The Banker

Henry Holiday : The Banker's Fate (vector graphics for posters) Vectorized segment from an illustration by Henry Holiday (cut by Joseph Swain) to the chapter The Banker's Fate in Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (1876). Resizeable vector graphics for posters : www.snrk.de/snarkhunt/bankersnatch.svg PDF: www.snrk.de/snarkhunt/bankersnatch.pdf Facebook: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2070929978168&set=o.2... Fit the Seventh THE BANKER’S FATE 489 · · They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care; 490 · · · · They pursued it with forks and hope; 491 · · They threatened its life with a railway-share; 492 · · · · They charmed it with smiles and soap. 493 · · And the Banker, inspired with a courage so new 494 · · · · It was matter for general remark, 495 · · Rushed madly ahead and was lost to their view 496 · · · · In his zeal to discover the Snark 497 · · But while he was seeking with thimbles and care, 498 · · · · A Bandersnatch swiftly drew nigh 499 · · And grabbed at the Banker, who shrieked in despair, 500 · · · · For he knew it was useless to fly. 501 · · He offered large discount—he offered a cheque 502 · · · · (Drawn “to bearer”) for seven-pounds-ten: 503 · · But the Bandersnatch merely extended its neck 504 · · · · And grabbed at the Banker again. 505 · · Without rest or pause—while those frumious jaws 506 · · · · Went savagely snapping around- 507 · · He skipped and he hopped, and he floundered and flopped, 508 · · · · Till fainting he fell to the ground. 509 · · The Bandersnatch fled as the others appeared 510 · · · · Led on by that fear-stricken yell: 511 · · And the Bellman remarked “It is just as I feared!” 512 · · · · And solemnly tolled on his bell. 513 · · He was black in the face, and they scarcely could trace 514 · · · · The least likeness to what he had been: 515 · · While so great was his fright that his waistcoat turned white- 516 · · · · A wonderful thing to be seen! So great was his fright that his waistcoat turned white 517 · · To the horror of all who were present that day. 518 · · · · He uprose in full evening dress, 519 · · And with senseless grimaces endeavoured to say 520 · · · · What his tongue could no longer express. 521 · · Down he sank in a chair—ran his hands through his hair— 522 · · · · And chanted in mimsiest tones 523 · · Words whose utter inanity proved his insanity, 524 · · · · While he rattled a couple of bones. 525 · · “Leave him here to his fate—it is getting so late!” 526 · · · · The Bellman exclaimed in a fright. 527 · · “We have lost half the day. Any further delay, 528 · · · · And we sha’nt catch a Snark before night!” Source: The Hunting of the Snark , Lewis Carroll, 1876

513 · · He was black in the face, and they scarcely could trace 514 · · · · The least likeness to what he had been: 515 · · While so great was his fright that his waistcoat turned white- 516 · · · · A wonderful thing to be seen! This is probably one of the strongest examples for resemblances between graphical elements in Henry Holiday's illustrations (1876, cut by Joseph Swain) and graphical elements in another image. Sometimes Holiday mirrored his pictorial quotes: Here Holiday vertically flipped the "nose" of Gheeraert's "head". I flipped it back. 2011-12-12 2014-02-22 As for the image on the top of this page: [left]: The Banker after his encounter with the Bandersnatch, depicted in Henry Holiday's illustration (woodcut by Joseph Swain for block printing) to the chapter "The Banker's Fate" in Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark" (scanned from an 1876 edition of the book) [right]: a redrawn and horizontally compressed and reproduction 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). Also I flipped the "nose" vertically. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 Version, 2000x2000: www.ipernity.com/doc/goetzkluge/36260048

513 · · He was black in the face, and they scarcely could trace 514 · · · · The least likeness to what he had been: 515 · · While so great was his fright that his waistcoat turned white- 516 · · · · A wonderful thing to be seen! This is probably one of the strongest examples for resemblances between graphical elements in Henry Holiday's illustrations (1876, cut by Joseph Swain) and graphical elements in another image. In this case the images are [left]: The Banker after his encounter with the Bandersnatch , depicted in a segment of Henry Holiday 's illustration to The Banker's Fate in Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (scanned from an 1876 edition of the book) and [right]: a horizontally compressed copy 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.

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)

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

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 .

· · · · 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. Henry Holiday's illustration to the first "fit" in Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (1876)

Darwin did use tuning forks for experiments with spiders. 201 · · You may seek it with thimbles--and seek it with care; 202· · · · You may hunt it with forks and hope; 203· · You may threaten its life with a railway-share ; 204· · · · You may charm it with smiles and soap -- I think that The Hunting of the Snark alludes to many events in the Victorian era. Among those, Charles Darwins Beagle voyage, his discoveries and the resulting challenge to religious beliefs surely were important issues to the Reverend Dodgson (aka. Lewis Carroll) and his Snark illustrator, Henry Holiday. The image: Illustration by Henry Holiday to the chapter The Hunting in Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (1876). Inset: Charles Darwin , photo probably by Messrs. Maull and Fox, around 1854, see also commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Darwin_aged_51.jpg . Inset in inset: Charles Darwin's "I think" sketch of the evolutionary tree ( about July 1837 , 1st notebook 1837-1838, page 36) compared to a "weed" in the lower left corner of Holiday's illustration. I learned, that Darwin did not keep his notebook secret after the publication of On the Origin of Species , but I do not know of any presentation of his sketch before 1876. Thus, the resemblance between the "weed" and Darwin's evolutionary tree sketch may be purely incidental. Remarks: (1) I also left a copy here: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CharlesDarwinHuntingSnark.jpg , License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 (2) The person on the right side in Holiday's illustration is "The Banker". This figure has different faces in different illustrations. (3) Henry Holiday may have been inspired by Darwin's "tree of life" sketch when he did his illustrations to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark . However, the problem with my guess is, that (as far as I know) the sketch still may not have been known to the public when Lewis Carroll and Henry Holiday worked on The Hunting of the Snark .

"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).