October 6th is Mad Hatter Day! This day celebrates the fictional character, The Mad Hatter, from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” which was first published in 1865. This day matches the label on the Mad Hatter’s hat band that reads “In this style 10/6,” which meant the top hat cost ten shillings and sixpence in England. For today, Jared discusses the origin of the Mad Hatter and letterpress printed an electrotype (copy of a woodcut), made about 130 years ago, from the Lewis Winter Collection. The print depicts a dapper gentleman wearing a nice suit and top hat. However, by time Lewis Winter was making cuts, beaver felt had fallen out of style and silk was predominantly used for making top hats. This was printed with black rubber base ink using our Washington hand press. #SacHistoryMuseum #MadHatterDay #madhatter #idiom #idioms #tophat #History #letterpress #museum #sacramento #printing #printingpress #printmaking