Lewis Carroll

Bestselling author, pioneering photographer, mathematical don and writer of nonsense verse, Lewis Carroll remains a source of continuing fascination. Though many have sought to understand this complex man he remains for many an enigma. Now leading international authority, Edward Wakeling, offers his unique appraisal of the man born Charles Dodgson but whom the world knows best as Lewis Carroll, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. This new biography of Carroll presents a fresh appraisal based upon his social circle. Contrary to the claims of many previous authors, Carroll's circle was not child centred: his correspondence was enormous, numbering almost 100,000 items at the time of his death, and included royalty and many of the leading artists, illustrators, publishers, academics, musicians and composers of the Victorian era. Edward Wakeling draws upon his personal database of nearly 6,000 letters, mostly never before published, to fill the gaps left by earlier biographies and resolve some of the key myths that surround Lewis Carroll, such as his friendships with children and his drug-taking. Meticulously researched and based upon a lifetime's study of the man and his work, this important new work will be essential reading for scholars and admirers of one of the key authors of the Victorian age.

Edward Wakeling is an internationally recognized authority on Lewis Carroll. A former chairman of the Lewis Carroll Society, he edited the ten volumes of Lewis Carroll's Diaries and regularly acts as a consultant to auctioneers, television programmes and exhibitions worldwide. He owns one of the finest collections of Carroll material in private hands. His books include Lewis Carroll's Oxford Pamphlets (University Press of Virginia Press, 1993), Lewis Carroll Photographer (with Roger Taylor, Princeton University Press, 2002) and Lewis Carroll and his Illustrators (with Morton N. Cohen, Cornell University Press, 2003).

CONTENTS Foreword by Rhona Lewis, Christ Church, Oxford Preface Acknowledgements A Chronology of C. L. Dodgson's Life 1. The Dodgson Family 2. Teachers and Oxford University Associates 3. Publishers and Printers 4. Illustrators 5. Mathematicians and Logicians 6. Photographers 7. Artists and Musicians 8. Actors and Dramatists 9. Friends and Children 10. Professionals 11. Royalty 12. Famous Acquaintances Epilogue: Full Circle Bibliography Short Titles Notes Index