CARROLL LEWIS: (1832-1898) Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. English Writer, Mathematician, Logician, Anglican Deacon, and Photographer.
A.L.S., C L Dodgson, one page, small 8vo, Christ Church, Oxford, 24th June 1880, to 'My dear Mab' [Mabel Burton]. Writing in his characteristic purple ink Dodgson informs his young friend, 'That would be too late: people crowd in so after 10, that I like to come away about then. Perhaps we may manage it some other day.' With blank integral leaf. VG
Carroll noted in his diary of 6th August 1877, that during his visit to Eastbourne he 'Went on the pier in the evening, and made another fortunate acquaintance… my new friend is Mabel Amy Burton, of 53 Pentonville Road, Islington. She seems to be about 8… Mabel herself is entirely charming, and without an atom of shyness: I never became friends with a child so easily or so quickly'. Burton, born in 1869, was 11 years old at the time of the present letter.
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was the author of the classic children's stories Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871) which includes the poem Jabberwocky and the poem The Hunting of the Snark, all examples of the genre of literary nonsense. Dodgson is noted for his facility at word play, logic and fantasy. There are societies in many parts of the world dedicated to the enjoyment and promotion of his works and the investigation of his life.