyridine'.
These three images are a kind of collaboration between Henry Holiday, an unknown painter and Philip Galle (with an engraving reproducing Maarten van Heemskerck’ work). ※ [left] One of Henry Holiday's preparatory drafts for the illustration to "Fit the Third - The Baker’s Tale" in Lewis Carroll’s "The Hunting of the Snark" (1876). Pay attention to the lines in the grey shaded area of the image. ※ [top right]: Unknown arist: "Edward VI and the Pope, an Allegory of Reformation", mirrored view (16th century, NPG 4165). Iconoclasm depicted in the window. Under the "window", 3rd from left is Thomas Cranmer who wrote the 42 Articles in 1552. The painting "Edward VI and the Pope" (NPG 4165) was, until 1874, the property of Thomas Green, Esq., of Ipswich and Upper Wimpole Street, a collection ‘Formed by himself and his Family during the last Century and early Part of the present Century’ (Roy C. Strong: Tudor and Jacobean Portraits, 1969, p.345). It was sold by Christie’s 20 March 1874 (lot 9) to an unknown buyer. Location: National Portrait Gallery, London. ※ [bottom right]: Philip Galle after Maarten van Heemskerck, redrawn (vectorized and mirrored) print "Ahasuerus consulting the records" (1564). The resemblance to the upper image was shown by Dr. Margaret Aston in 1994 in "The King’s Bedpost: Reformation and Iconography in a Tudor Group Portrait" (p. 68). She also compared the bedpost to Heemskerck’s Esther Crowned by Ahasuerus. Location: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. See also: https://bedpost.snrk.de (redirects to https://snrk.de/page_edward-vi-and-the-pope/page_the-kings-bedpost/) and https://snrk.de/insta/aac/ (for https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfxb3TDHpW8/) #BreastsInArt #Drapery #Sphinx #Folds #KingEdwardVIandthePope #EdwardVIandthePope #PhilipGalle #MartenVanHeemskerck #SnarkAllusion #ReferentialArt #TheHuntingOfTheSnark #HenryHoliday #LewisCarroll #スナーク狩り #스나크사냥 #Kunstgeschichte #ArtForum #BookIlustration #NonsenseLiterature
From Lewis Carroll's 'The Hunting of the Snark', pages 4 and 5. In the image (source: https://archive.org/details/huntingofsnarkag00carrrich/page/4/mode/2up), lines 009 (https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#009) and 010 (https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#009) are highlighted. 009　 The crew was complete: it included a Boots — 010　　A maker of Bonnets and Hoods — 011　 A Barrister, brought to arrange their disputes — 012　　And a Broker, to value their goods. 013　 A Billiard-marker, whose skill was immense, 014　　Might perhaps have won more than his share — 015　 But a Banker, engaged at enormous expense, 016　　Had the whole of their cash in his care. 017　 There was also a Beaver, that paced on the deck, 018　　Or would sit making lace in the bow: 019　 And had often (the Bellman said) saved them from wreck, 020　　Though none of the sailors knew how.
Illustration by Henry Holiday to Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark" (https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#3.10), published in 1876 (150 years ago). The illustration shows the "Baker" visiting his uncle who wears a night-gown, has pointy ears and face which looks quite similar to Yoda's face. The (ill?) uncle gives his nephew advice how to deal with the Snark. The Baker stands beside his uncle's bed, like Luke Skywalker when visiting the dying Yoda in "Return of the Jedi".
https://modelshipworld.com/topic/38085-bonnets-for-sails/ George Band, 2025-02-27 «A bonnet was an extension that was attached to the bottom edge of a sail to increase the area; a reef could only make the area smaller. Steel gives good descriptions of how they were made and how they were attached. "Sails that have bonnets are cut out the whole depth of the sail and bonnet included, allowing enough for the tablings on the foot of the sail and foot of the bonnet. The bonnet is cut off after the sail is sewed together. If a drabler is required, it is allowed for in the cutting out the same as the bonnet. LATCHINGS. Loops formed on the line that is sewed to the head of a bonnet to connect it with the foot of a sail: these tllps are 6 inches asunder and 6 inches long, exept the two middle ones, which are 12 inches long, to fasten off with. The loops are alternatively reeved through holes in the foot of the sail and through each other, and fasten by the two long loops in the middle with two hallf-inches, by loosingf of which they unreeve themselves."[*] [Images: staysail with and without bonnet attached to it.] This is enough information for me to make a stay sail with an attached bonnet, and I know from a sub-Lieutenant's log book that this was done on HMS Whiting. What I do not know is what happens with the sheet and tack at the bottom of the sail. The stay sail would have its original sheet and tack when it is without a bonnet. When the bonnet is attached it will also need a sheet and a tack otherwise it becomes a curtain that flaps in the breeze. Do both sheets belay to the same point, and similarly do both tacks belay to one point? Or do they belay to different points? Or do the original sheet and tack become redundant and are coiled and hung somewhere out of the way? Steel is silent on this topic unless I have missed it.» [*] I (snarkhunt.bsky.social) assume that the source is 'The Elements and Practice of Rigging And Seamanship', 1794, by David Steel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnet_(sail), 2026-04-23 13:55 UTC
Example: For 2+0=7, 2+1=8, 2+2=5, 2+3=6, 2+4=7, 2+5=8, 2+6=5, 2+7=6 etc. you need to redefine the "+" operator. In Haskell (using GHC as compiler) you would do this as follows: -- Define a new operator ++ (++) :: (Num a) => a -> a -> a a ++ b = a + b -- Hide the original + import Prelude hiding ((+)) -- Define the new + operator (+) :: (Num a) => a -> a -> a a + b = ((a ++ b) `mod` 4) ++ 5
From Lewis Carroll's 'The Hunting of the Snark', pages 4 and 5. In the image (source: https://archive.org/details/huntingofsnarkag00carrrich/page/4/mode/2up), lines 009 (https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#009) and 010 (https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#009) are highlighted. 009　 The crew was complete: it included a Boots — 010　　A maker of Bonnets and Hoods — 011　 A Barrister, brought to arrange their disputes — 012　　And a Broker, to value their goods. 013　 A Billiard-marker, whose skill was immense, 014　　Might perhaps have won more than his share — 015　 But a Banker, engaged at enormous expense, 016　　Had the whole of their cash in his care. 017　 There was also a Beaver, that paced on the deck, 018　　Or would sit making lace in the bow: 019　 And had often (the Bellman said) saved them from wreck, 020　　Though none of the sailors knew how.
The "maker of Bonnets and Hoods" isn't necessarily a hatter. He also could be someone who makes nautical equipment like bonnet sails and ventilation hoods. "Bonnet" in the Glossary of nautical terms in the Wikipedia: "An additional strip of canvas laced to the foot of a sail to increase its area. In square-rigged vessels c. 1350–1660 the courses did not have reef points {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefing#History}. Instead, the equivalent of a reef was the removal of the bonnet" {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_nautical_terms_(A–L)%23bonnet} Image Source: {https://de.pinterest.com/pin/887068457837675067/}
«This also seems a fitting occasion to notice the other hard words in that poem. Humpty-Dumpty’s theory, of two meanings packed into one word like a portmanteau, seems to me the right explanation for all. For instance, take the two words “fuming” and “furious.” Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first. Now open your mouth and speak. If your thoughts incline ever so little towards “fuming,” you will say “fuming-furious;” if they turn, by even a hair’s breadth, towards “furious,” you will say “furious-fuming;” but if you have the rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say “frumious.” Supposing that, when Pistol uttered the well-known words — “Under which king, Bezonian? Speak or die!” Justice Shallow had felt certain that it was either William or Richard, but had not been able to settle which, so that he could not possibly say either name before the other, can it be doubted that, rather than die, he would have gasped out “Rilchiam!”» Source: Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark", https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#portmanteau
From Lewis Carroll's 'The Hunting of the Snark', pages 4 and 5. In the image (source: https://archive.org/details/huntingofsnarkag00carrrich/page/4/mode/2up), lines 009 (https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#009) and 010 (https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#009) are highlighted. 009　 The crew was complete: it included a Boots — 010　　A maker of Bonnets and Hoods — 011　 A Barrister, brought to arrange their disputes — 012　　And a Broker, to value their goods. 013　 A Billiard-marker, whose skill was immense, 014　　Might perhaps have won more than his share — 015　 But a Banker, engaged at enormous expense, 016　　Had the whole of their cash in his care. 017　 There was also a Beaver, that paced on the deck, 018　　Or would sit making lace in the bow: 019　 And had often (the Bellman said) saved them from wreck, 020　　Though none of the sailors knew how.
https://snrk.de/meme/ Some (rearranged) verses from the first two "fits" in Lewis Carroll and Henry Holiday's "The Hunting of the Snark" (published 150 years ago on 1876-04-01): {https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#1.01} “Just the place for a Snark!” the Bellman cried, As he landed his crew with care; Supporting each man on the top of the tide By a finger entwined in his hair. {https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#1.02} “Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice: That alone should encourage the crew. Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true.” {https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#2.07} Then the bowsprit got mixed with the rudder sometimes: A thing, as the Bellman remarked, That frequently happens in tropical climes, When a vessel is, so to speak, “snarked.” {https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#2.08} But the principal failing occurred in the sailing, And the Bellman, perplexed and distressed, Said he had hoped, at least, when the wind blew due East, That the ship would not travel due West! {https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#2.05} This was charming, no doubt; but they shortly found out That the Captain they trusted so well Had only one notion for crossing the ocean, And that was to tingle his bell.
From Lewis Carroll's 'The Hunting of the Snark', pages 4 and 5. In the image (source: https://archive.org/details/huntingofsnarkag00carrrich/page/4/mode/2up), lines 009 (https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#009) and 010 (https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#009) are highlighted. 009　 The crew was complete: it included a Boots — 010　　A maker of Bonnets and Hoods — 011　 A Barrister, brought to arrange their disputes — 012　　And a Broker, to value their goods. 013　 A Billiard-marker, whose skill was immense, 014　　Might perhaps have won more than his share — 015　 But a Banker, engaged at enormous expense, 016　　Had the whole of their cash in his care. 017　 There was also a Beaver, that paced on the deck, 018　　Or would sit making lace in the bow: 019　 And had often (the Bellman said) saved them from wreck, 020　　Though none of the sailors knew how.
It seems that since 1876 most readers of "The Hunting of the Snark" assume that the Snark hunting party consists of 10 members. But in Michael Sporn‘s beautiful animated Snark film (1989, narrator: James Earl Jones), there are only 9 Snark hunters, not 10, because (as shown in the image) the “Boots — a maker of Bonnets and Hoods” is boarding the Bellman’s vessel as a single person. See also: https://snrk.de/michael-sporns-snark/ Discussion (is the "Boots" the "maker of Bonnets and Hoods"?): https://www.reddit.com/r/Poetry/comments/1saigeb/opinion_ambiguity_in_the_hunting_of_the_snark_1876/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Poetry/comments/1saigeb/comment/oecccx0/ GoetzKluge OP 2026-04-05 By the way, a maker of bonnets and hoods isn't necessarily a hatter, because bonnets and hoods aren't necessarily hats. In the image below you can see a ventilation hood behind a sail. The sail could be a bonnet (an extension to the lower edge of an existing sail), which is connected to the bowsprit which (as Snark readers know) got mixed with the rudder sometimes. Once the ship has been snarked in that manner, the helmsman (this office was usually undertaken by the Boots) used to stand by with tears in his eyes; he knew it was all wrong, but alas! In the image you also see the Beaver making lace in the bow. The bowsprit and the bonnet are positioned behind the animal. It seems that sometimes the maker of bonnets had to ferociously plan a novel arrangement of bows.
From Lewis Carroll's 'The Hunting of the Snark', pages 4 and 5. In the image (source: https://archive.org/details/huntingofsnarkag00carrrich/page/4/mode/2up), lines 009 (https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#009) and 010 (https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#009) are highlighted. 009　 The crew was complete: it included a Boots — 010　　A maker of Bonnets and Hoods — 011　 A Barrister, brought to arrange their disputes — 012　　And a Broker, to value their goods. 013　 A Billiard-marker, whose skill was immense, 014　　Might perhaps have won more than his share — 015　 But a Banker, engaged at enormous expense, 016　　Had the whole of their cash in his care. 017　 There was also a Beaver, that paced on the deck, 018　　Or would sit making lace in the bow: 019　 And had often (the Bellman said) saved them from wreck, 020　　Though none of the sailors knew how.
Source: https://videosift.com/video/Lewis-Carrolls-Jabberwocky-as-read-by-the-Muppets
On 1st of April, 2026, "The Hunting of the Snark" celebrated the 150th anniversary of its official publishing by Macmillan. Since 150 years most readers didn't notice that Lewis Carroll left it in the lines 9 and 10 of his Snark tragicomedy to the readers to decide whether there are 9 or 10 Snark hunters (https://snrk.de/?s=9.5). I chose 9. What is your choice? See also: https://snrk.de/?s=9.5 Image: Depiction of 9 Snark hunters in two illustrations by Henry Holiday to Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark". See also: https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#portmanteau
https://snrk.de/starry-map/ John Tufail’s “The Illuminated Snark” (p. 15) lead me to this comparison. In 2004 he interpreted the starry night sky in Henry Holiday’s front cover illustration to Lewis Carroll’s “The Hunting of the Snark” (1876) as a map, where the white clouds represented land with rivers. I liked the suggestion, but did not find any real-world map to which Holiday might have alluded. Holiday engraved that illustration himself. I discovered John Tufail’s paper in 2009. Only today, after 15 years, I got the idea to compress and flip a large segment of a map of the British isles vertically. That’s my “slowness in taking a jest”. You see the result. Sadly, I can’t tell John that anymore. I appreciated his guidance a lot. The white clouds weren’t the land, but as for a map having been hidden in the illustration, John was right.
Screenshot of list (https://snrk.de/carrolls-snark-notes/) of Lewis Carroll's notes about "The Hunting of the Snark".
Keywords: Lewis Carroll | The Hunting of the Snark | ambiguity Screenshot from https://www.reddit.com/r/LewisCarroll/comments/1s6o0dg/comment/oddx3ir/ -------------------------- Just for information: The text below is part of an exchange of opinions elsewhere about whether "Boots" is a contraction of "Bonnets and Hoods" or not. -------------------------- This might be interesting for Carroll translators: There is a response to my question to Snark translators «How do translators maintain the ambiguity of lines #9 and #10 in Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark"?» 009　 The crew was complete: it included a Boots — 010　 　A maker of Bonnets and Hoods — 011　 A Barrister, brought to arrange their disputes — 012　 　And a Broker, to value their goods. In my view, "Boots" can be contraction of "Bonnets and Hoods". “Bonnets and Hoods” ➜ “Boots” Here “Boots” is a non-sequential interlaced portmanteau. To me, that's obvious. Nevertheless, I played a bit with the an command, which is an anagram builder under Linux. Executing the command for "Bonnets and Hoods" yields many words; therefore I filtered (with grep) all words which contain "boot": $ an -w 'Bonnets and Hoods' | grep boot bootees bootee's booths booth's bootee booted boots boot's booth boot --------------------------
It seems that since 1876 most readers of "The Hunting of the Snark" assume that the Snark hunting party consists of ten members. But in Michael Sporn‘s beautiful animated Snark film (1989), there are only nine Snark hunters, not ten. In Sporn’s film, the “Boots — a maker of Bonnets and Hoods” is boarding the Bellman’s vessel as a single person. I learned about this from u/DrSousaphone on Reddit. Source (2026-03-30): https://snrk.de/michael-sporns-snark/
The Hunting of the Snark (Michael Sporn's animated movie) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLkNP_JfE0w&t=80s