The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll (Rev. C. L. Dodgson)

Published in 1898, just months after the death of Charles Dodgson (1832-98), the Oxford don better known by his pseudonym of Lewis Carroll, this biography investigates the imaginative genius of the writer, mathematician and photographer. Carroll's nephew, Stuart Dodgson Collingwood, had access to his subject's private papers and thirteen volumes of his private diary. He draws upon these materials in this memoir of the man who revolutionised writing for children, presenting a detailed account of Carroll's family origins, his eccentricities, artistic life, unorthodox friendships and his special skills in word-play and fantasy. Illustrated with photographs of Carroll himself and the key people and places in his life, the book, dedicated to 'all who love his writings', was the only complete biography for over thirty years. The first edition sold out within a week, a testament to Carroll's significance in the world of late-Victorian literature and culture.