The trip to New York was great and so was the LCSNA meeting. It was in the NY INstitute of Technology, where Edward Giuliano, a noted Lewis Carroll student and writer, is a big wheel. It was the first time I'd met him in person, and we had a very interesting chat aftewards about the provenance of the Wasp in a Wig. I've always been bothered that there essentially isn't one - and it looks as if it will never be revealed.

To be honest, the first bit of the meeting slightly passed me by, as I was mentally going over the talk, So the brilliance of New Yorker columnist Adam Gopnik, which was mentioned afterwards by several people, didn't make much of an impression, unfortunately.

When it came to giving the talk itself, though, I rather enjoyed it.

At the podium

It was good to see some familiar faces, like the Imholzes, and to meet Adam Tannenbaum for the first time.

First time meeting Alan Tannenbaum
I signed copies of the book - Barnes and Noble were in attendance, and they seemed to sell most of them. Buyers also materialised for all the copies of Lewis Carroll in his Own Account which I had brought along in my luggage.

Book signing

At the book signing I also had my first real life meeting with Mahendra Singh, who was signing his brilliant Snark book (no - that's not him - either of them)

Andrew Sellon, retiring LCSNA
president, was presented with a very nice pen and real ink, so he can carry on raving at his writing desk - not an original remark :)

Andrew Sellon

All in all, it was a good humoured, truly nice affair, and afterwards, we all went off to Josephina's restaurant nearby, and relaxed. Here I am sitting with Amy and Erin. Erin, at 16, is probably the youngest LCSNA member - and really, really bright.

At Josephina's