Notable Newly Revealed Lewis Carroll Letter to Be Auctioned

Happily, Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in real life!) was a prolific letter writer.  Even now, so many years after his death, some of his private correspondence can still surface–even if only long enough to pass from one private collection to another at public auction.  But at least we obtain a new glimpse at the man in his own words.

On March 19th, Bonham’s is auctioning off a letter from November 9, 1891, in which Mr. Dodgson explains his dislike of being recognized as “Lewis Carroll” and even expresses, momentarily, the half-wish that he had never written any books because of all the attention their success brought:

“All that sort of publicity leads to strangers hearing of my real name in connection with the books, and to my being pointed out to, and stared at by, strangers, and treated as a ‘lion’. And I hate all that so intensely that sometimes I almost wish I had never written any books at all….”

Of course, those of us who have studied Mr. Dodgson in any depth know that he was more than willing to use the name Lewis Carroll to secure a social introduction when he wanted to!  While he may have disliked being “lionized” there is no question that he went “lion hunting” himself with his camera and then his books on many occasions.  So his statement here should be taken with more than a grain of salt.  And we must also consider that he was writing to the woman who occasionally housed his child friends on visits to Eastbourne, where he went for summer vacations of peace and quiet. But the fact that he emphasizes the negative impact of the publicity on his private life does at least speak to the intensity with which he guarded his right to make a distinction between his private self and his literary persona–something well-known artists and figures struggle with to this day.

I am hopeful that this letter will pass into the collection of a library that will make it available to those who wish to see it for their own research, or if it passes again into private hands, that the new owner will be liberal in sharing this new letter with libraries for exhibits.  Who knows what other Lewis Carroll correspondence still lies out there in private hands, waiting to be shared with the public?

To see the auction listing, click me.

To read an article about the auction, click me.

Share