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Details
DODGSON, Charles Lutwidge ('Lewis Carroll', 1832-1898). Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. London: Macmillan, 1866.
Presentation copy of the second (first published) edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, inscribed by the author to his child-friend Ella Monier-Williams, with three letters from Dodgson also bound in. Ella was the only daughter of Monier Monier-Williams, a professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford, where Dodgson taught mathematics. The author first mentions her in a diary entry of 1 May 1866: ‘Dined at Prof. Monier Williams’. We had each called on the other twice, but never met before. I thought him pleasant, and Mrs. Williams particularly so. Also I saw the little Ella, whom I had noticed before, and wished to photograph’ (Wakeling, Diaries, vol.5, p.146).
It is known that between May and July 1866, Dodgson took at least fourteen photographs of the young Ella, including several of her wearing articles of New Zealand dress borrowed from the Ashmolean Museum. Later in life, she reflected on her childhood interactions with the author: ‘As a child he gave one the sense of such perfect understanding ... among my earliest recollections is being taken by my mother to his rooms in Tom Quad at Christ Church, again and again, to be photographed by him in some mood, costume, or attitude which caught his fancy or in which his discerning eye saw the unconscious expression of childish pleasure, hope, or awe’. This fascinating presentation copy of Dodgson’s most famous work has never previously appeared in commerce. Williams 10.
Octavo (190 x 125mm). Half-title, frontispiece and 41 illustrations from the woodcuts by Dalziel after John Tenniel, with the first state inverted ‘S’ on the last line of the contents page (scattered spotting and soiling, small ink stains on endleaf and half-title, a few marginal repairs including one just touching text). Full red morocco by Bayntun-Riviere, spine gilt-lettered, edges gilt; modern red cloth slipcase. Provenance: Ella Chlora Monier-Williams (1858-1954; presentation inscription on half-title) -- by descent to the present owner.
[With, bound in:] Autograph letter signed (‘C.L. Dodgson’) to Mrs [Julia Monier-] Williams, n.p., 31 January 1879, congratulating her on the engagement of her daughter Ella, 3 pages, bifolium – A facsimile circular letter signed in autograph (‘yours electrically and affectionately C.L. Dodgson’), to Ella Monier-Williams, Oxford, 25 February 1880, on the creation of chain-words, one page – Autograph letter signed (‘C.L. Dodgson’) to ‘Ella’ [Monier-Williams], Oxford, 29 April 1880, playfully chastising her manner of signing letters and inviting her to visit, 3 pages, bifolium, envelope laid onto following leaf.
Presentation copy of the second (first published) edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, inscribed by the author to his child-friend Ella Monier-Williams, with three letters from Dodgson also bound in. Ella was the only daughter of Monier Monier-Williams, a professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford, where Dodgson taught mathematics. The author first mentions her in a diary entry of 1 May 1866: ‘Dined at Prof. Monier Williams’. We had each called on the other twice, but never met before. I thought him pleasant, and Mrs. Williams particularly so. Also I saw the little Ella, whom I had noticed before, and wished to photograph’ (Wakeling, Diaries, vol.5, p.146).
It is known that between May and July 1866, Dodgson took at least fourteen photographs of the young Ella, including several of her wearing articles of New Zealand dress borrowed from the Ashmolean Museum. Later in life, she reflected on her childhood interactions with the author: ‘As a child he gave one the sense of such perfect understanding ... among my earliest recollections is being taken by my mother to his rooms in Tom Quad at Christ Church, again and again, to be photographed by him in some mood, costume, or attitude which caught his fancy or in which his discerning eye saw the unconscious expression of childish pleasure, hope, or awe’. This fascinating presentation copy of Dodgson’s most famous work has never previously appeared in commerce. Williams 10.
Octavo (190 x 125mm). Half-title, frontispiece and 41 illustrations from the woodcuts by Dalziel after John Tenniel, with the first state inverted ‘S’ on the last line of the contents page (scattered spotting and soiling, small ink stains on endleaf and half-title, a few marginal repairs including one just touching text). Full red morocco by Bayntun-Riviere, spine gilt-lettered, edges gilt; modern red cloth slipcase. Provenance: Ella Chlora Monier-Williams (1858-1954; presentation inscription on half-title) -- by descent to the present owner.
[With, bound in:] Autograph letter signed (‘C.L. Dodgson’) to Mrs [Julia Monier-] Williams, n.p., 31 January 1879, congratulating her on the engagement of her daughter Ella, 3 pages, bifolium – A facsimile circular letter signed in autograph (‘yours electrically and affectionately C.L. Dodgson’), to Ella Monier-Williams, Oxford, 25 February 1880, on the creation of chain-words, one page – Autograph letter signed (‘C.L. Dodgson’) to ‘Ella’ [Monier-Williams], Oxford, 29 April 1880, playfully chastising her manner of signing letters and inviting her to visit, 3 pages, bifolium, envelope laid onto following leaf.
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