Signed Lewis Carroll poem sells for £12k (From Warrington Guardian)

Signed Lewis Carroll poem sells for £12k

2:40pm Saturday 12th December 2009

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A POEM signed by Daresbury’s Lewis Carroll has been sold to a mystery bidder in a New York auction for £12,801.

The rare first edition presentation copy of The Hunting Of The Snark, which he penned in 1876, was given to his sister Elizabeth Dodgson, who was also born in Daresbury.

He wrote: “Elizabeth L Dodgson, with best love, from her affte (sic) brother, the author, Mar 29,1876.”

The treasured book was auctioned by Christie’s at Rockefeller Plaza in the Big Apple on Friday.

The poem is a nonsense tale telling the ‘impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature’.

Edward Wakeling, a leading authority on the life and work of Lewis Carroll, said the poem was published on March 29,1876, the date which appears in the book.

Mr Wakeling said: “This copy, in a special blue binding, was for presentation only. Prices are normally around £4,000 to £5,000 for such books.”

On March 29, 1876 – the date in Elizabeth’s copy – Carroll went to London to write in 80 presentation copies.

Christie’s estimated that the signed copy would sell for up to £18,000.

Villagers in Daresbury have a lasting memory of Carroll’s work at All Saints Church, Daresbury Lane, where stained glass windows show images from his famous book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

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