John Tenniel's illustration for an early edition: Everything and nothing have changed.
In time, the LCSNA evolved into a more complex organism: a butterfly that has turned into a caterpillar. Where once it was the collectible book that was the focus, it is now the content that is in the cross-hairs and its language is plumbed and parsed to illuminate and elucidate all manner of events within the book and without. Think of it as Tarot cards for the intellectually capable.
This transition seems to precisely suit Mark, the son and sun of this evolving galactic enterprise who day and night edits the Knight Letter, the semi-annual journal of the LCSNA, and also serves as its vice president.
It is a sprawling thing that would leave Dodgson himself bemused about the enthusiasm and intensity which emanates from the journal pages like reflected heat on macadam in July. The most recent issue contains two principal parts: “The Rectory Umbrella” and “Mischasch” and beneath their extended canopies nineteen articles and many items of diverse lengths present a panoply of wisdom, information, direction, dissection and announcements and the touch of the whimsy that Mark brings to this endeavor. For the hare-brained there is something for everyone. The latest issue, but one which measures a stout 44 pages all in, is reported pregnant with ambitions and articles that will carry the impending one to the printer’s cosmic limit – 56 pages, the most that the present binding arrangements will tolerate without busting its buttons.
For those who find the written word insufficient, there are two LCSNA conferences staged each year at least six unicorn leaps apart to allow Carrollinians on both coasts their chance to dissect, resurrect and hypothesize in person.
A few years ago, Sandor gifted his extraordinary collection of Carrolliana to Mark. We find today in Mark’s home a cosmic Alice assemblage in a very comfortable environment where the collection breaths easily and the residents must hold theirs, for this material lives in a constant state of impending birth. If the collection could speak, you would expect it to say, “Get out! I need more room.” And it would be true.
For collecting Alice is different than collecting, say, a period or subject in American history. It’s true that interpretations change but they tend to change slowly and the flow of new material on most subjects is both moderate and not necessarily of interest to the collector of the early or original materials. Alice, by comparison, is published in many languages and for some collectors, accumulating the book in these many languages and in all the editions of these various languages is a collecting pursuit.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
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Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9a74d9ff-42dd-46a1-8bb2-b636c4cec796.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.")
