AN EASTER GREETING TO EVERY CHILD WHO LOVES `ALICE'

Carroll, Lewis [Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge] AN EASTER GREETING TO EVERY CHILD WHO LOVES `ALICE.' [Oxford: for the Author, 1876] Single leaf, folded to four pages, as issued. First edition, first printing, and rare in the correct first printing. Fine copy. Williams & Madan once described the first printing of this little leaflet as "the rarest of the Carroll items excepting the first issue ALICE." When a few more copies came to light, he revised his earlier statement. When examples are found they are usually MacMillan's post-1880 reprints or later printings done for Dodgson. This copy has all the measurements and readings (including the critical "my" in Roman type face at line 12 on the third page) and is on laid paper bearing E. Towgood's watermark. While later printings done for Dodgson are sometimes found on Towgood paper, none of the later versions share all of the characteristics of both the text and paper. Copies were intended to be inserted into the specially bound presentation copies of THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK, but Dodgson also gave away individual copies to his young friends. This charming letter vividly captures how children see the world, touches on Dodgson's belief that the laughter of children are at least as holy an utterance as mournful prayers muttered by adults in churches on Sundays, and he ends his missive with the Easter-appropriate sentiment that death leads to a bright and joyous afterlife not unlike the dawn that greets every child at their window when they awaken each morning. A happy memento of Dodgson's affection for the young readers of his masterpiece. Williams, Madan, Green 116.