The Oxford Pamphlets, Leaflets, and Circulars of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Pamphlets of Lewis Carroll) (v. 1)

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Lenny's description:
Lewis Carroll produced (in addition to the Alice books and his photographic works) more than 180 booklets, pamphlets, leaflets, and instruction manuals, varying radically in length and subject matter.

This volume concentrates on the work associated with Dodgson's career as an Oxford don.

The pamphlets are presented with background information placing them in context.

Seller's description:
Between 1860 and 1897 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, known to the ages as Lewis Carroll, produced (in addition to the "Alice" books and his well-known photographic works) over 180 booklets, leaflets, pamphlets, and instruction manuals. Varying radically in length and subject matter, they testify to Dodgson's unparalleled creativity and eclecticism. Collected now for the first time, these writings shed light on many of the intellectual and cultural enthusiasms of this eminent Victorian. Famed as a writer, photographer, and mathematician, Dodgson was also a moral crusader and a diligent churchman who nourished a then-illicit passion for the theatre. He was also a prolific creator of games, puzzles and brain twisters. Indeed, one of his earliest independent pubications was the 1860 "Rules for court circular", a blueprint for an original game bearing some resemblance to rummy. This volume, the first of a planned series, concentrates on the work associated with Dodgson's career as an Oxford don. Much of the material collected here has not appreared in print since the author's lifetime; included among many other items is all the work connected with Dodgson's curatorship of the Christ Church Room. An enthusiastic participant in university life, Dodgson left a lively "paper trail" that lavishly documents his positions on various local disputes. He preferred this form of discourse to debates, in which - partly because of a speech impediment - he was not particularly successful. Modern readers are the beneficiaries of this inclination to print: the writings are of interest not only for the logic and high moral principle they display, but also for their genuine wit and whimsy. Appearing in chronological order, the pamphlets are presented with background information placing them in context. Taken together, they offer real insight into Dodgson the man and into the Victorian period in general.


Product details:

Item number (ASIN): 0813912504
Author: Lewis Carroll
Dewey Decimal Number: 828.809
ISBN: 0813912504
Manufacturer: University of Virginia Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 382
Package Dimensions: 126 x 640 x 944 (hundredths-inches)
Publication Date: February 1, 1993
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
Binding: Hardcover

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Rating: - Getting even deeper into Lewis Carroll
This is certainly not a book for the casual Lewis Carroll fan, but a book for the hard-core, already-own-the-complete-letters-and-diaries kind of fan. It's a fascinating look at Dodgson's Oxford writings, including many previously unseen by the public.Charles Dodgson's Oxford writings are full of items that the average person, having not been to Oxford in the 1800's, might despair to understand, if it were not for the helpful explanations supplied by the editors of this collection. These explanations make these writings accessable, allowing us to explore a microcosm of collegiate life. Dodgson expresses massive displeasure with the architectural and staff changes going on at the college, often with satire so biting that you wonder how many friends he must have lost with these little publications.There are also a couple more serious papers about doings at the college, followed by a tremendous amount of circulars about the common room at the college, which Dodgson was curator of. These circulars are very dry, sometimes amounting to no more than lists of wines in the cellars. These papers take up almost half the book, and present a problem: Surely every Lewis Carroll fan wants a complete collection of his writings, but is this simply too much? However, if they weren't included, the readers would be left wondering if there was anything worthwhile in these papers, and the answer is that yes, about 5% of these papers are worth reading. Once again, this book is for the truly hard-core Carroll nut. If you enjoyed all the writings in, say, the Modern Library "Works of" Lewis Carroll, then you might enjoy this. But it is not for casual fans, especially at the gold-plated price of [money].