Lewis Carroll's Private Journal No. 12

1 July 1883 to 30 June 1892

Published in 2004 by the Lewis Carroll Society as Volume 8
Also included are various letters to the press.
ISBN-10: 0 904117 28 6
ISBN-13: 978 0 904117 28 8

Synopsis

Dodgson’s twelfth and penultimate journal notebook shows a period of intense creative activity.  Dodgson now had his lectureship behind him and he has more time available for his own devices. In the journal Dodgson recorded his meeting with a number of celebrities of the day. He met for the first time Harry Furniss whom Dodgson commissioned to illustrate the two Sylvie and Bruno books. He encountered the Duchess of Albany, widow of Prince Leopold, and her two children, Princess Alice and Prince Charles, at Hatfield House, and a friendship ensued. He visited the poet, Coventry Patmore, and met his family. In his quest to help his brother, Edwin, to support the people on the island of Tristan da Cunha, he arranged various meetings with civil servants and politicians, including George Smyth Baden Powell. In his attempt to create a musical version of Alice he corresponded with the composer, Alexander Mackenzie, having already been turned down by Arthur Sullivan. These meetings reveal Dodgson’s ease in society, and the friendships among significant and important people that he encouraged and nurtured.

A number of significant events in Dodgson’s life are described in this journal. His investigation of symbolic logic continued and he took the opportunity to offer lectures at the Oxford Girls’ High School, sharing his ideas with young people. At Christ Church, he accepted the role of Curator of the Common Room, a position that required much time, trouble and effort. He transformed the organisational procedures and spent an enormous amount of time devising new accounting systems, re-organising the wine cellars and carrying out regular audits, improving the comfort and service for his fellow colleagues, and generally working well beyond the call of duty. This was his only college position apart from his former lectureship and a brief period as sub-librarian, and he seemed determined to carry it out to the best of his abilities. Finally, he achieved his ambition to see Alice dramatised for the stage, and in this he was strongly supported by Henry Savile Clarke, who wrote the libretto, and Walter Slaughter, who composed the music. Somewhere between a pantomime and an operetta, this musical dramatisation became extremely popular with audiences around the country and repeat performances were well attended by families. The play soon became a standard Christmas feature, especially in London. Dodgson continued to view his vows as a deacon of the Church of England seriously, and preached on a number of occasions at St. Mary’s, Guildford, and in Oxford. During this period he devised a number of puzzles and games, and invented the “nyctograph” for writing in the dark.

Dodgson’s literary career continued with the publication of the following important and diverse works: Lawn Tennis Tournaments: The True Method of Assigning Prizes (1883), Rhyme? and Reason? (1883), The Principles of Parliamentary Elections (1884-85), Supplement to “Euclid and His Modern Rivals” (1885) and a second revised edition of the main work, A Tangled Tale (1885), The Game of Logic (1886 – withdrawn, and 1887), the facsimile of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground (1886), The People’s Editions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass (1887), Curiosa Mathematica, Part 1, A New Theory of Parallels (1888), The Nursery “Alice” (1889 and 1890), Sylvie and Bruno (1889), Circular Billiards (1890), and Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter-Writing (1890) together with the Wonderland Postage-Stamp Case. He also contributed to various journals including three important papers in The Theatre, “‘Alice’ on the Stage” (1887), “The Stage and the Spirit of Reverence” (1888), and “Stage Children” (1889), and in Nature he published “To Find the Day of the Week for Any Given Date” (1887). He produced a large number of printed papers and circulars in connection with the Curatorship of the Common Room including Twelve Months in a Curatorship by One Who Has Tried It (1884) and Three Years in a Curatorship by One Whom It Has Tried (1886). The prolific output made this one of Dodgson’s most creative literary periods of his life.

Other important events included here are Dodgson’s attempt to get government support to move the inhabitants of Tristan da Cunha to the Cape or Australia to alleviate their hardship and suffering. He was, however, unsuccessful in this quest, but, nevertheless, he did achieve supplies being sent to the island on behalf of the government. In 1884, his Uncle Hassard, whom he had relied on for guidance and support in family matters, died. Dodgson attended the funeral, but felt unable to assist in the service, such was his emotional state at this sad time. He reports the death of other key family members and friends including Charlotte Edith Draper, whom he had known as the child Edith Denman, his cousin Margaret Wilcox, his Guildford walking-partner Walter Watson, two of his nephews, young sons of his brother Skeffington, and his long-standing colleague and travelling companion Henry Parry Liddon. In 1892, Henry George Liddell resigned as Dean of Christ Church, and Francis Paget was appointed to replace him.