The British Library best loved treasure: original manuscript version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. Lewis carroll was the “pen-name” of Charles Dogdson, Oxford Mathematician mainly specialized on algebra, geometry, and social applications (see Dogdson method for democracy elections) with brilliant works and models related to cryptography. He also developed an intense activity on the fields of photography and literature. There’s a complete bio on Wikipedia link (here), so again I’ll not extend about his life details… my big surprise arrived when I discovered how Lewis Carroll started this tale: he simply improvised the story one summer's day in 1862 giving a boat trip to Alice and Edith Liddell, the young daughters of the Dean of his college. The ten-year-old Alice was so entranced that she begged him to write it down for her, and he did it. Alice Pleasance Liddell finally received the manuscript on her next birthday, with around 90 pages including 37 illustrations.
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| The real Alice (Alice Liddell), photo by Charles Dogdson |
After this, Mr. Dogdson decided to publish the tale, and from this point the history is well known. He completed the sequel with “Through the Looking-Glass”, and also wrote the poems "The Hunting of the Snark" and "Jabberwocky".
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| ...she went on growing and growing and very soon had to kneel down... |
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| The delicious legal discussion with the Queen... |
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| Alice with the white -splendidly dressed- rabbit |
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| In front of the door... what to do? |
