The Hunting of the Snark published by Macmillan in the United Kingdom in late March 1876, with illustrations by Henry Holiday. It had mixed reviews from reviewers who found it strange. The first printing of "The Hunting of the Snark" consisted of 10,000 copies. There were two reprintings by the conclusion of the year; in total, the poem was reprinted 17 times between 1876 and 1908. Carroll often denied knowing the meaning behind the poem; however, in an 1896 reply to one letter, he agreed with one interpretation of the poem as an allegory for the search for happiness. Scholars have found various meanings in
Lewis Carroll: A Biography intimate woman-friends that Dodgson had through his life, yet still concludes that his existence revolved exclusively around friendships with small girls!" Jo Elwyn Jones and J. Francis Gladstone in "The Alice Companion: A Guide to Lewis Carroll's Alice Books" (1998) criticises the book for what they say is a poor treatment of Carroll's involvement in controversies at the University of Oxford. Megan Harlan in "Entertainment Weekly" writes that "This beautifully written bio never shies away from the house-of-mirrors complexity of its subject." An issue of "Victorian Studies" reported that there were issues with inconsistent references. Miles Edward Friend compares Cohen's