Lewis Carroll's Personal Autograph Register Listing Recipients of Presentation Copies of "The Nursery Alice"

(Christ Church, Oxford), June 21-July 2, 1889. Square 8vo. 20 leaves. Autograph register completely in the hand of Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), comprising 18 manuscript pages (in his customary purple ink, on rectos only, comprising approximately 500 words) listing 121 names and addresses of recipients of presentation copies of the author's The Nursery Alice; autograph key on front inner wrapper with symbols for noting whether a recipient had a copy in "P. in C." (Pictures with Color), “sent from London", “sent from Oxford" and whether “entered in Letter-Register"; several autograph emendations. Original limp brown wrappers, inscribed by Carroll on front wrapper "The Nursery Alice", spine perished; front and rear hinges repaired; rear wrapper inscribed by Carroll "IV"; final page with manuscript algebraic notations, not in the hand of Carroll; in crimson levant pull-off case and crimson cloth chemise.

Lot includes an unpublished description of the register, with a census of the presentation copies listed within, prepared by Carroll scholar Edward Wakeling in 2017.

An important and fascinating glimpse into the private world of Lewis Carroll: his personal register listing the recipients of presentation copies of The Nursery Alice. A superb and revealing record, this unique volume provides valuable insight into Carroll's social network and his inner circle of friends and colleagues. As such, it is one of only a few remaining examples reflecting his life-long habit of meticulous record-keeping.

Executed in his characteristic purple ink, Carroll lists 121 names, with each recipient's address, as well as information regarding the gift volumes binding, composition, and from where they were sent. The first 13 pages are dated June 21, 1889, the 14th page dated July 2, 1889, and the last four pages are left undated. Among the many names listed, several are of Carroll's relatives, including his sisters (the first entry) and nieces, as well as the children of many of his colleagues at Oxford. Many of the individuals listed are associated with the Alice books, either relating to their inspiration, their creation, or their publication.

Carroll has inscribed the front wrapper "The Nursery Alice", and the rear "IV", a likely reference to it as the fourth published Alice book (and perhaps denoting this as the fourth of such registers listing presentation copy recipients). We cannot locate similar presentation registers for the other three books, and none are listed in the 1898 auction or dealer catalogues of his effects.

Of particular note, entry No. 34 lists "Mrs. Hargreaves"--Alice Liddell--the inspiration behind Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Carroll and the Liddell family first met in 1856 at Christ Church, Oxford, where Carroll taught mathematics and where Alice's father was the newly appointed dean. Carroll became friendly with the Liddells and their four children, and frequently photographed them in the Deanery Garden, while also taking them on boating excursions up the Thames. It was on one of these trips in the summer of 1862 that Carroll first regaled the Liddell children with his tale of a girl named Alice and her adventures in Wonderland. Enchanted by the tale, the real Alice urged Carroll to write the stories down for her, a task that would result in one of the most important and popular books in children's literature, and immortalize Alice Liddell as the author's muse. Upon completing the work, Carroll was encouraged by friends to publish it, but before the book's release in 1865, Carroll and the Liddell's relationship suffered a breakdown. There is no record for why the break occurred, but despite this cooling of relations Carroll would continue over the years to send Alice and her family presentation copies of his books, including copies of The Nursery Alice. By this time, in 1889, Alice was in her late thirties and married to cricketer Reginald Hargreaves, with whom she had three sons. Carroll would send her two inscribed copies of the book, both of which are now in the Berol Collection in the Fales Library at New York University.

Other notable individuals are listed, including John Tenniel (No. 82), illustrator of the Alice books, including The Nursery Alice; Mary Charlotte Collingwood (nee Dodgson) (No. 2), Carroll's sister and the wife of Charles Edward Stuart Collingwood, the first biographer of Carroll; Christina Rossetti (No. 68), poet and sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and lifelong correspondent of Carroll's; E. Gertrude Thomson (No. 80), illustrator of the covers of The Nursery Alice; Miss Dorothy Furniss (No. 31), daughter of illustrator Harry Furniss, and model for Sylvie in Carroll's Sylvie and Bruno books; Rhoda and Violet Liddell (Nos. 49 and 50), Alice Liddell's sisters; Helen Constance Macmillan (No. 54), daughter of Dodgson's publisher; Margaret E. Savile Clarke (No. 70), daughter of Henry Savile Clarke, dramatist who wrote the first professional dramatization of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass; Alexandra "Xie" Rhoda Kitchin (No. 108), Carroll's child-friend and his most frequent photographic subject; Reverend Robinson Duckworth (No. 33), inspiration for Duck in Alice's Adventure in Wonderland, and member of the above mentioned famous boating party with the Liddell children; and many more.

Sixteen years after the release of his beloved Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Carroll sought to publish a version of the tale appealing to children under the age of five. On February 15, 1881, Carroll wrote to his publisher suggesting the idea of a "Nursery Edition", with "pictures printed in colours, to be larger and thinner than the original" (Carroll's diary, February 20, 1881), and written with the intent of it being read by a mother or governess to their children. In 1885, Carroll's illustrator, John Tenniel, agreed to produce 20 enlarged and color pictures for the book, largely revised from his original Alice illustrations, but with Alice's costume changed. Carroll began writing the work in December 1888, finishing the text the following February. The first printing of 10,000 copies was printed in April 1889, but Carroll was unhappy with the illustration's coloring, and demanded a reprint, under his supervision. Another 10,000 copies were subsequently reprinted in March 1890, with the first printing sent for release in America. On March 25, 1890, Carroll traveled to London, and inscribed over 100 copies of the work, almost certainly using this very list that was prepared by him in advance over the previous summer.

Carroll was a habitual and meticulous record keeper during the entirety of his life and maintained several journals and registers tracking his everyday happenings, plans, and artistic output. His "highly developed imagination and creative spirit were matched by his need to have structured order in his life. He surrounded himself with files and registers that enabled him to keep track of his work and achievements. He was a frequent maker of lists." (Wakeling, Lewis Carroll, Photographer, 2002, p. 125). Beginning in his undergraduate years at Christ Church, and up until his death, Carroll maintained a journal, where he systematically listed events of the day as well as his artistic and social pursuits. These eventually filled 13 notebooks, of which four are now missing. He similarly kept a detailed register of his correspondence, which he started in 1861 in his 20s and maintained for the rest of his life. He began a similar register for his photographic work, in 1875, listing chronologically every photo he ever took. Both of these two registers no longer survive. The above is thus a unique survival, and provides crucial insight into this archiving aspect of Carroll's behavior.