Why a Booktrail?
1832 – 1898: The world of Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll and Alice (New Horizons)
Why a Booktrail?
1832 – 1898: The world of Lewis Carroll
What you need to know before your trail
One golden summer afternoon in 1862, the young Oxford mathematics don Charles Dodgson shared a picnic with three little girls in a boat on the River Thames. One of the sisters, Alice Liddell, asked for a story “with plenty of nonsense in it”. The adventure he created for her under the pen name Lewis Carroll and the unforgettable characters he invented – the White Rabbit, the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, amongst others – have enchanted generations of readers thoughout the world. The world of Lewis Carroll, whose powerful imagination gave us the timeless magic of “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass”, is here vividly brought to life.
Travel Guide
Lewis Carroll country
Where else can you meet the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the Mock Turtle, and the Mad Hatter, amongst others ?
The world of Lewis Carroll and Alice, that’s where
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson is better known as Lewis Carroll. Dodgson was born in the small parsonage at Daresbury in Cheshire. He was the eldest boy but already the third child of the four-and-a-half-year-old marriage. Eight more children followed. When Charles was 11, his whole family moved to the rectory. This remained their home for the next 25 years.
“Lewis Carroll” was educated at home. By the age of seven, he was apparently reading books such as The Pilgrim’s Progress. Like many of his siblings, he suffered from a stammer and this would have an effect on the rest of his life.
Alice in Wonderland
The story of Alice in Wonderland actually starts in a very real place above ground – the story came about following a journey the author had when walking along a river between Oxford and Godstow whilst trying to entertain the two little girls in his care.
Dodgson told the girls a story that featured a bored little girl named Alice who goes looking for an adventure. The girls loved it, and the real Alice asked Dodgson to write it down for her. He began writing but it wasn’t until they all went on another journey and boat trip a month later, when he started to elaborate the story and write it out in full.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Lewis Carroll and Alice (New Horizons)
Destination: Oxford, Daresbury Author/Guide: Stephanie Lovett Stoffel Departure Time: 1832 – 1898
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