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150 Years of Snark
@snark150.bsky.social
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Let's celebrate the two coming sesquicentennial anniversaries (snrk.de/150th-snark-anniversaries/) of Lewis Carroll and Henry Holiday's "The Hunting of the Snark" in 2025 & 2026.

For Xwitter refugees: x[.]com/Snark150 ➜ @snarkhunt.bsky.social

2025-01-20
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snark150.bsky.social
150 Years of Snark @snark150.bsky.social · 18d
There are three important 150th anniversaries of “The Hunting of the Snark”. @panmacmillan.bsky.social already missed two of them.

snrk.de/150th-snark-...
https://snrk.de/150th-snark-anniversaries/ There are three important 150th anniversaries related to “The Hunting of the Snark”. Pan Macmillan already missed two of them. (1) === 18 July 2024: Conception === On 18 July 1874, the very last line of Carroll’s Snark tragicomedy came into his head while out on a walk at Guildford: “For the Snark was a Boojum, you see” . The first stanza was composed on 22 July 1874. “In the midst of the word…” which stands as the last verse of the poem. (2) === 25 October 2025: Naming === On 25 October 1875, Carroll decided to use “The Hunting of the Snark” as the title of his Snark tragicomedy (which in Henry Holiday’s view started out as a tragedy). (3) === 1 April 2026: Birth === On 29 March 1876 at Macmillan, Carroll prepared 80 presentation copies for family and friends. (As far as I understand, these copies contained an additional poem: the Easter Greeting.) On 1 April 1876, Macmillan officially published the poem with Henry Holiday’s illustrations.
Reposted by 150 Years of Snark
snark150.bsky.social
Whoops. Kim Nyamhondera (@panmacmillan.bsky.social's Senior Publicity Manager) didn't like my #HeadsUp.
https://clearsky.app/@kimberleynyam.bsky.social/blocking (2025-11-13)
November 13, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by 150 Years of Snark
snark150.bsky.social
Heads up!

How will @panmacmillan.bsky.social celebrate the coming 150th anniversaries of "The Hunting of the Snark"?

#SnarkHeadsUp
A heads-up to www.panmacmillan.com/contact-us (2025-05-19): There are still two anniversaries of Lewis Carroll and Henry Holiday's "The Hunting of the Snark" to be celebrated in 2025 and 2026 (details: Snark150 in Bluesky). Will Pan Macmillan celebrate these events?
May 22, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Reposted by 150 Years of Snark
snark150.bsky.social
#HeadsUp #TheHuntingOfTheSnark #150thAnniversary

@josietturner.bsky.social and @kimberleynyam.bsky.social , how will @panmacmillan.bsky.social celebrate the 150th anniversaries of "The Hunting of the Snark" in October 2025 and April 2026?
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 in 2024, 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.
September 18, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by 150 Years of Snark
snarkhunt.bsky.social
Rethinking the Snark

snrk.de/fact-checks/
https://snrk.de/fact-checks/ ⁕ Ambiguous: The “Boots” and “the maker of Bonnets and Hoods” in The Hunting of the Snark might be two different persons, but also could be the same person. Thus, the Snark hunting crew might have only nine members, not ten. ⁕ Unproven: The assumption that Carroll was on drugs when he wrote the Alice books. ⁕ Probably wrong: The assumption that the the Snark’s “fondness for bathing-machines” is nonsense. It might be an Oxford Christ Church College insider joke. ⁕ Too often wrong: Carroll quotes (e.g. in the Internet). Check them before a Carroll misquote sticks as a tattoo on your skin. ⁕ Wrong: The assumption that C.L. Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) invented the word “Snark”. ⁕ Wrong: The assumption that the “Ocean Chart” (the Bellman’s map) in The Hunting of the Snark was made by Henry Holiday. ⁕ Wrong: The claim by rare book sellers that only the first issue of The Hunting of the Snark has “Baker” on page 83. ⁕ Wrong: The assumption that there is photographic evidence that Alice Liddell, as a child, kissed C.L. Dodgson. ⁕ Wrong: The story that C.L. Dodgson sent an admiring Queen Victoria a copy of An Elementary Treatise on Determinants.
November 13, 2025 at 1:07 PM
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snarkhunt.bsky.social
Today I made a discovery which lets me assume that the meaning of "snark" in 1831 was not too different from how we use the term today.

bsky.app/profile/snar...
snarkhunt.bsky.social The Hunting of the Snark @snarkhunt.bsky.social · 11d
#Etymology of #Snark

Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark" was published in 1876.

Amos Eaton wrote to to John Torrey on September 21st, 1831: "We are like some old husband and wife, who scold each other, fret, snark, &c. But when either is in distress the other feels it to the heart."
Source: Amos Eaton and John Torrey correspondence, 1816-1840, by Eaton, Amos, 1776-1842 https://archive.org/details/amoseatonjohnto00eato/page/n224/mode/1up «John Torrey Papers (PP), Archives, The New York Botanical Garden [...] Correspondence from Amos Eaton to John Torrey, dated 1816-1840. [...] In later years too, there are painful episodes of friction between Eaton and Torrey's protégé, Asa Gray. In the midst of a long tirade, however, Eaton pauses to reassure Torrey of his undying affection: "We are like some old husband and wife," he write in 1831[-09-21], "who scold each other, fret, snark, &c., but when either is in distress the other feels it to the heart." [...]»
November 3, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Reposted by 150 Years of Snark
snark150.bsky.social
This also shows that the term “Snark” is older than Lewis Carroll (C. L. Dodgson).
November 3, 2025 at 6:39 AM
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snarkhunt.bsky.social
@theguardian.com, here you had been praised for snark.
Snark is fine, unless it's a Boojum.

The Guardian missed already two important 150th Snark anniversaries (bsky.app/profile/snar...). How will you celebrate the third one in spring 2026? Or did you "cancel" any Carroll stuff?
November 1, 2025 at 1:14 PM
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snark150.bsky.social
Via instagram to BBC Radio 3: You already missed two 150th anniversaries (bsky.app/profile/snar...) of "The Hunting of the Snark". Please at least celebrate the 3rd one, the publication of the tragicomedy in March/April 1876. How about rebroadcasting your 2020 radio play (snrk.de/snark-radio-...)?
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06sbrxh/ See also: https://snrk.de/snark-radio-play/ Sadly, it’s not online anymore. -------------------------------------------------------------- https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06sbrxh/clips (2020-01-02): "Tony Robinson narrates this fresh adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic masterpiece following a strange assortment of characters on their quest for an elusive beast. Led by a bell-ringing Captain, this motley crew must brave terrifying danger in their chaotic pursuit of a creature known as Snark. Accompanied by specially composed music and songs, this surreal tale questions whether anything is really what it seems. … First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2015." Streaming: 2020-01-02 – 2020-01-31 Credits: – Narrator: Tony Robinson – Bellman: Eric Potts – Baker: Paul Barnhill – Butcher: Everal A Walsh – Barrister: Jonathan Keeble – Snark (in the Barrister’s dream): Jonathan Keeble – Beaver: Stephen Hoyle – Music and songs (composer): Katie Chatburn – Music (performers): – Katie Chatburn – Dorry Macaulay – Kathryn Williams – Stephen Cordiner – Jasper Wilkinson – Director: Charlotte Riches – Author: Lewis Carroll
October 28, 2025 at 11:44 PM
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ancestralenq.bsky.social
Staff at Lincoln Cathedral find a dinner party invite by author Lewis Carroll from 1875. 👇
BBC News - Dinner invite shows what Lewis Carroll had for tea
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Invite found in Lincoln shows what Lewis Carroll had for tea
Staff at Lincoln Cathedral discover a dinner party invitation and menu sent by the author in 1875.
www.bbc.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by 150 Years of Snark
snarkhunt.bsky.social
The BBC probably didn't get it. Lewis Carroll and Henry Holiday's "The Hunting of the Snark" is a masterpiece which deserves more attention.

(At least a curator of the British Museum understood Henry Holiday's game: bm.snrk.de)
see also: https://bsky.app/profile/ancestralenq.bsky.social/post/3m5452j75ds2o and https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgkwml0p3wo Carroll's Snark cameo: https://snrk.de/lewis-carroll/
November 8, 2025 at 12:56 PM
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snarkhunt.bsky.social
More about Carroll's Snark cameo: snrk.de/lewis-carroll/
November 8, 2025 at 12:58 PM
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snark150.bsky.social
The lace making pillow is important: snrk.de/page_vivisec....
https://snrk.de/page_vivisection/ Lace-Making: An Infringement of Right • On Vivisection in Lewis Carroll's and Henry Holiday's ... 1 The Hunting of the Snark • Lewis Carroll: Some Popular Fallacies About Vivisection ... 3 • Charles Darwin: Letters on vivisection ... 12 273 The Boots and the Broker were sharpening a spade — 274 Each working the grindstone in turn: 275 But the Beaver went on making lace, and displayed 276 No interest in the concern: 277 Though the Barrister tried to appeal to its pride, 278 And vainly proceeded to cite 279 A number of cases, in which making laces 280 Had been proved an infringement of right. 421 But the Barrister, weary of proving in vain 422 That the Beaver's lace-making was wrong, 423 Fell asleep, and in dreams saw the creature quite plain 424 That his fancy had dwelt on so long. Source: The Hunting of the Snark (1876) Author: Lewis Carroll Illustrator: Henry Holiday, Engraver: Joseph Swain
October 28, 2025 at 5:41 PM
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rachelfeder.bsky.social
Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat
October 13, 2025 at 12:28 PM
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snark150.bsky.social
Almost every reader of "The Hunting of the Snark" thinks that the hunting party consists of 10 Snark hunters. How unhinged is the opinion that there are only 9 hunters in Lewis Carroll's Snark tragicomedy?

bsky.app/profile/snar...
October 14, 2025 at 1:52 PM
snark150.bsky.social
That event takes place on occasion of the 150th anniversary (on 25th of October 2026) of the naming of Lewis Carroll and Henry Holiday's tragicomedy "The Hunting of the Snark". Is that Munich artists society the only one worldwide where that anniversary (snrk.de/150th-snark-...) is celebrated?
allotria-muenchen.bsky.social Künstlergesellschaft Allotria @allotria-muenchen.bsky.social · 22d
Vortrag zu Henry Holidays Allusionen in seinen Illustrationen zu Lewis Carrolls "The Hunting of the Snark".

Zeit und Ort: Abend des 29. Oktober in München, nähe Karlsplatz.

In snrk.de/snark-talk/ hat @snark150.bsky.social seine Steigeisen für den (deutschsprachigen) Vortrag eingeschlagen.
October 28, 2025 at 1:29 AM
snark150.bsky.social
There are three important 150th anniversaries of “The Hunting of the Snark”. @panmacmillan.bsky.social already missed two of them.

snrk.de/150th-snark-...
https://snrk.de/150th-snark-anniversaries/ There are three important 150th anniversaries related to “The Hunting of the Snark”. Pan Macmillan already missed two of them. (1) === 18 July 2024: Conception === On 18 July 1874, the very last line of Carroll’s Snark tragicomedy came into his head while out on a walk at Guildford: “For the Snark was a Boojum, you see” . The first stanza was composed on 22 July 1874. “In the midst of the word…” which stands as the last verse of the poem. (2) === 25 October 2025: Naming === On 25 October 1875, Carroll decided to use “The Hunting of the Snark” as the title of his Snark tragicomedy (which in Henry Holiday’s view started out as a tragedy). (3) === 1 April 2026: Birth === On 29 March 1876 at Macmillan, Carroll prepared 80 presentation copies for family and friends. (As far as I understand, these copies contained an additional poem: the Easter Greeting.) On 1 April 1876, Macmillan officially published the poem with Henry Holiday’s illustrations.
October 27, 2025 at 10:56 AM
snark150.bsky.social
#October25 20251025

150th Anniversary #OTD :
On October 25th, 1875, Lewis Carroll decided to use “The Hunting of the Snark” as the title of his Snark tragicomedy.

See also: snrk.de/150th-snark-...

#TheHuntingOfTheSnark #LewisCarroll #HenryHoliday
https://snrk.de/page_elizabeth-i/
October 25, 2025 at 8:51 AM
snark150.bsky.social
@panmacmillan.bsky.social, 2025-10-24
Deep Thought still is searching for the question which yields the answer "42".

In the meanwhile you could work on reissuing "The Hunting of the Snark" on the 150th anniversary of its publication by Macmillan in 1876
Source (sorry for the link to Meta): https://www.facebook.com/panmacmillanbooks/posts/pfbid032LkgbG3A7nDSMohxbzoeUgbfYbnNjv3RQRpFWPM7MSMrmwvWSK2dvPvzt9czwh7Hl 2025-10-24 Deep Thought still is searching for the question which yields the answer "42". In the meanwhile you could work on reissuing "The Hunting of the Snark" in a good quality (better than the facsimile edition of the British Library) on the 150th anniversary of its publication by Macmillan in 1876. That anniversary will be celebrated in Spring 2026. We might even find the Baker's 42 boxes and Rule 42 of the Code observed by the Bellman. How will Pan Macmillan celebrate the Snark anniversaries? The next one (of the title "The Hunding of the Snark") is tomorrow on October 25th. See also Snark150 in the Blue Sky.
October 24, 2025 at 8:44 AM
snark150.bsky.social
@panmacmillan.bsky.social, HEADS UP!

How will Panmacmillan celebrate the 150th anniversaries of Lewis Carroll and Henry Holiday's "The Hunting of the Snark"? Is there anything which lets you hesitate to celebrate the anniversaries of the Carroll and Holiday's masterpiece?

#SnarkHeadsUp
Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy" started as a science fiction comedy radio series. It was originally broadcasted in the United Kingdom by BBC Radio 4 in 1978. The episodes where “Fits”, like in "The Hunting of the Snark". (See also “Fytte” in "Bards of Burns. A Lay of ye Crystalle Palace", Punch, XXXVI, pp. 48-49, 1859-01-29.). I think that there are some textual allusions to the Snark in Adam's Guide. Lewis Carroll and Henry Holiday's Snark tragicomedy officially was published by Macmillan almost 150 years ago on April 1st, 1876. But Carroll chose the title "The Hunting of the Snark" already on October 25th, 1875. I asked Panmecmillan vie various channels whether they will celebrate the 150th anniversaries of the tragicomedy. No response. https://snrk.de/150th-snark-anniversaries/ There are three important 150th anniversaries related to “The Hunting of the Snark” (https://snrk.de/150th-snark-anniversaries/): (1) === 18 July 2024: Conception === On 18 July 1874, the very last line of Carroll’s Snark tragicomedy came into his head while out on a walk at Guildford: “For the Snark was a Boojum, you see” . The first stanza was composed on 22 July 1874. “In the midst of the word…” which stands as the last verse of the poem. (2) === 25 October 2025: Naming === On 25 October 1875, Carroll decided to use “The Hunting of the Snark” as the title of his Snark tragicomedy (which in Henry Holiday’s view started out as a tragedy). (3) === 1 April 2026: Birth === On 29 March 1876 at Macmillan, Carroll prepared 80 presentation copies for family and friends. (As far as I understand, these copies contained an additional poem: the Easter Greeting.) On 1 April 1876, Macmillan officially published the poem with Henry Holiday’s illustrations.
October 23, 2025 at 11:35 AM
snark150.bsky.social
Another problem with Lewis Carroll tattoos if they are popular quotes: Lots of them are wrong. Or they aren’t original Carroll quotes.
rnrkd.bsky.social Arin Arcady @rnrkd.bsky.social · 24d
I'm always milddly afraid of getting canceled for Alice in Wonderland tattoos because Lewis Carroll is possibly problematic but no one else ever seems to be that invested
October 21, 2025 at 2:54 PM
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snark150.bsky.social
All of us are hunting Snarks in our pursuit of happiness (snrk.de?s=PursuitOfH...). But once you found the Snark, it might have turned into a Boojum.

In fascism, even the hunters are Boojums.
Monsters, by Henry Holiday (1875) and J. J. Grandville (1842). Source: https://snrk.de/delightful-monster/ About Holiday's Boojum (left image): «One of the first three [illustrations] I had to do was the disappearance of the Baker, and I not unnaturally invented a Boojum. Mr. Dodgson wrote that it was a delightful monster, but that it was inadmissible. All his descriptions of the Boojum were quite unimaginable, and he wanted the creature to remain so. I assented, of course, though reluctant to dismiss what I am still confident is an accurate representation. I hope that some future Darwin in a new Beagle will find the beast, or its remains; if he does, I know he will confirm my drawing.» Source: Henry Holiday (1898) "The Snark’s Significance", https://snrk.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/HenryHoliday_TheSnarksSignificance__searchable.pdf About Grandvilles monster (right image): The Loves of Two Beasts (Freaking Monster) - in 'Animals Painted by Themselves: Private and Public Life of Animals' by Grandville, Chapter by Honoré de Balzac, ed. Hetzel https://www.meisterdrucke.uk/fine-art-prints/Grandville/1066441/The-Loves-of-Two-Beasts-(Freaking-Monster)---in-%27Animals-Painted-by-Themselves:-Private-and-Public-Life-of-Animals%27-by-Grandville,-Chapter-by-Honor%C3%A9-de-Balzac,-ed.-Hetzel.html
October 15, 2025 at 8:04 AM