# Is "The Hunting of the Snark" by Lewis Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson) (Macmillan and Co., 1876) is identified by: First edition, London: Macmillan and Co., 1876, octavo, with nine wood-engraved illustrations by Henry Holiday. The London Macmillan and Co.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, London: Macmillan and Co., 1876, octavo, with nine wood-engraved illustrations by Henry Holiday
- Bound in pictorial buff (pale brown) cloth gilt designed by Holiday, showing the Bellman on the ship's yardarm within a ruled border, all edges gilt, black endpapers
- The key first-issue text point is 'Baker' (not 'Butcher') on page 83
- Carroll also had a small number of copies bound in red, blue, green, and white cloth for presentation; these are not a separate edition
- Publisher imprint reads Macmillan and Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Lewis Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson) |
| Publisher | Macmillan and Co. |
| Year | 1876 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, London: Macmillan and Co., 1876, octavo, with nine wood-engraved illustrations by Henry Holiday |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, London: Macmillan and Co., 1876, octavo, with nine wood-engraved illustrations by Henry Holiday. Bound in pictorial buff (pale brown) cloth gilt designed by Holiday, showing the Bellman on the ship's yardarm within a ruled border, all edges gilt, black endpapers. The key first-issue text point is 'Baker' (not 'Butcher') on page 83. Carroll also had a small number of copies bound in red, blue, green, and white cloth for presentation; these are not a separate edition.

## Is this the true first?
The London Macmillan and Co. 1876 edition is the true first. The buff pictorial cloth is the standard trade binding of the first; the coloured presentation bindings are contemporaneous gift copies.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Macmillan reprints lack the 'Baker'/page-83 point and show differing binding and advertisement states.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Hunting of the Snark* by Lewis Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-hunting-of-the-snark
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.