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Details
DODGSON, Charles Lutwidge. Eight or Nine Wise Words about Letter-Writing. Oxford: Emberlin & Son, 1890-97.
9 COPIES, 24o (96 x 75 to 102 x 80 mm), 40 or 41 pages each, plus blanks. Original printed buff wrappers (a few covers slightly soiled); red morocco pull-off case.
Comprising FIVE PROOF COPIES of the 1890 Second Edition EACH METICULOUSLY CORRECTED BY DODGSON in his purple ink to indicate addition, corrections, and deletions to the text for the Third Edition (1891), plus single copies of each of the First, Second, Fourth, and Fifth Editions. The five annotated copies are dated on the front covers by Dodgson from 14 July through 30 December 1890, and all but the last bear his correspondence numbers: 71254, 71441, 71499, and 71664; the unnumbered fifth copy has "Second" [Edition] crossed out on the front cover and "Third" written in its place. On another front cover Dodgson notes "Press 250," thus suggesting a limitation for copies printed. THE FIVE PROOF COPIES CONTAIN A TOTAL OF 190 WORDS AND/OR NOTATIONS BY CARROLL RELEVANT TO AMENDING THE TEXT. It is generally thought that the final version of his Second Edition text (i.e., just prior to the Third Edition) is the best and last text for this work he fully edited, except for slight corrections of punctuation, broken letters, or new advertisements in later printings.
While there does survive other corrected proof copies of different editions of Eight or Nine Wise Words about Letter-Writing in the Lewis Carroll collections at Harvard, Princeton, and Texas, none show the extensive reworking of the same text as in this present series. At Harvard, there is only one proof copy: also a Second Edition, sharing the same correspondence number 71441 as above, but with additional notations (dated "July 25/90"); Princeton has a First Edition with pencil notes attributed to Dodgson; while Texas has the series of corrected proofs from the 1947 Harmsworth sale comprising single copies of the First, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Editions, with annotations chiefly described as minor.
Associated with the Wonderland Postage Stamp Case (see lot 20), Eight or Nine Wise Words is described as "a small but excellent work, full of sound sense and humour" (Williams-Madan-Green-Crutch, p. 170); it was reprinted in its pamphlet form posthumously at least four more times, and then reprinted in Letters to Child-Friends (1933) and in the Nonesuch Press anthology (1939). An important series, in fine condition, offering a rare record of Dodgson's almost maniacal obsession to perfect the printed page of his texts for child readers and writers. Williams-Madan-Green-Crutch 223. (9)
9 COPIES, 24o (96 x 75 to 102 x 80 mm), 40 or 41 pages each, plus blanks. Original printed buff wrappers (a few covers slightly soiled); red morocco pull-off case.
Comprising FIVE PROOF COPIES of the 1890 Second Edition EACH METICULOUSLY CORRECTED BY DODGSON in his purple ink to indicate addition, corrections, and deletions to the text for the Third Edition (1891), plus single copies of each of the First, Second, Fourth, and Fifth Editions. The five annotated copies are dated on the front covers by Dodgson from 14 July through 30 December 1890, and all but the last bear his correspondence numbers: 71254, 71441, 71499, and 71664; the unnumbered fifth copy has "Second" [Edition] crossed out on the front cover and "Third" written in its place. On another front cover Dodgson notes "Press 250," thus suggesting a limitation for copies printed. THE FIVE PROOF COPIES CONTAIN A TOTAL OF 190 WORDS AND/OR NOTATIONS BY CARROLL RELEVANT TO AMENDING THE TEXT. It is generally thought that the final version of his Second Edition text (i.e., just prior to the Third Edition) is the best and last text for this work he fully edited, except for slight corrections of punctuation, broken letters, or new advertisements in later printings.
While there does survive other corrected proof copies of different editions of Eight or Nine Wise Words about Letter-Writing in the Lewis Carroll collections at Harvard, Princeton, and Texas, none show the extensive reworking of the same text as in this present series. At Harvard, there is only one proof copy: also a Second Edition, sharing the same correspondence number 71441 as above, but with additional notations (dated "July 25/90"); Princeton has a First Edition with pencil notes attributed to Dodgson; while Texas has the series of corrected proofs from the 1947 Harmsworth sale comprising single copies of the First, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Editions, with annotations chiefly described as minor.
Associated with the Wonderland Postage Stamp Case (see lot 20), Eight or Nine Wise Words is described as "a small but excellent work, full of sound sense and humour" (Williams-Madan-Green-Crutch, p. 170); it was reprinted in its pamphlet form posthumously at least four more times, and then reprinted in Letters to Child-Friends (1933) and in the Nonesuch Press anthology (1939). An important series, in fine condition, offering a rare record of Dodgson's almost maniacal obsession to perfect the printed page of his texts for child readers and writers. Williams-Madan-Green-Crutch 223. (9)