The Hunting of the Snark

Assembled scans from original 19th century sources: • Illustration by H. Holiday to The Hunting of the Snark, 1876 • Inlay: Print based on a drawing (1834-04-16) by Conrad Martens , etching published in: Francis Darwin, Life and Letters of Charles Darwin , p. 160, 1888. Conrad Martens' drawing has been engraved by T. Landseer and published in the year 1838 by H. Colburn in The Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of HMS Adventure and Beagle .

"A sailing ship: the brig H. M. S. Beagle . It is commanded by the bigoted Captain Robert Fitz Roy. The year is 1831. On board, a brain explosion. With a delay of about two centuries of Physics, it is shattered by the the Galileo of Biology. The following stages: In 1838 the theory of natural selection was completed. In 1859 comes the Origin of Species. · · Fade-over. · · When it returns into the scene, it is still a ship. A sailing ship, of course. The Beagle took to the sea again? The year is 1874: Darwin is still alive, well and chatty." (Adriano Orefice) Images: [left]: Illustration "He had wholly forgotten his name" by Henry Holiday to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (1876) [right]: "Crossing the Line" (1839), redrawn (2013) based on a print by Thomas Landseer, after Augustus Earle. The print you will find in Robert Fitz-Roy's Narrative of the surveying voyages of HMS Adventure and Beagle , Vol II (1839). This comparison is related to my assumption that Lewis Carroll's and Henry Holiday's The Hunting of the Snark at least partially has been inspired by Charles Darwin's explorational Beagle voyage.

1876 and around 1870. If it was for this pairing only, I would not use this side-by-side image as an example for allusions to Charles Darwin (19th century portrait) in Lewis Carroll's and Henry Holiday's The Hunting of the Snark . Also, too obvious allusions to Darwin would have narrowed the interpretation space which Carroll wanted to leave to his readers. However, there is more . Darwin portrait found in What Mr Darwin Saw in His Voyage Round the World in the Ship ‘Beagle’ , 1879. »Extracts paraphrased by W.P. Garrison from Darwin’s Beagle diaries. Son of a US abolitionist, W.P. Garrison published this work anonymously. His stated aim was to 'interest children in the study of natural history, and physical and political geography'. Garrison selected extracts from Darwin's original diaries, reorganising material thematically into four parts: 'Animals', 'Man' (strange peoples and customs, particularly of savage and barbarous life), 'Geography' (physical features of the countries visited by Mr Darwin) and 'Nature' (account of the grandeur of terrestrial processes).« Source: University of Cambridge > Department of History and Philosophy of Science > Whipple Library > Rare book collections > Online exhibitions

In an early draft to the image The Crew on Deck , the Bellman had a different face than the one which the Bellman had in the final illustration. Henry Holiday moved that round faced character to the illustration The Barrister's Dream and then turned the Bellman into a Darwin look-alike.

This ship played an important role in the history of science . Print based on a drawing by Conrad Martens , etching published in: Francis Darwin, Life and Letters of Charles Darwin , p. 160, 1888. Conrad Martens' drawing has been engraved by Thomas Landseer and published in the year 1838 by H. Colburn in The Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of HMS Adventure and Beagle . Date: 1834-04-16 Location: Tierra del Fuego, Santa Cruz river, 50.1125°S and 68.3917°W maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=5... That is the position calculated by Captain Robert FitzRoy (who had no GPS). The error was small. The drawing shows that the site must have been a river bank (50.13°S, 68.39°W?) near the calculated position. See also: darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F10.2&vi... thebeagleproject.blogspot.com/2009/04/keel-overhauled-175... beagleproject.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/two-feet-from-sink... Vector graphics (slightly snarked version): www.ipernity.com/doc/goetzkluge/19726411 commons.wikimedia.org: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TheBeagleLaidAshore.png

Vector graphics: PDF: www.academia.edu/9919476/The_HMS_Beagle PDF: www.snrk.de/BeagleLaidAshoreSnarked.pdf SVG: www.snrk.de/BeagleLaidAshoreSnarked.svg.7z

Assembled scans from original 19th century sources: • Print The Beagle Laid Ashore based on a drawing (1834-04-16) by Conrad Martens , etching published in: Francis Darwin, Life and Letters of Charles Darwin , p. 160, 1888. Conrad Martens' drawing has been engraved by T. Landseer and published in the year 1838 by H. Colburn in The Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of HMS Adventure and Beagle . • Bellman , Banker and Beaver from illustrations by H. Holiday to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark , 1876

Detail from Henry Holiday's illustration to the back cover of Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (1876). I don't unterstand this pattern (if it is a pattern). Perhaps it is not meant to be understood. Or it is no "meaningful" pattern at all. The pattern is clearly distinguishable from its environment. The letter-like shapes shown below the image are the result of very simple linear transformations using GIMP. Yet, I still can't say whether these are letters or just meaningless shapes. Is there any meaning? Should the "letters" be rotated and/or mirrored again? Is there a word game ("Anne I" beside a buoy) related to Anne Boleyn? (In his illustrations, Holiday clearly alluded to other historical figures related to Anne Bolyen, e.g. Queen Elizabeth I.)

These are only lines, no bell. Segment from illustration by Henry Holiday to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (1876). In Lewis Carroll's, Henry Holiday's (and Joseph Swain's) illustrations to The Hunting of the Snark , there is a bell in all but two illustrations. You find it even on the front cover and the back cover. The left side of an illustration without a clearly recognizable bell is shown above. It has been drawn by Holiday and cut into a woodblock by Swain. Where is the bell (if there is any)? (The Bellman's map is the second exception. There is no bell either. But that illustration hasn't necessarily been made by Henry Holiday. And neither did Joseph Swain sign that map. A typographer could have made it.)

An illustration by Henry Holiday to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (1876). In the red frame: The missing bell? Blue inset (just fooling around a bit): HMS Beagle Among Porpoises" (1830-1839?) by Robert Taylor Pritchett . The shapes of the vessels are pretty generic, but the lightning rod was a special feature of the HMS Beagle.

From an illustration by Henry Holiday to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (1876). The shown structure could be a fire. Who knows?

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Mahendra Singh (Montréal) holds the copyright to the illustration (depicting Victor Hugo ) on the right side. Compare it to the 16th century etching The Image Breakers (1566-1568, mirror view, right side) by Marcus Gheraerts the Elder. I added that comparison as shown above to my photostream with Mahendra's consent (2010-07-22). Source of Mahendra Singh's illustration: justtheplaceforasnark (blog, 2009-12-03) Mahendra knows the art of deniability very well. Mahendra's "heads": • justtheplaceforasnark.blogspot.de/2009/12/dream-books-nonsense-and-bourbon.html • justtheplaceforasnark.blogspot.de/2013/09/the-heart-is-lonely-snark-hunter.html

Il Covile, anno XII NO690, 2012-03-29, ISSN 2279-6924 www.ilcovile.it/scritti/COVILE_690_Snark.pdf (or pg. 101 in www.ilcovile.it/raccolte/RACCOLTA_COVILE__3_Fine_e_popolare.pdf ) Translation of Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark, 16 pages: LEWIS CARROLL LA CERCA DELLO SQUALLO THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK NELLA TRADUZIONE DI ADRIANO OREFICE In the preface to the introduction to his Snark translation, Adriano Orefice (whose main business is quantum physics ) associated the Snark hunt with research and Charles Darwin's Beagle voyage . Since 1982, Prof. Orefice's translation hibernated in some drawer until Raffaele Giovanelli (same business) found it 30 years later.

=== The Bellman's rule === 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." === Implementation of the rule === The little Haskell program checks whether entries in a list of statements occur three times (or more). Therefore the program is a useful tool to test the truth of statements.

William Blake: The Omnipotent or The Ancient of Days , 1794, detail mirror view Inset: The Snark hunting Bellman