Culverton House, Sandown, Isle of Wight, September 26, 1876. One sheet folded to make four pages, 7 x 4 1/2 in. (178 x 114 mm). Four-page autograph letter, signed by Carroll in his characteristic purple ink, to his speech therapist, Henry Frederick Rivers, regarding progress on his speech, and inquiring about the children of a Mr. Napier, who were also Rivers's patients. Creasing from when folded, scattered spotting.

"My dear Rivers, I have a record still reproaching me, of a letter received from you Sep. 4, kindly asking after my progress in speaking...& I take the opportunity of having another matter to write about, to say that I think that on the whole I am better--In conversation my difficulties sometimes seem to have vanished, but reading is still much what it was--occasionally quite smooth, & then suddenly breaking down on some one word. With that liability I dare not yet attempt Church work again--one has not a right to inflict worry on a congregation; but I have not given up hope of doing it again some day.

I want to ask you about Mrs. Napier's 2 boys, who have been with you, I suppose, about a week now. They come of such an odd family that I expect you will find them both very odd boys to deal with: still friends who know them better than I do speak highly of their dispositions, especially that of the younger--& seem to think that under judicious management a great deal might be made of them--That I hope they will now get: they have had very little of it at home, I fancy.

What sort of care do you consider Herbert's to be? And are you hopeful of a cure? When I last heard him try to speak, I thought him a fearfully bad case, but I remember Dr. Hunt saying that sometimes those very bad cases are more easy to cure than slight ones. Clive, so far as I have noticed, does not hesitate at all--which is curious as he is so constantly with his brother.

I have had a most enjoyable 2 months here, & hope to stay another week yet, before returning to Oxford.

With very kinds regards to Mrs. Rivers, I am sincerely yours CL Dodgson."

Carroll writes to his speech therapist Henry Frederick Rivers (1830-1911) updating him on his progress with his stammer, and inquiring about the care of two of his child-friends, and Rivers's patients, Herbert and Clive Napier. Carroll began seeing Rivers for speech therapy in the summer of 1873 to help with his speech impediment, which he struggled with for most of his life. Carroll had previously been the patient of James Hunt (1833-69), the leading speech therapist in Great Britain at the time, and upon whose death, Rivers (who was married to Hunt's sister) took over his practice, and published a revised edition of his Stuttering and Stammering (1871).

Carroll had befriended the Napiers, a family residing in Sandown, as early as 1873, when vacationing there.