Main

 
Shawberwocky Here is the English text of "Jabberwocky" set up in Shaw Alphabet. For the standard English version (and numerous translations and parodies) go to Keith Lim's Jabberwocky site. In 1962, a wholly new alphabet for English was designed and briefly published, supported by a bequest from the English playwright George Bernard Shaw. The text will appear on your screen as badly hashed English until you download and install a Shavian font, available both for Mac and for Windows. The pronunciation is that of an older man (who learned to read Lewis Carroll from his mother who wasan Alice) from the western U.S.

Return to Shaw Alphabet Links page.

/JAbDwykI


[jabberwocky.] twuz brilig, n H slFHI tOvz
did gFD n gimbal in H wEb;
Yl mimzI wx H bPagOvz,
n H mOm rATs QtgrEb.

bIwX H /JAbDwyk, mF sun!
H JYz HAt bFt, H klYz HAt kAc!
bIwX H /JubJub bxd, n Sun
H frMmWs /bAndDsnAc!

hI tUk hiz vPpal sPd in hAnd:
lYN tFm H mANksam fO hI sYt -
sO restad hI bF H /tumtum trI ,
n stUd ahwFl in TYt.

And, Az in ufiS TYt hI stUd ,
H /JAbDwyk, wiH Fz v flEm,
kEm hwifliN TrM H tulJI wUd ,
n bxbald Az it kEm!

wun tM! wun tM! n TrM n TrM
H vPpal blEd went snikD-snAk!
hI left it ded , n wiH its hed ,
hI went galumfiN bAk.

And hAst HQ slEn H /JAbDwyk?
kum t mF Rmz, mF bImiS bq!
O frAbJas dE! kalM! kalE!
hI cPtald in hiz Jq.

twuz brilig, n H slFHI tOvz
did gFD n gimbal in H wEb;
Yl mimzI wx H bPagOvz,
n H mOm rATs QtgrEb.


In 1963, in New York City, Stanley Marx "transposed" our beloved poem into the Shaw Alphabet, in a limited edition of fifty numbered copies, designed by Larry Alvaro, and printed by Typographic Designers in New York. He credited Stephen Austin and Sons, Ltd. for the Shaw Type (he had only one font of it), and noted "We believe that this is the first printing of Shaw Alphabet in the United States." Joel Birenbaum, a collector of editions of Alice in Wonderland,sent me a photocopy of an original in his collection. As far as I know this is the only printing of any text other than Androcles and the Lion in the Shaw Alphabet.

Stanley Marx's Jabberwocky has several noteworthy orthographic features. He does not use the namer dot (though heaven forfend there should be more than one Jabberwocky!) In general his orthography is American, though he preserves the historic difference between "ah" and "on". He does not treat unstressed syllables in an entirely consistent fashion, though he always uses "err" rather than "array".He does not use a separate digraph for voiceless "wh". Perhaps most unusual is his use of a syllablic "loll" in unstressed syllables (gimble, vorpal, chortled) where he consistently omits the "ado" vowel.

JAbxwokI

twyz brilig, n H slFHI tOvz
did gFx n gimbl in H wEb;
Yl mimzI wx H borOgOvz,
n H mOm rATs QtgrEb.

bIwX H JAbxwok, mF sun!
H JYz HAt bFt, H klYz HAt kAc!
bIwX H JubJub bxd, n Sun
H frUmIus bAndxsnAc!

hI tUk hiz vPpl sPd in hAnd:
loN tFm H mAnksum fO hI sYt -
sO rested hI bF H tumtum trI,
n stUd awFl in TYt.

n Az in ufiS TYt hI stUd,
H JAbxwok, wiH Fz v flEm,
kEm wiflIN TrM H tulJI wUd,
n bxbld az it kEm!

wun tM! wun tM! n TrM n TrM
H vPpl blEd went snikx-snAk!
hI left it ded, n wiH its hed,
hI went galumfIN bAk.

n hAst HQ slEn H JAbxwok?
kum t mF Rmz, mF bImiS bq!
O frAbJus dE! kAlM! kAlE!
hI cPtld in hiz Jq.

twyz brilig, n H slFHI tOvz
did gFx n gimbl in H wEb;
Yl mimzI wx H borOgOvz,
n H mOm rATs QtgrEb.


 updated October 30th, 1999