Clara in Blunderland. (offered with) Lost in Blunderland. The further adventures of Clara

London: Heinemann, 1903. FIRST EDITIONS. Frontispieces and illustrations by S.R. (Stafford Ransome). Pictorial green cloth stamped in red and black. A fine set with the bookplate of Hugh Charles Knowles in the first volume (some offsetting on the fly-leaf). First edition of these parodies of Alice by Begbie (1871-1929), the English journalist and poet. Dedicated to Lewis Carroll, the story is an unrepentant criticism of the British government’s engagement in the second Boer war. A number of politicians are depicted including Winston Churchill (as the Caterpillar).

Begbie was well-known as a political satirist and writer of comedy and fiction. He was assisted in the preparation of these two works by the English journalist Michael Henry Temple (1862-1928). The first volume was so successful it was printed ten times before the first printing of the second volume the next year.