The Lewis Carroll Society Website - Lewis Carroll's Diaries (Missing Pages)

There is strong evidence that Carroll himself removed at least one of these pages, perhaps as a result of a mistake, or possibly because he felt the tone of his comment, on reflection, was inappropriate.

A page definitely removed by Carroll comes from volume 12 and concerns an entry between 16 and 18 June 1885. Page 116 is missing from the right-hand leaves, but the pages follow consecutively when the volume is reversed and entries are made on the left-hand leaves. To confirm the identity of the perpetrator, Carroll has written at the top of page 117 an insert-mark and "June 18" to indicate the date of the remaining portion of the entry.

A page missing from journal 4 may also have been removed by Carroll himself. Two missing pages may be the result of errors in pagination by Carroll. He was not always careful when numbering the pages.

The other six missing pages were probably not cut out by Carroll, but by other hands. The following table gives details of all the missing pages:

Vol	Pages	Year	Dates missing	Notes
2	64, 65, 66	1855	15 to 19 August	Carroll did not use the left-hand page for entries. He included an index at the end of this volume which gave two references to missing pages: "Visit to Whitburn" (page 64); and "Sent picture on Ossian to C.T." (page 64). "C.T." is the Comic Times.
4	108	1856	Part of 31 December	Carroll is reflecting on the past year and may have said more than he intended, and removed the page himself.
5	46	1857	30 May to 31 May	Carroll did not use the left-hand page for entries in this volume.
8	2	1862	18 to 23 May	Possibly a result of mis-pagination.
8	91	1863	27 to 29 June	Part of 27 June exists. In these parts of the volume Carroll did not use the left-hand page for entries.
11	110 and verso 265	1879 1882	24 May to 5 June 14 to 24 January	Part of 24 May exists on page 110. Page 265 is the other side of page 110; part of 14 January exists, and the entry before 25 January exists (presumed to be part of 24 January).
12	85	1884	23 to 26 November	Possibly a result of mis-pagination.
12	116	1885	16 to 18 June	Parts of 16 & 18 June exist. The left-hand pages follow consecutively. Carroll has inserted "June 18" at top of page 117.

There are a few occasions when Carroll mis-paginates his journal and records two separate pages with the same number in the same volume, indicating that he inserted the page numbers as he worked his way through the note-books. They occur as follows: volume 4, two pages numbered 31; volume 5, two at 17; volume 9, two at 14; volume 11, two at 242; volume 12, two at 35, two at 51, two at 195 and two at 326; volume 13, two at 26. On working back from the reverse of later volumes, he leaves out a page number if the page has already been filled with a subsequent note relating to the right-hand entries. There is no page 206 in volume 10, but the error is Carroll's. The entry for 9 January continues without a break from page 205 to 207. The page numbering on the opposite pages is consecutive in this volume.

Updated:15 April 2005