BIB_ID
249731
Accession number
MA 6357
Creator
Carroll, Lewis, 1832-1898.
Display Date
Oxford, 1885 June 11.
Credit line
Gift of Arthur A. Houghton, Jr., 1987.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 13.6 x 8.5 cm
Notes
Carroll calls the recipient of the letter only "my dear Isabel." Based on Carroll's diaries and other letters from this period, Morton Cohen argues in The Letters of Lewis Carroll that the addressee is almost certainly Isabel Standen. See the full citation below for additional information.
The "Phebe" referred to in the letter is Phoebe Carlo, a young actress and recent acquaintance of Carroll's at the time this letter was written. In 1886, she became the first actress to play "Alice" on the professional stage, in Henry Savile-Clarke's adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.
Written from "Ch. Ch.", Carroll's abbreviation for Christ Church.
Written in purple ink.
This item is part of the Arthur A. Houghton, Jr., Lewis Carroll collection. The large collection includes printed books, letters, manuscripts, puzzles and games, personal effects and ephemera, which have been cataloged separately.
Removed from the "Carrolliana" album (MA 6347) assembled by Arthur A. Houghton, Jr., folio 11.
The letter is signed C. L. Dodgson. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson adopted the pseudonym "Lewis Carroll" in 1856 when publishing a poem in "The Train." He used the pseudonym when publishing Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and other works, but wrote under his given name, Charles Dodgson, when publishing mathematical works and in daily life. For administrative purposes, all manuscripts are collated under the name Lewis Carroll.
The "Phebe" referred to in the letter is Phoebe Carlo, a young actress and recent acquaintance of Carroll's at the time this letter was written. In 1886, she became the first actress to play "Alice" on the professional stage, in Henry Savile-Clarke's adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.
Written from "Ch. Ch.", Carroll's abbreviation for Christ Church.
Written in purple ink.
This item is part of the Arthur A. Houghton, Jr., Lewis Carroll collection. The large collection includes printed books, letters, manuscripts, puzzles and games, personal effects and ephemera, which have been cataloged separately.
Removed from the "Carrolliana" album (MA 6347) assembled by Arthur A. Houghton, Jr., folio 11.
The letter is signed C. L. Dodgson. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson adopted the pseudonym "Lewis Carroll" in 1856 when publishing a poem in "The Train." He used the pseudonym when publishing Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and other works, but wrote under his given name, Charles Dodgson, when publishing mathematical works and in daily life. For administrative purposes, all manuscripts are collated under the name Lewis Carroll.
Provenance
From the Arthur A. Houghton, Jr., Lewis Carroll collection; gift of Arthur A. Houghton, Jr., 1987.
Summary
Chiding her playfully for being "a mysterious young person" and hard to track down: "The way we hunted up & down Rooms 1 and 2 all that morning -- & the way little Phebe said now & then 'I hope I shall see the lady!' -- and the way despair settled down on me, when 11 a.m. came, & no Isabel! -- and the way I tore open your letter, on Tuesday morning, to learn what mischance had prevented your coming -- and the way I shrieked, after reading it, 'Why, she doesn't say a word about it!' -- all this needs the pen of a G.P.R. James [referring to George Payne Rainsford James, a writer of romantic historical fiction], so I will leave it undescribed!"; promising to come see her at the "Home" and asking "Is the door guarded by dragons? Or should I be allowed to take you out, for a walk and talk?"
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