The Rocking-horse-fly — Illustration to the third chapter of Through the Looking Glass by John Tenniel. Wood-engraving by the Dalziels. "It's made entirely of wood, and gets about by swinging itself from branch to branch. . . [it lives on] sap and sawdust, " the talking Gnat tells Alice in this chapter. The title is a condensation between rocking-horse and horse-fly, following a trend of new coinages for words and expressions, much beloved by Lewis Carroll. [For a fuller discussion see next illustration.]
Student assistants from the University Scholars Program, National University of Singapore, scanned this image and added text under the supervision of George P. Landow. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the site and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Last modified (with added note) 27 April 2021