0217303 Macmillan and Co London 1885 First Edition *Large Duodecimo - 190mm (71/2") tall Hard Cover * Very Good - Fine This is a particularly well preserved copy, first edition of 1885. Gilt-framed red cloth with gilt circular motif bearing a dragon on the upper cover, with a similar gilt circular motif with two knights on lower cover. Gilt edges all round. The corners are sharp. Black endpapers. The only significant foxing is to be found on the very last page, which bears the adds, foxing mark on frontispiece, tissue paper between frontis & title page and on title page, otherwise the book is clean and very tightly bound. The only other visible flaw is in the slightly faded spine. There are six line drawings by Arthur B. Frost, including the frontispiece protected by tissue guard, which is only lightly foxed in one place, otherwise intact. Perhaps a lesser known of Lewis Carroll's works, though by no means inferior to those that made him a household name. A collection of 10 humorous stories, which Carroll likes to call 'knots'. Essentially they are mathematical puzzles, to which Carroll gives his answers in the Appendix, which is almost as long as the main part of the book. In the Preface, dated October 1885, the author wrote: "This Tale originally appeared as a serial in The Monthly Packet, beginning in April 1880. The writers intention was to embody in each Knot (like medicine so dexterously, but ineffectually, concealed in the jam of our early childhood) one or more mathematical questions in Arithmetic, Algebra, or Geometry, as the case might be for the amusement, and possible edification, of the fair readers of that magazine. L.C." $450.00AUD
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