The Hunting of the Snark

Lewis Carroll, Peter Newell & Cinzia Ghigliano

After crossing the sea guided by the Bellman’s map of the Ocean (a blank sheet of paper) a motley crew arrives to a strange land. Among them, there is a Beaver who can knit, an almost-Baker, not too clever but on paper of great courage, a Butcher specialized in killing beavers and master of calculus, a Barrister, a Banker and a Maker of Bonnets and Hoods. The Bellman tells them about the five characteristics by which a Snark can be identified, warning them that some Snarks are highly dangerous Boojums that can make their hunters vanish. The hunt can begin!

They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
They pursued it with forks and hope;
They threatened its life with a railway-share;
They charmed it with smiles and soap.

The Beaver and the Butcher search together, take the opportunity to practice a little arithmetic and eventually become friends. To the Barrister the Snark appears only in a dream, as a defense lawyer. The Banker is taken by a Bandersnatch, who he tries to bribe and is eventually saved thanks to his companions. The Baker rushes ahead of the party and calls out that he has found a Snark, but when the others arrive, he has mysteriously disappeared.

The Hunting of the Snark is a masterpiece of nonsense by Lewis Carroll, with nine pictures by Peter Newell that together with Cinzia Ghigliano’s new ones, form an illustrated dialogue between the classical and the contemporary.

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