The Library is pleased to announce that a new selection of rare or unique items from the Lewis Carroll Collection at Christ Church is now available in digital form. Most of these items are part of a donation by Robert Vernon Harcourt in 1984. He was the second cousin of Augustus George Vernon Harcourt (1834-1919), Lees Reader in Chemistry at Christ Church, who was a good friend of Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll). Many of these items were presented to A. G. V. Harcourt by Dodgson himself. The digitised items are:
The Dynamics of a Parti-cle published in Notes by an Oxford Chiel. The latter is a collection of pamphlets written by Dodgson between 1865 and 1874, issued as in 1874 as a single book in green cloth, and also issued separately with red-brick paper covers. This is the separate re-issue of Dynamics of a Parti-cle, first published in 1865, and the second item in this combined edition. It contained a satire on the Oxford election in 1865 in which William Ewart Gladstone, William Heathcote, and Gathorne Hardy contested two seats in Parliament to represent Oxford University.
The Blank Cheque is the sixth and final item in Notes by an Oxford Chiel, first issued in 1874 individually in red-brick covers. Oxford University decided to establish a new building for written examinations and interviews (called "The Schools") prior to awarding University degrees. Dodgson lampooned the project in this pamphlet.
A Method of Taking Votes on More than Two Issues was issued as a preliminary pamphlet in March 1876. Above the title-page was printed "Not yet published" and in most copies the pages were interleaved with blank pages for the reader to write notes which were then collected by Dodgson as suggestions to amend the text. In Harcourt's copy, the interleaved blank sheets are missing, probably because he submitted his comments to Dodgson.
A Discussion of the Various Methods of Procedure in Conducting Elections is a very rare document dated December 1873 which marks the beginning of Dodgson's investigation into methods of voting. There are only two known copies of this publication (the other, Dodgson's own copy, is in the Parrish Collection, Princeton University).
A manuscript letter from Dodgson to Harcourt dated 2 December 1872. In the letter, Dodgson answers a query from Harcourt about methods of dealing with speech problems. Harcourt's enquiry appears to be for scientific reasons; he did not stutter himself.
A manuscript letter from Dodgson to Mrs. Rachel Mary Harcourt née Bruce, wife of A. G. V. Harcourt (they married in 1872). The letter is dated 10 May (no year). This was probably sent in 1874 since Mrs. Harcourt gave birth to twins (Mildred and Mabel) that year. The enquiry was probably related to her forthcoming or recent motherhood.
A manuscript letter from Dodgson to Harcourt written in the form of a poem, accepting an invitation to visit, dated 5 March 1872.
Preliminary off-print from The Monthly Packet of Dodgson's A Tangled Tale Knot II, Mad Mathesis. This appeared in the July 1880 issue of The Monthly Packet, edited by Charlotte Yonge, pp. 76-78, but this differs in content and pagination making it a very rare item, probably the only known version.
Preliminary off-print from The Monthly Packet containing A Tangled Tale: The Answer to Knot II. This appeared in the September 1880 issue of The Monthly Packet, pp. 281-283, but again this differs in content and pagination, making it another rare item, probably the only known version.
All these items are available on the Digital Bodleian platform and directly on Christ Church Digital Library / The Lewis Carroll Collection / Other Works by Carroll.
Apart from papers from the Harcourt collection, we have also digitised Alice's Wonderland Birthday Book. The latter was compiled by E. Stanley Leathes and published by Griffin and Farran, London, in 1884. This copy was given to Dodgson's brother, Wilfred Longley Dodgson (1838-1914). It is inscribed " W. L. D. from C. L. D. July 29, 1896." It has been used by Wilfred and contains 37 entries; some family members and some friends and acquaintances. But the real mystery is the compiler.
This item is available on the Digital Bodleian platform and directly on Christ Church Digital Library / The Lewis Carroll Collection / Miscellaneous Carroll Material.
The Library would like to express its gratitude to Edward Wakeling for his extensive and detailed notes describing the material. His comments are available. To read them, please do to the Lewis Carroll Collection pages in Christ Church Digital Library.
Dr Cristina Neagu
Keeper of Special Collections
* For more fully digitised items from Christ Church collections, please see Digital Library.
* For other news related to Special Collections, please go the library Exhibitions and Research.
