On a summer's day in 1858, in a garden behind Christ Church College in Oxford, Charles Dodgson, a lecturer in mathematics, photographed six-year-old Alice Liddell, the daughter of the college dean, with a Thomas Ottewill Registered Double Folding camera, recently purchased in London.
Simon Winchester deftly uses the resulting image - as unsettling as it is famous, and the subject of bottomless speculation - as the vehicle for a brief excursion behind the lens, a focal point on the origins of a classic work of English literature. Dodgson's love of photography framed his view of the world, and was partly responsible for transforming a shy and half-deaf mathematician into one of the world's best-loved observers of childhood. Little wonder that there is more to Alice Liddell as the Beggar Maid than meets the eye. Using Dodgson's published writings, private diaries, and of course his photographic portraits, Winchester gently exposes the development of Lewis Carroll and the making of his Alice.
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"Interesting and brief look at Lewis Carroll, his photography, and his friendship with the Liddell family that led to the creation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the remarkable photo of Alice Liddell as The Beggar-Maid. " — Cooper (4 out of 5 stars)
"Interesting and brief look at Lewis Carroll, his photography, and his friendship with the Liddell family that led to the creation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the remarkable photo of Alice Liddell as The Beggar-Maid. "
" Interesting book and certainly learned a good deal about early photography. Alice Liddell, the Alice of Wonderland fame is interesting and certainly remains a mystery. "
" Story of the photographic work of Dodgson/Carrol leading to the writing of the story. "
" Given to me as a very special gift, I fell instantly in love with this book. As much a curious history of Lewis Carroll's photography as a love letter to an elite lifestyle, I found this to be a marvelous and quick read. "
" Didn't make me want to rush out and read anything else about Lewis Carroll. "
" Excellent explication of the myths surrounding the book and the photographer/author. "
Simon Winchester is the acclaimed author of many books, including The Professor and the Madman, The Men Who United the States, The Map That Changed the World, The Man Who Loved China, A Crack in the Edge of the World, and Krakatoa, all of which were New York Times bestsellers and appeared on numerous best books of the year lists. In 2006, he was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty the Queen.
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