[Note the form of multi-volume citations below. Letters, I: 51-2 note 1 appears as follows: Letters 1.51-52n1.
1832. Born at house of father, Curate, hamlet of Daresbury, County of Cheshire, N.W. England [village now lies between industrialised towns of Runcorn and Warrington].
1837. Passage close to Daresbury of Birmingham-Warrington line, Grand Junction Railway; noise, steam and smoke later carried over to Through the Looking-Glass (1872) and Sylvie and Bruno (1889). Home schooled with mother and two older daughters, Fanny and Elizabeth, to 1843. Reads John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress. Numerous younger sisters and brothers appear in turn. Maths and Bible studies with Augustan High-Church father.
1843. Family removes from Warrington to Croft [near Darlington], North Riding, Yorkshire. Young Charles constructs "railway-stations game' in large Rectory garden.
1844. Attends nearby school, Richmond, North Yorkshire. Friendship with Lucy Tate, b. 1842, the headmaster's daughter; continued to at least August 1863, with his own sisters.
1846. To Rugby School as boarder; more railway journeys, south via York-Doncaster-Grantham-Peterborough on Great North Eastern Railway; or via Leeds-Derby-Leicester on North Midland and Midland Railways. Becomes keen reader of Charles Dickens [David Copperfield] and Sir Walter Scott; perhaps also Romantic poets, and weekly humorous Punch, available on railway-station platforms from W. H. Smith booksellers. Produces early home-magazines and moralising poems for young siblings.
1850. Year of home studies with father, Canon Dodgson, preparing for Oxford University matriculation. Produces The Rectory Umbrella, and later Mischmasch, for siblings.
1851. Enters Christ Church Oxford for remainder of life. Studies Maths and Classics, as did his father there. Unexpected death of mother; inherits her set of The Works of Lord Byron, 6 vols., 1827 [Diaries, 10: 400 and n9]. July: visits London relations and the Great Exhibition. In March 1853 he will write poem "Solitude," perhaps for lost mother. ((Reconstruction of missing journals, 1851-1854 at Diaries, 10: 390-486). (Reconstruction of missing journals, 1851-1854 at Diaries, 10: 390-486).
1854. Visits Whitby, Yorkshire, with Professor Bart Price and mathematics Reading Party, prior to "finals'; publishes "The Lady of the Ladle' [satire on Scott, The Lady of the Lake] in Whitby Gazette [Diaries, 10: 480 n168].
1855. B.A. Hons., and thereafter Maths Lectureship. Begins regular journal [Diaries], with occasional and some inexplicable and lengthy lacunae; also maintains a copious and lifetime habit of correspondence [Letters]. Begins attending London theatres, against Christ Church rules: is exhilarated by Shakespeare's Henry VIII and Queen Catherine - scenery, costumes, emotions, compared with mere readings and declamations. Reads Alfred Lord Tennyson's Maud twice, sensing the poet's "lost love'. Closely follows news of Crimean War.
1856. Reads and discusses Charles Kingsley's Alton Locke and Dickens's Little Dorritt. Records profound observations on dreams, dreaming and normality-insanity [1881]. Sends short satires to The Train Magazine; alters his pseudonym from "B. B." to "Lewis Carroll", on advice of the editor. Princess's Theatre, London for Hamlet (January ) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (December). February -Mar. begins outings with Christ Church Liddell older children, Harry b. 1847 and Lorina b.1849; quickly adopts familiar "Ina" for the Dean's daughter. April 25th in Deanery garden to photograph the Cathedral, makes friends with all three little sisters, Lorina, Alice, Edith. Writes poem "The Path of Roses' [1898], eulogising Florence Nightingale.
1857. Meets on separate occasions William Makepeace Thackeray, Alfred Tennyson, John Ruskin. Visits Edinburgh, Scotland and English Lakes. Makes pioneering studies of emerging novelty of Indexation-information retrieval (Annotated 3.431-52).
1858. Completes verse to "Little Red Riding-Hood' photo of Agnes Grace Weld, 1849-1915, Tennyson's niece, and a lifetime friend; lifetime friendship with Beatrice Harrington, 5 years old, and likely commencement of poem "Beatrice" [1862], influenced by the cited verse [Annotated 3.xlii-li]. Lengthy hiatus in journals, April 1858-May 1862 [written, but now lost or destroyed?]. [Diaries, 4:4 passim].
1859. Easter vacation to Isle of Wight, visits Tennyson at Freshwater; moon and poetic effects later sprinkled into Sylvie and Bruno. Lost journal year. Writes short poems "Stanzas for Music' [1898].
1860. Friendship with children's fantasy author, George MacDonald (1824-1905) and family. Attends Oxford Debate; photographs sitters, including Faraday, W. Holman Hunt, T. H. Huxley, Bishop Wilberforce and others. Lost journal year. Writes poem "Faces in the Fire'[1898]
1861. Proceeds to Holy Orders at Christ Church, though only to Deacon. Establishes his Letter Register for extensive correspondence, 24 vols., now lost/destroyed [1898]. Took part in National Census. At Christmas, gives book-present, Catherine Sinclair's Holiday House, inscribed with meaningful acrostic verse, to all three Liddell sisters [Letters 1.51-52n1]. Lost journal year. Writes poems "Three Sunsets," "After Three Days' [1898].
1862. Editor of inter-varsity College Rhymes, volumes of which he variously dedicates to Tennyson, Matthew Arnold and H. W. Longfellow. Publishes his own poem "Beatrice" [1858, 1898]. Friendship with writer Sir Henry Taylor and family and finds 5-year old Una Taylor engaging. Commencement of Oral Phase of the Alice's Adventures stories [1865], on summer boating-trips with Liddell sisters on the River Thames [called Isis passing through Oxford]. February writes poem "Only a Woman's Hair' [1898].
1863. Pressed by Alice and her sisters, begins handwritten mss Alice's Adventures Underground [1865, 1886], opting to illustrate it himself. Meets and photographs in London the family of Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti. Friendship with Pre-Raphaelite artist Arthur Hughes and family, London. Photographs at Oxford, Annie Rogers, b. 1856.
1864. Meets Punch artist John Tenniel, who will illustrate Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Friendship with artist Millais and family. Photographs sitters in London, at Lambeth Palace; first ride on the Metropolitan Railway [now London Underground, Metropolitan Line]. Visits theatre family of Kate and Ellen Terry [respectively Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Watts] [1879]. Friendships with Edith and Grace Denman, daughters of Judge Denman.
1865. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland published by Macmillan: London. Difficult period with Liddells, perhaps related to ages of Lorina 16 years and Alice 13 years, later resolved. [Age of consent 12 years; chaperoning, social mores etc.].
1866. Maths paper Condensation of Determinants read in absentia to Royal Society, London, with aid of W. H. Spottiswoode, FRS. In April and June Carroll visits Haymarket Theatre, London, to see play Romantic Attachment.
1867. Meets mathematician-inventor Charles Babbage to see his calculating machines. Life-long friendship with artist family of Thomas Heaphy, 1813-1873; daughters Theodosia, b. 1858 [1882] and Leonora, b. 1862. Dashes off "Atalanta in Camden Town," a parody of Atalanta in Calydon by A. C. Swinburne , July-September: Continental and Russian Trip; learns French; dabbles in German, copies some Russian; buys "eikons'. Sends story "Bruno's Revenge" to Mrs. Gatty's Magazine. Meets fairy actresses in "green room," Haymarket Theatre.
1868. Death of father, Archdeacon Dodgson; private journal shuts down for almost two months. Family relocates to "The Chestnuts," Guildford, Surrey. Negotiations with Tenniel and Du Maurier as possible illustrators for a second Alice book [1871-72].
1869. Phantasmagoria, collected poems and humorous pieces [1883]. In train-carriage meets Minnie Drury, b.1859 and family; lifelong friendships; "Minnie" reappears in Sylvie and Bruno. Photographs of Alexandra "Xie" Kitchen, b. 1864, his "favourite" model over a number of years [1876]. Maud, b. 1857, and Isabel Standen, b. 1859, return from India for education; younger sisters follow; life-long friendships.
1870. Dec: receives invite from Lady Salisbury to attend New Year party at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, seat of Cecil family and Lord Salisbury, Prime Minister, 1885-86, 1886-92, 1895-1902. Oral Phase of Sylvie and Bruno will begin there [1873]. Offends Tennyson over latter's literary rights and permissions. Child friends the Hatch sisters at Oxford. Holiday at Margate.
1871. Summer in Whitby, Yorkshire, and Scotland; meets artist James Noel Paton and daughter Mona. Macmillan brings out Through The Looking-Glass for Christmas, but dated "1872" [Freud will do the same in late 1899, to gain a more auspicious "1900" for his epochal Die Traumdeutung - The Interpretation of Dreams.] Sends morocco-bound copy to Tennyson, who replies pleasantly [1870].
1872. Renews acquaintance in London with Miss Anne Thackeray, later Mrs. Ritchie, eldest daughter of the famous writer. Works on his Euclid-geometry publications. Photographs and befriends Julia b. 1862 and Ethel b. 1866, daughters of the famous Arnold family. Summer holiday at Bognor on the south coast.
1873. Socialises with Alice Liddell, now aged 20. Sept. revisits Isle of Wight, on the Sandown [east] side, away from Freshwater, Tennyson Down and the poet-laureate [west]; this was, nevertheless, a tentative resurfacing of Carroll's interest in the older man/father figure, continued to c.1876. Attends sermon of Dr. B. F. Westcott, reviser of the Bible [R. V. 1881], Bishop of Durham, 1890.
1874. January at Brighton with prior Christ Church colleague Barclay; daughter Ethel, b. 1864, lifelong friend also [1890]. Publishes Notes By An Oxford Chiel (1865-74), college satires. Reads Charles Darwin's Origin of Species. Hatfield House again for Year's end-New Year [1870, passim]. In London, helps with poor work conditions of child-actresses Katie Logan, b. 1864, Lizzie Coote, 1862-1886, and others.
1875. Hatfield House, talks with Lord Sligo on Spiritualism; among a "large party," meets Lady Eustace Cecil, b. 1841, possible future template for Lady Muriel. Writes to Pall Mall Gazette to support Anti-Vivisection. To London for Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton's play Money, for third time; money, gold, gambling etc will recur in social conversations of Sylvie and Bruno Concluded (1893). Holiday at Sandown, Isle of Wight; meets Gertrude Chataway, b. 1866; famously sketches her on beach [1886].
1876. The Hunting of the Snark and the "Boojum" appear. More contacts with Lord Sligo, on ghosts and spiritualism. Photographs Xie Kitchen [1869] as Penelope Boothby. Deaths of child friends Edith Liddell, 22 years, and Alice Chataway, 13 years; and death of close cousin William Wilcox, b. 1835. Death, as Romantic melancholy, will dominate the penultimate chapters of Sylvie and Bruno Concluded.
1877. March: Exeter Hall, London for The Messiah, a Dodgson favourite of music and singing since at least 1856. First full summer at Eastbourne, continued for next 20 years; friendships with Edith "Dolly' Blakemore b. 1872, Agnes Hull b. 1867, and others; tells oral tale "Three Foxes" [Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, Chap. XV]. The Eastbourne Phase of Lewis Carroll is largely ignored in the literature, as is the "non-Alice" Sylvie and Bruno late-life story with which it generally coincided. Letter to Pall Mall Gazette, on "Natural Science and M. A.;" Science, Education and related matters would be much discussed by Carroll's character/avatar "Mein Herr," Sylvie and Bruno Concluded. Works on his Euclid and His Modern Rivals (1872, 1874).
1878. New Year at Guildford with sisters. To January pantomimes Jack and the Beanstalk and Beauty and the Beast. Considers illustrators Linley Sambourne and Walter Crane, but settles for Arthur B. Frost [1883]. Child-actresses Lizzie and Carrie Coote stay with him at Oxford [in appropriate lodgings]. April: treats his cold symptoms with herbal aconite [Homeopathy]. Critical of new excesses of theatre-productions: "unreal," "melodramatic;" a murder scene in Nancy Sikes based on Oliver Twist, was "too realistic" and "ghastly". Takes friend Evelyn Dubourg, b. 1861, whose father is a dramatist, to a play featuring needy Lizzie Coote. Eastbourne with Margie and Ruth Dymes, Agnes Hull and family; also, colleague Miss Lloyd from Oxford.
1879. Jan: to Brighton and the Barclays [1874]; visits pantomime Cinderella; and Hamlet, Lyceum Theatre, London, with Minnie Drury [1869], now 20 years old; greatly admires Ellen Terry as Ophelia. To the MacDonalds [1860] for their London play of Pilgrim's Progress; senses recent deaths of "dear friends" Mary and Maurice MacDonald from respiratory disease. Renews friendship with Ellen Terry, after her marital complications with artist G. F. Watts [1864]. Friendship with illustrator Miss E. G. Thomson, 1850-1929 [1898]. Meets Mark Twain in London.
1880. New Year at Guildford with sisters and Edwin D. To London for The Merchant of Venice. Tries out new electric pen, from Electric Pen Co., London. Grosvenor Gallery, admires works of Edward Burne-Jones, Frederic Lord Leighton. Re-encounter with Headmaster of Rugby School [1846-49], Dr. Tait, now Archbishop of Canterbury. Visits Royal Academy; attends Pilgrim's Progress, with child-friend Edith Jebb, now 22 years. Attends notable Bible presentation, First Bampton Lecture, by colleague Dr. Edwin Hatch [1870]; and lecture by American author-poet, Francis Bret Harte. July: final recorded photography; leans increasingly to drawings of sitters (Diaries, Vols. 6 & 7) [1888]. Reads Wilkie Collins's Fallen Leaves, which daringly deals with extra-marital relations.
1881. Lyceum Theatre London with Agnes Hull [1877], to see Ellen Terry. Records another insightful dream-observation [1856]. Walks out with Minnie Drury [1869]; sees Twelfth Night; Children's Pinafore; admires work of J. E. Millais at Grosvenor Gallery. Summer at Eastbourne, new child-friends listed every year. Studies German and French. Resigns Maths Lectureship after 26 years. June: publishes word-game "Mischmasch'. At Eastbourne, admires Giant Newfoundland at dog-show [places it into Sylvie and Bruno as "Nero," Dog-King of Fairyland].
1882. Guildford New Year with family; to Brighton and Ethel Barclay [1879]. Letter to the St. James's Gazette, "Education For The Stage'. Visits Slade School of Art to see work of friend and student, Lady Maud Cecil, who is another template for Sylvia and Bruno"s "Lady Muriel" — see 1875. Visits Scotland again [1857, 1871], sees Sir Noel Paton and studio. In London, visits Rossetti family; to Much Ado About Nothing with Theo Heaphy [1867], and praises Henry Irving, 1838-1905, as Benedict. Supports Ruskin in his new Slade Professorship. Christmas at Guildford, takes Theo Heaphy, now 24, to see Iolanthe in London.
1883. January 1st, complains to theatre-manager of indecency in harlequinade of children's pantomime. Visits the Rossetti Exhibition [D. G. Rossetti died, 1882]; corresponds with Christina Rossetti. Works on satirical poems for Rhyme? And Reason?, to be published in December, illustrated by A. B. Frost [enlarged edition of Phantasmagoria (1869)]. Entertains the Arnold sisters [1872] and Leonard Huxley in Christ Church rooms; in 1894 he will see the infant Aldous Huxley, tinged with future greatness. Phoebe Carlo, b. 1874, will become his first "Alice" on the stage (1886). At Eastbourne, August-October; visits cousins at Whitburn, N. E. England; entertains Ethel Barclay and Theo Heaphy, over from Brighton.
1884. Hatfield House (1870 passim) for New Year. February, works on a "Schoolroom Shakespeare' [Annotated 1, Preface of 1889 note 16]. Visits Jersey and Guernsey in March. April, takes Theo [1867] to Eastbourne for convalescence. Letters to St. James's Gazette on Proportional Representation (of political parties) , which is used by "Mein Herr" in Sylvie and Bruno 9.172. July: takes Beatrice Hatch, now 18 years, to see Ellen Terry as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. Eastbourne summer: takes Margie Dymes, now 16 years old, to London for Twelfth Night; Volks Electric Railway, in Brighton.
1885. Guildford: New Logic Algebra taught to his sisters and the two Collingwood nephews. March: contact with illustrator Harry Furniss, 1854-1925 for new Fairytale. Another letter (see 1875) on vivisection; poignantly employed with Sylvie and the hunted hare in Sylvie and Bruno, 317-23]. Enjoys The Mikado. Letter to Pall Mall Gazette on editor William Stead's controversial role in publicising child-prostitution. Critical of "vapid small-talk" and excessive social dinners. At Eastbourne with Phoebe Carlo [1883] and other child-friends as guests: claims victory over Victorian society's oppressive "Mrs Grundy" [Annotated, Index: 3.463]. Logic taught to child-friends; meets Louise Keane, c.11 years [close friendship to 14 years of age, Eastbourne-London-Oxford].
1886. To The Mikado again, April and July; Faust in May to see Irving and Ellen Terry. Comments in June on Irish Home Bill and struggle between W. E. Gladstone and Joseph Chamberlain. Logic lectures [1885] now to some 25 young ladies at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Eastbourne summer: sees play Ruth's Romance; some work on Sylvie and Bruno. December first London stage-production of Henry Savile Clark's Alice in Wonderland, at Prince of Wales Theatre. Publication of "Alice's Adventures Underground" from hand-written mss, re-loaned by Mrs. Hargreaves (the married name of Alice Liddell).
1887. Logic lessons at Oxford Girls High School; meets Winifred Stevens, b. 1872 and Muriel Taylor, b. 1872. Muriel, suggested as Dodgson's tragic disappointment in love, was related by marriage to the Dodgsons. For more on this subject see Annotated 3.473 "Lady Muriel," 3.lxxxiin28. Letter to St. James's Gazette on "Children in Theatres'. Attends The Merchant of Venice; Much Ado About Nothing [1882]; Queen Victoria's Jubilee Day celebrations ["British Pride' is worked into Sylvie and Bruno Concluded. People's Edition of Alice appears. Meets child-actress Isa Bowman, b. 1874, soon to be his most successful Alice on the stage [1888, 1889, 1890 passim].
1888. At Guildford, New Year; visit by Edith Rix, b. 1866; takes her to see the L. Huxley family [1883, 1894] and Isa Bowman's family in London. Sketches model Ada Frost, b. 1874 at Chelsea [1880]. Isa Bowman [1887] has a week at Oxford and Christ Church, lodged in the town; taken to see sights; special "Diary" written; shares a second Eastbourne summer. Works on Sylvie and Bruno with little or no intimation of the adult social-romance of Lady Muriel. Sees Twelfth Night, Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet again; at Eastbourne Town Hall recital, admires young girl pianist whom he places as Sylvie into Sylvie and Bruno 175-78]. November, alludes to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Visits N. E. coast and relations at Whitburn, which provides much of the setting of the Sylvie and Bruno books. Loses Muriel Taylor [1887], removed from Oxford to York by her family.
1889. December appearance of Sylvie and Bruno, Part One, Macmillan: London, with dedicatory acrostic poem to Isa Bowman. Earlier, visited F. Hollyer's studio; Gilbert & Sullivan's Yeoman of the Guard; Shakespeare's Richard III. In May, at Balliol, Oxford, visits Dr. James Murray, editor-compiler of "the Great Dictionary' — the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). More socialising with Lady Maud Wolmer [1882], London; Hatfield House in June [Sylvie and Bruno books, the "Earl' and "the Hall'; Dodgson also saw Little Lord Fauntleroy more than once in this period]. Had completed at Eastbourne his large hybrid fairy-story, splitting it regretfully into two books; Isa Bowman and sisters as his guests [no Mrs. Grundy]; takes them to National Gallery and lunch in London. Edith Rix [1888] a later guest.
1890. January 1st , at Guildford, works on his Euclid V; to London, sees A Midsummer Night's Dream again [1856, 1888 etc]. May: political meeting at Oxford, hears Joseph Chamberlain on Irish Question. Refuses many social invitations by now, but spends week-end with grown child-friend Ethel Barclay [1874], now Mrs. Southwell. Drawing [1880, 1888] of model Maud Howard, b. 1877, in London studio. Visits Edison's Phonograph Exhibition twice. Niece, Edith Dodgson now 18 years old, stays as guest at Eastbourne. Visit to Christ Church of actress Florence Terry with daughter Minnie [sic]. The Nursery Alice, with colour-plates, finally printed to his satisfaction. Isa Bowman taken to R. A. and other gallery; sees Burne-Jones, Briar Rose Series [from Arthurian Legend and Romanticism].
1891. Visits London with Lucy Walters, b. 1856, to see Isa Bowman in play of Thackeray's The Rose and the Ring. February meets Enid Stevens, aged nine, younger sister of Winifred [1887]; Enid will become Carroll's last "special friend" and "my pet." June: visits R. A. and pictures in London; Lady Maud twice, taking her to see an actress friend in La Cigale. Invents the Nyctograph, card device for retaining waking memories at night; published in The Lady. Invitation from Duchess of Albany and little Princess Alice, known from Hatfield Ho. At Christ Church, has Rhoda, b. 1859 and Violet Liddell, b. 1864 to tea; then Lorina [1856 passim], now Mrs. Skene, with her mother; finally Alice herself, now Mrs. Hargreaves, with Mrs. Liddell and Rhoda. Not allowed to travel for Christmas and New Year, on doctor's orders.
1892. January spent at Christ Church, works on mss of Sylvie and Bruno Concluded. Visits Banbury to see cousin, Menella "Minna' [sic] Quin, b. 1858, actress in Mother Goose; they quickly become "intimate" friends; takes her to London and theatrical agents to aid her career. Haymarket Theatre, sees Beerbohm Tree, 1853-1917 in Hamlet; visits Lady Maud twice. Tea at Christ Church with Beatrice Hatch [1870], now 25 years old. Eastbourne, suffers more delays with SBC and Harry Furniss illustrations. Attends Merchant of Venice again. Notes death of Tennyson.
1893. Minna Quin with family at Guildford. Dodgson calls on Macmillan, London to discuss plans for Sylvie and Bruno Concluded. Sees Cyclorama of Egypt display; continues to see Lady Maud and family. More voluntary teaching at Oxford Girls High School: "Memoria Technica' and long- multiplication. Has his "pet' Enid Stevens to tea in rooms. Visits lifelong friend Mrs. Skene [was Lorina Liddell] and daughters. Oct., printing begins on Sylvie and Bruno Concluded; author composes dedicatory third-letter acrostic poem to Enid Stevens [1891]. Year-end success of new book launch, marred by Macmillan's misprinting of 60th thousand imp. of Through The Looking-Glass. Sylvie and Bruno Concluded finally appears; Dodgson to London, in thick fog, signing copies for child-friends and older friends and acquaintances.
1894. With sisters and nieces, Guildford; disappointed with Gilbert & Sullivan's production Utopia; sees Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. More Logic lectures to Oxford High School girls; private work on "Logic and Existence' [apparently never published separately]. Visits Putney cousins in S. London, a lifetime habit; finds Lucy and Charlotte "hopelessly" aged and worn. Beatrice Hatch [1870, 1892] stays as guest at Eastbourne. More new railway-journey companions. Takes Enid Stevens to The Taming of the Shrew; teenage nieces and a nephew to Cinderella in London. Now has tête-à-tête dinners with young women friends of 19-23 years: Edith Lucy, Kate Lucy, Dolly Baird; and with pairs, Evelyn Hatch & Agnes Wilson, Ruth & Dolly Woodhouse.
1895. Two important late-life projects continue to completion: Symbolic Logic, Pt.I, sent to printer, will appear February 1896; a collection of Romantic poetry, illustrated with fairy pictures by Miss E. G. Thomson [1898]. Visited by Isa Bowman and fiancé. Meets Holman Hunt again [1860]. June: takes grown nieces to The Merchant of Venice; following week with Agnes Wilson, b. 1875, and Ethel Rowell, b. 1877, both logic-class pupils. Eastbourne summer shared with youngest sister, Henrietta Dodgson, 1843-1922. By then his preferred age for "girl-friends" was clearly no longer 7 to 11 years ("Alice years"), but c.20-25 years old. November: Scarborough visit to sick relative. December: dinner in Christ Church Rooms with Evelyn Hatch, b. 1871; later with Minna Quin [1892]; takes Minna to London to see theatre impresario Beerbohm Tree. Guildford for year-end.
1896. May: arrival in Oxford of Dodgson's nieces, Violet, Beatrice and Gladys, to start at Oxford High School - beginning of new social life for their somewhat isolated uncle/author; shows them Keble College and other sights. Takes Gladys Dodgson to London, to R. A. and Lord Rosebery's house. Story-telling/reading at Beatrice Hatch's school; London, sees The Professor's Love-Story again. Summer at Eastbourne, in new lodgings, with same landlady. In contact with Tenniel for new editions of the Alice books. Takes three nieces to Oxford Theatre for Hamlet. Enid Stevens dines with him at Christ Church; then Beatrice Hatch again [1892 etc.]; then Violet Dodgson. Christmas and year-end at Guildford.
1897. Guildford, lectures on symbolic logic to group of 30, including nieces Ella and Eva from Lecture 7 onwards; also at Oxford High School. Sympathetic to old friend Edith Rix [1888, 1889] in her conversion to Church of Rome. May: tea-parties at Christ Church with four nieces; takes 3 to see "wholesome' play, Love in Idleness. June: Victoria's Diamond Jubilee passed with guest Edith Rix. Friendship with friend of Enid, Ruth Gamlen, b. 1882, another "last' special friend. Eastbourne, July to October: Dolly Rivington, b.1883, his guest for twelve days - beach, illuminations, Christ Church visit, bathing-machines, Beachy Head walk, theatres, swimming entertainment, Flower Show, Winchelsea to meet "Miss Ellen Terry," meeting with Edith Rix, boat ride to Hastings; escorts Dolly back to Paddington and train home. November at London Women's Meeting to support life-long friend Beatrice Harington [1858, 1862 passim]. Drawings of model Isy Watson, b. 1884, in London studio of Miss E. G. Thomson. December, his sister Margaret and three nieces dine at Christ Church rooms. Started for Guildford 23rd … …[private journal ends].
1898. January , Guildford with family; completes Preface, dated "January 1898," to forthcoming book, Three Sunsets and Other Poems; singles out poem "Far Away," from Sylvie and Bruno, Chapter 20 (also known as "Lady Muriel's Song"). Falls ill possibly from influenza and dies of respiratory failure on 14th January. Family members clear his Christ Church Rooms, destroying many papers, mss and notebooks, records etc. Dodgson-Carroll's voluminous private library, of some three thousand volumes covering the entire range of his polymath interests, goes to auction [see Library], with the exception of his prized Medical Collection, bequeathed to his nephew Bertram James Collingwood, 1871-1934, physician whose father had died just days before Dodgson.
Bibliography
Carroll, Lewis. The Story of Sylvie and Bruno. 2nd ed. London: Macmillan, 1910.
Carroll, Lewis. The Complete Works. Ed. A. Woollcott. London: Nonesuch Press, 1939.
Carroll, Lewis. Sylvie and Bruno London: Macmillan, 1889.
Carroll, Lewis. The Letters of Lewis Carroll. Ed. M. Cohen with R. L. Green. London: Macmillan, 1979.
Carroll, Lewis. The Private Journals of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Ed. E. Wakeling. 10 vols. The Lewis Carroll Society: 1993-2007.
Dyer, Ray, ed. Lewis Carroll's 'Sylvie and Bruno with Sylvie and Bruno Concluded'. Scholar's Annotated Series. Vols. 1 & 2 bound as one. Troubador/Matador UK, 2015; Amazon, 2015. Vol. 3, Lady Muriel. The Victorian Romance. Troubador/Matador and Amazon, 2016.
Imholtz, C. Lewis Carroll Review No. 54 (August 2016): 9-11.
Stern. J., Ed. "Lewis Carroll's Library." Carroll Studies [Lewis Carroll Society of N. America.] 5 (1981).
Last modified 7 August 2021