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Lewis Carroll: The Man and his Circle
This new biography of Carroll by leading international authority, Edward Wakeling, presents a fresh appraisal based upon his social circle. Contrary to the claims of many previous authors, Carroll’s circle was not child centred: his correspondence was enormous, numbering almost 100,000 items at the time of his death, and included royalty and many of the leading artists, illustrators, publishers, academics, musicians and composers of the Victorian era. Edward Wakeling draws upon his personal database of nearly 6,000 letters, mostly never before published, to fill the gaps left by earlier biographies and resolve some of the key myths that surround Lewis Carroll, such as his friendships with children and his drug-taking. Essential reading for scholars and admirers of one of the key authors of the Victorian age.
- GenresBiography
417 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 30, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 17, 2015
I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did.
Lewis Carroll (or to give him his true name, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was a complex man. He was a story-teller, a mathematician of note, a tutor, a diarist, a logician, an artist, a photographer, an author, a supporter of the arts, both graphic and dramatic.
He was a devoted son, the entertainer of his ten siblings, a conscientious brother who took care of his unmarried sisters, a supporter of those who wanted and had the ability to learn but lacked the financial resources to do so.
This book features many of his photographs, extracts from his diaries, and letters, both written by and to him.
Edward Wakeling introduces us to the people in CLD's life - his family, friends, associates (both personal and professional) and acquaintances. Through them we get to know Mr Dodgson.
I hope you are as fascinated by him as I was.
Thank you to NetGalley and I.B. Tauris Publishers for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.
Lewis Carroll (or to give him his true name, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was a complex man. He was a story-teller, a mathematician of note, a tutor, a diarist, a logician, an artist, a photographer, an author, a supporter of the arts, both graphic and dramatic.
He was a devoted son, the entertainer of his ten siblings, a conscientious brother who took care of his unmarried sisters, a supporter of those who wanted and had the ability to learn but lacked the financial resources to do so.
This book features many of his photographs, extracts from his diaries, and letters, both written by and to him.
Edward Wakeling introduces us to the people in CLD's life - his family, friends, associates (both personal and professional) and acquaintances. Through them we get to know Mr Dodgson.
I hope you are as fascinated by him as I was.
Thank you to NetGalley and I.B. Tauris Publishers for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.
December 6, 2018
You certainly can’t fault this book for its extensive and meticulous research. But so much attention to detail doesn’t always make for entertaining reading. The author, a Lewis Carroll expert, has chosen to tell Lewis’s biography through the people he met and associated with. This works up to a point, but when it comes to areas such as the theatre, for example, it tends to become just a list of people he knew. So although I enjoyed learning more about Carroll, as a biography this one didn’t work for me and I would have preferred a more conventional approach.
January 11, 2015
‘The last one hundred years have seen enough biographies of Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) to make another seem superfluous.’
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 to 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll was an Anglican deacon, logician, mathematician, photographer and writer. It’s almost 150 years since, on 26 November 1865, ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ was first published in the UK. It’s a book that has brought a lot of joy to at least four generations in my own family, as have other of his literary works. I’m not sure, though, that any of us have read any of his mathematical works.
A number of biographies have been written about Lewis Carroll, but this one is different. Edward Wakeling has had an interest in Lewis Carroll since 1975, and now owns one of the finest collections of Carroll material in private hands. By drawing on Lewis Carroll’s voluminous correspondence, Edward Wakeling’s biography looks at Lewis Carroll from within his social circle. Lewis Carroll’s correspondence numbered almost 100,000 items by the time of his death, and of those almost 6,000 (of which 4,000 have never before been published) are in Edward Wakeling’s personal database. Who did Lewis Carroll correspond with? Was his world as child-centric, as some have claimed?
‘From childhood, Dodgson had a natural flair for telling amusing and entertaining stories, and with a large number of siblings at his disposal he had a readymade audience.’
From reading this book it becomes clear just how wide Lewis Carroll’s circle was. His correspondents included many of the leading academics, artists, composers, musicians and publishers of the period, as well as some members of the royal family. There are also some delightful letters to and from children. I enjoyed reading about Lewis Carroll’s photography hobby, which he gave up in 1880, and his efforts to obtain the best illustrations for his books.
There’s a wealth of detail in this book, and while the information provided is fascinating, it is neither a quick nor an easy read. Until I read this book, I had little knowledge about Lewis Carroll’s life other than a few biographical details, and that his real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. I’d read occasional views that his interest in children was ‘unhealthy’ but was unaware of the background to such claims. Reading this book, while it seems clear that Carroll liked children and they liked him, his friendships seem to have been the kind of friendships that many of us were once freely able to enjoy with adults who were not family. How sad it is that times have changed. How important it is that we look at such friendships through the prism of the times in which they flourished.
‘This book is an attempt to confound some of the more outrageous biographies that have been published in the last half-century, where the writers have not availed themselves of the primary sources that survive and have indulged in all manner of speculation and mythmaking.’
I enjoyed reading this biography, and I now want to reread ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’. I may not be able to recapture the pure magic of my first read about 50 years ago, but I know that I will enjoy it even more knowing a little more about the man who wrote it.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher I B Tauris for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
March 30, 2023
This review originally published in Looking FOr a Good Book. Rated 4.5 of 5
There are only a small handful of authors who were active prior to the 20th century for whom I not only have great respect but I wish to learn as much about them as possible. Lewis Carroll, aka Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, would be high on that list. When I saw this 'new' book by Edward Wakeling, I knew it was a must-read for me.
Edward Wakeling is, according to a quick Google search, considered to be one of the premiere Lewis Carroll scholars. One of the things that makes someone like Wakeling stand out is the effort to approach a subject in new ways. This book is definitely a new take on examining Dodgson's life.
Many biographies that I've read in the past (and we're talking 30, 40 years ago) asserted that Dodgson had an unhealthy fixation on children, based primarily on a few of his portrait photographs. I think there have been a few biographies since that have dispelled this notion and Wakeling dismisses this rather handily, noting that Dodgson, an amateur photographer, had taken scores of portraits with those of children being a minority of those pictures. He also notes that how such actions and photos were seen in Dodgson's day is not with the same sensibilities we might have today.
I don't men to make it sound as though this is a book dispelling other biographies of Dodgson. This was just a small portion of this work. Mostly what Wakeling does here is examine Dodgson based on the friends and acquaintances he kept.
From his letters and photographs, invitations to social affairs and autographed copies of his books, we get a glimpse of Dodgson - a middle-class math professor whose social circles were much larger than those enjoyed by others in similar circumstances. Dodgson used his published works, signing copies and sending them out, sometimes, it appears, to reach into upper circles.
What I found most interesting was reading of the relationships with artists John Tenniel, E. Gertrude Thomson, Edmund Evans, Henry Holiday, Arthur Burdett Frost, and Harry Furniss. Dodgson, who initially planned to have his own drawings appear in the first published Alice book, was not an easy man to work with. For most of us, the artwork of John Tenniel is nearly synonymous with with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and it's hard to imagine that there was any difficulty or controversy in their collaboration. But as touch as their work together may have been, other artists, particularly that of Harry Furniss, was even more fiery. A lack of respect for the others' art was clear.
This was well worth reading for me - a fan of the works of the Charles Dodgson.
Looking for a good book? Lewis Carroll: The Man and His Circle by Edward Wakeling isn't a deeply informative biography of Lewis Carroll, but it is an insightful addition to the plethora of biographies already out there. Other inquisitive Dodgson fans will find it a worthy read.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
There are only a small handful of authors who were active prior to the 20th century for whom I not only have great respect but I wish to learn as much about them as possible. Lewis Carroll, aka Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, would be high on that list. When I saw this 'new' book by Edward Wakeling, I knew it was a must-read for me.
Edward Wakeling is, according to a quick Google search, considered to be one of the premiere Lewis Carroll scholars. One of the things that makes someone like Wakeling stand out is the effort to approach a subject in new ways. This book is definitely a new take on examining Dodgson's life.
Many biographies that I've read in the past (and we're talking 30, 40 years ago) asserted that Dodgson had an unhealthy fixation on children, based primarily on a few of his portrait photographs. I think there have been a few biographies since that have dispelled this notion and Wakeling dismisses this rather handily, noting that Dodgson, an amateur photographer, had taken scores of portraits with those of children being a minority of those pictures. He also notes that how such actions and photos were seen in Dodgson's day is not with the same sensibilities we might have today.
I don't men to make it sound as though this is a book dispelling other biographies of Dodgson. This was just a small portion of this work. Mostly what Wakeling does here is examine Dodgson based on the friends and acquaintances he kept.
From his letters and photographs, invitations to social affairs and autographed copies of his books, we get a glimpse of Dodgson - a middle-class math professor whose social circles were much larger than those enjoyed by others in similar circumstances. Dodgson used his published works, signing copies and sending them out, sometimes, it appears, to reach into upper circles.
What I found most interesting was reading of the relationships with artists John Tenniel, E. Gertrude Thomson, Edmund Evans, Henry Holiday, Arthur Burdett Frost, and Harry Furniss. Dodgson, who initially planned to have his own drawings appear in the first published Alice book, was not an easy man to work with. For most of us, the artwork of John Tenniel is nearly synonymous with with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and it's hard to imagine that there was any difficulty or controversy in their collaboration. But as touch as their work together may have been, other artists, particularly that of Harry Furniss, was even more fiery. A lack of respect for the others' art was clear.
This was well worth reading for me - a fan of the works of the Charles Dodgson.
Looking for a good book? Lewis Carroll: The Man and His Circle by Edward Wakeling isn't a deeply informative biography of Lewis Carroll, but it is an insightful addition to the plethora of biographies already out there. Other inquisitive Dodgson fans will find it a worthy read.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
October 9, 2024
stopped at chapter 6
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 18, 2015
"He was, however, a man who appreciated beauty in art, a regular visitor to art galleries and exhibitions, a friend of famous artists of his day. To some extent, he saw photography as an alternative to painting and sketching. He was never satisfied with his own attempts to draw and photography gave him an opportunity to use and develop his aesthetic and artistic abilities. Later, when he gave copies of his photographs to sitters and their families, he would inscribe the picture as 'from the Artist' rather than 'from the Photographer'. (pg. 157)
Edward Wakeling, uses the first half of, 'Lewis Carroll: The Man and his Circle' to write the biography of the life through to the death of the man Charles Lutwidge Dodgson; including, the author of the pen name Lewis Carroll known for the children's books, Alice and Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Covering the years (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), you discover who influenced the characters in both children's books, you meet The Liddell Family, you discover who the boy Charles was into adulthood from a familial and religious ideological standpoint as to better ascertain the man behind the troubled and puzzling myth of how he became forever known as Lewis Carroll. Somewhere in between these chapter pages you will meet the mathematician who loved literature, poets, artists, and whose young passion was in photography. He established himself at Christ Church, Oxford earning a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics residing there lecturing and teaching. He became a devout follower of the Church of England as was his father before him.
Charles Dodgson lectures and begins studying photography through numerous mutual friends such as Reginald Southey, a mate from Oxford who introduces him to Julia Margaret Cameron on the Isle of Wight and painters such as Pre-Raphaelite member William Holman-Hunt. Some of my favorite chapters revolve around the late 1850s through to the late 1890s when a young Dodgson meets the men and women of The Freshwater Circle attempting to become friends beyond admiring their works. For instance, leading Poet Laureate of the day, Alfred Tennyson becomes what some would call an obsession for Dodgson. He is determined to meet and photograph the poet which he does including his family. Unfortunately, told through excerpts of Carroll's diary, you discover the reasons behind the fallout between Tennyson and a young Dodgson. There is only one fleeting mention of mutual friend of Tennyson's, Julia Margaret Cameron. Instead, the emphasis is in photography and Dodgson focuses on his rooftop studio back at Oxford and his years living and teaching there.
Once Dodgson becomes a published children's author, he maintains a lifelong friendship with Alice Liddell and her family. Edward Wakeling spends a few chapters giving credence to Carroll's reputation as a photographer of 'nude girls' and how it ruined his reputation then and now. I will leave the outcome up to the reader. I will say the author covers this aspect of Dodgson's life with respect and aplomb. He does not provide any new or earthshattering information but for readers who long to know about the human being, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, beyond the author of nonsense tales, Lewis Carroll, I hope you will take the time to buy and read it for yourself. I am very impressed by the author's passion for Dodgson's life. One of the great aspects of this novel, is how the author focuses the last half of the novel writing about Dodgson's years after 1880 through to the year of his death in 1898. He was financially secure from selling his books, he retired from Oxford and decides to give up photography in the same year that a grown woman Alice Liddell marries. Coincidence? I don't think so. I believe he took that as a sign to move beyond his past and into the rest of his years. He does this by focusing on the Victorian art world, writing and visiting such artists as: Dante Gabriel Rossetti of which a mention of a photograph Dodgson takes of Rossetti painting in his studio which sadly has gone missing from any of his photography albums that are now archived at Princeton University and University of Texas' Harry Ransom Center. He visits Mr. Millais, the genius painter and photographs his wife, Effie Gray and their children. At the end of, 'Lewis Carroll: The Man and his Circle' is a much needed Bibliography, a notes and chapter overview section, that is very helpful to the reader.
Edward Wakeling, uses the first half of, 'Lewis Carroll: The Man and his Circle' to write the biography of the life through to the death of the man Charles Lutwidge Dodgson; including, the author of the pen name Lewis Carroll known for the children's books, Alice and Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Covering the years (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), you discover who influenced the characters in both children's books, you meet The Liddell Family, you discover who the boy Charles was into adulthood from a familial and religious ideological standpoint as to better ascertain the man behind the troubled and puzzling myth of how he became forever known as Lewis Carroll. Somewhere in between these chapter pages you will meet the mathematician who loved literature, poets, artists, and whose young passion was in photography. He established himself at Christ Church, Oxford earning a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics residing there lecturing and teaching. He became a devout follower of the Church of England as was his father before him.
Charles Dodgson lectures and begins studying photography through numerous mutual friends such as Reginald Southey, a mate from Oxford who introduces him to Julia Margaret Cameron on the Isle of Wight and painters such as Pre-Raphaelite member William Holman-Hunt. Some of my favorite chapters revolve around the late 1850s through to the late 1890s when a young Dodgson meets the men and women of The Freshwater Circle attempting to become friends beyond admiring their works. For instance, leading Poet Laureate of the day, Alfred Tennyson becomes what some would call an obsession for Dodgson. He is determined to meet and photograph the poet which he does including his family. Unfortunately, told through excerpts of Carroll's diary, you discover the reasons behind the fallout between Tennyson and a young Dodgson. There is only one fleeting mention of mutual friend of Tennyson's, Julia Margaret Cameron. Instead, the emphasis is in photography and Dodgson focuses on his rooftop studio back at Oxford and his years living and teaching there.
Once Dodgson becomes a published children's author, he maintains a lifelong friendship with Alice Liddell and her family. Edward Wakeling spends a few chapters giving credence to Carroll's reputation as a photographer of 'nude girls' and how it ruined his reputation then and now. I will leave the outcome up to the reader. I will say the author covers this aspect of Dodgson's life with respect and aplomb. He does not provide any new or earthshattering information but for readers who long to know about the human being, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, beyond the author of nonsense tales, Lewis Carroll, I hope you will take the time to buy and read it for yourself. I am very impressed by the author's passion for Dodgson's life. One of the great aspects of this novel, is how the author focuses the last half of the novel writing about Dodgson's years after 1880 through to the year of his death in 1898. He was financially secure from selling his books, he retired from Oxford and decides to give up photography in the same year that a grown woman Alice Liddell marries. Coincidence? I don't think so. I believe he took that as a sign to move beyond his past and into the rest of his years. He does this by focusing on the Victorian art world, writing and visiting such artists as: Dante Gabriel Rossetti of which a mention of a photograph Dodgson takes of Rossetti painting in his studio which sadly has gone missing from any of his photography albums that are now archived at Princeton University and University of Texas' Harry Ransom Center. He visits Mr. Millais, the genius painter and photographs his wife, Effie Gray and their children. At the end of, 'Lewis Carroll: The Man and his Circle' is a much needed Bibliography, a notes and chapter overview section, that is very helpful to the reader.
February 8, 2015
Though I did not like the book as a basic biography of Lewis Carroll (the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), the book did have a lot valuable of information about the background of the Alice books and the educational systems of Victorian England.
I was very disappointed that book was not a straightforward chronological biography of Charles Dodgson. Instead the goal of the author is to refute some negatives biographies of Charles Dodgson (whom I will now call Lewis Carroll) which have recently been written. He does this by writing about Charles Dodgson and his social circle. The author while trying to disprove some of the negative stories of Dodgson by other biographers ends up making Dodgson seem like a saint which probably is also a one-sided picture of Dodgson; most famous people are a mixture of good and bad.
This approach of the author of the book is highly problematic for readers like me who don't know much about the life Charles Dodgson or about the negative biographies written about him. Also. I am very much opposed on both philosophic and readability grounds biographies not written in straight chronological order. The chronological format of biography is more pleasurable to read and allows the reader to see how the subject of the biography changes over time.
However there was some highly interesting information about the Alice books. As a child, I was very disappointed that Charles Dodgson's own drawings were used in his books. My version of the book had John Tenniel's drawings. However in this book I learned that Dodgson did not feel is drawings were good enough for the book and he very closely worked with Tenniel on the illustrations. In addition, Dodgson was familiar with the royal circles and it does make on wonder if some of the Queens in the story were based on Queen Victoria (some of the drawings bear some resemblance to her).Also, we find out who the real Alice was to whom Dodgson originally told the story.
It is Dodgson relationship with the real Alice (Alice Liddell) that even as to me as a child evoked some hint of scandal. What is an unmarried man doing rowing an unrelated young girl child telling her stories and writing a book with her as the main character? This book partially answers this question. Dodgson needed to work for money; in the arrangement of the University he worked for he had to agree not to get married though this requirement was dropped for him later in his life. Alice Liddell was the daughter of his boss at the University. Upper class British girls of the time did not go to school while the boys were sent away to boarding school. To me this not sending rich girls to school seems strange, and the girls probably felt somewhat bored and lonely. Dodgson probably was seen as something like a teacher/minister to these girls.
Thus, I found the book and interesting look at Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)'s world in which he lived but I did not like it as a biography of Lewis Carroll.
I was very disappointed that book was not a straightforward chronological biography of Charles Dodgson. Instead the goal of the author is to refute some negatives biographies of Charles Dodgson (whom I will now call Lewis Carroll) which have recently been written. He does this by writing about Charles Dodgson and his social circle. The author while trying to disprove some of the negative stories of Dodgson by other biographers ends up making Dodgson seem like a saint which probably is also a one-sided picture of Dodgson; most famous people are a mixture of good and bad.
This approach of the author of the book is highly problematic for readers like me who don't know much about the life Charles Dodgson or about the negative biographies written about him. Also. I am very much opposed on both philosophic and readability grounds biographies not written in straight chronological order. The chronological format of biography is more pleasurable to read and allows the reader to see how the subject of the biography changes over time.
However there was some highly interesting information about the Alice books. As a child, I was very disappointed that Charles Dodgson's own drawings were used in his books. My version of the book had John Tenniel's drawings. However in this book I learned that Dodgson did not feel is drawings were good enough for the book and he very closely worked with Tenniel on the illustrations. In addition, Dodgson was familiar with the royal circles and it does make on wonder if some of the Queens in the story were based on Queen Victoria (some of the drawings bear some resemblance to her).Also, we find out who the real Alice was to whom Dodgson originally told the story.
It is Dodgson relationship with the real Alice (Alice Liddell) that even as to me as a child evoked some hint of scandal. What is an unmarried man doing rowing an unrelated young girl child telling her stories and writing a book with her as the main character? This book partially answers this question. Dodgson needed to work for money; in the arrangement of the University he worked for he had to agree not to get married though this requirement was dropped for him later in his life. Alice Liddell was the daughter of his boss at the University. Upper class British girls of the time did not go to school while the boys were sent away to boarding school. To me this not sending rich girls to school seems strange, and the girls probably felt somewhat bored and lonely. Dodgson probably was seen as something like a teacher/minister to these girls.
Thus, I found the book and interesting look at Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)'s world in which he lived but I did not like it as a biography of Lewis Carroll.
May 17, 2016
Bias alert! I read this because I am an acquaintance of Mr. Wakeling and consider him a trusted expert on the life of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (aka Lewis Carrol). Dodgson was the quintessential Victorian gentleman. He was a writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon, and innovative photographer. Dodgson maintained a distinct divide between his academic reputation and his persona as a children’s book author. When Mr. Dodgson received a letter addressing him as his pseudonym Lewis Carroll, he pretend not to have any connection with any pseudonym, or with the book that is not published under his own name. One thing I enjoyed about this book was how Mr. Wakeling challenges all the slanderous rumours against the man and author. Dodgson was popular and much respected in his time and had many respectable friends and a close family (10 siblings). The charges that he took nude photographs of small girls? True -- but it was at the request of the parents and these amounted to only 30 studies out of 30,000. There is simple no evidence that he abused children and he would have been horrified at the accusation. Did he have an aversion to boys of any age? No! There are plenty of photographs of boys too. He liked to imitate popular paintings and classical tableaus of the time. Was he awkward with adults and only at home with children? He stammered but he also had a wide circle of friends and mixed on equal terms with the famous figures of his day. Was he impossible to work with? John Tenniel, illustrator of the Alice books and artist for Punch magazine remained a life-long friend. When discussing John Tenniel Wakeling includes an informative development about the art of wood engraving (pages 70-71), which makes me smile (being a wood engraver myself). He also touches on some of the technical aspects of photography (156-158). If you are curious about the Victorians and are interested in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood -- you'll find lots to love about this book!
March 27, 2015
Lewis Carroll: The Man and His Circle by Edward Wakeling. The delay on reviewing this one is because there was such a wealth of fascinating material. I highlighted so much and couldn't decide what to include and what to eliminate. The dilemma of too much of interest was overwhelming.
Charles Lutwitdge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) was a fascinating man with an equally fascinating circle of friends and acquaintances. Anyone interested in the Victorian period would benefit from reading this book.
The background on Carroll as mathematician, the illustrators of Alice in Wonderland (and how Carroll worked with the illustrators), publishers and publication, his friends among artists, playwrights, and actors, a historical look at his photography--and more, much more. The primary sources are extensive.
A brilliant man with wide-ranging interests, Lewis Carroll has a dedicated biographer in Wakeling. The book does not follow the pattern of most biographies, but is a compelling experience and informative experience.
Read in January A Garden Carried in the Pocket
NetGalley/ I.B. Taurus
Biography/Nonfiction. 2015. Print length: 480 pages.
Charles Lutwitdge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) was a fascinating man with an equally fascinating circle of friends and acquaintances. Anyone interested in the Victorian period would benefit from reading this book.
The background on Carroll as mathematician, the illustrators of Alice in Wonderland (and how Carroll worked with the illustrators), publishers and publication, his friends among artists, playwrights, and actors, a historical look at his photography--and more, much more. The primary sources are extensive.
A brilliant man with wide-ranging interests, Lewis Carroll has a dedicated biographer in Wakeling. The book does not follow the pattern of most biographies, but is a compelling experience and informative experience.
Read in January A Garden Carried in the Pocket
NetGalley/ I.B. Taurus
Biography/Nonfiction. 2015. Print length: 480 pages.
April 6, 2015
I'm a huge Lewis Carroll fan so I loved this - huge amounts of detail about something I am really interested in. Despite an entire bookcase of books on the subject I felt I learnt new things reading this and was able to think about Carroll in different ways.
February 10, 2015
Overall, I thought this was a very well written biography on Lewis Carroll. He was a much more complex man than expected.
December 8, 2015
This is a very comprehensive biography of Lewis Carroll and his life. The book has many photographs and is well-researched. I received this book free to review from Netgalley.
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July 8, 2016Biog C3195w 2015
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