The Alice Behind Wonderland

The Alice Behind WonderlandOn a summer's day in 1858, in a garden behind Christ Church College in Oxford, Charles Dodgson, a lecturer in mathematics, photographed six year old Alice Liddell, the daughter of the college dean, with a Thomas Ottewill Registered Double Folding camera, recently purchased in London. Simon Winchester deftly uses the resulting image as unsettling as it is famous, and the subject of bottomless speculation as the vehicle for a brief excursion behind the

On a summer's day in 1858, in a garden behind Christ Church College in Oxford, Charles Dodgson, a lecturer in mathematics, photographed six-year-old Alice Liddell, the daughter of the college dean, with a Thomas Ottewill Registered Double Folding camera, recently purchased in London.

Simon Winchester deftly uses the resulting image--as unsettling as it is famous, and the subject of bottomless speculation--as the vehicle for a brief excursion behind the lens, a focal point on the origins of a classic work of English literature. Dodgson's love of photography framed his view of the world and was partly responsible for transforming a shy and half-deaf mathematician into one of the world's best-loved observers of childhood. Little wonder that there is more to "Alice Liddell as the Beggar Maid" than meets the eye. Using Dodgson's published writings, private diaries, and of course his photographic portraits, Winchester gently exposes the development of Lewis Carroll and the making of his Alice.

Acclaim for Simon Winchester

"An exceptionally engaging guide at home everywhere, ready for anything, full of gusto and seemingly omnivorous curiosity."
--Pico Iyer, The New York Times Book Review

"A master at telling a complex story compellingly and lucidly."
--USA Today

"Extraordinarily graceful."
--Time

"Winchester is an exquisite writer and a deft anecdoteur."
--Christopher Buckley

"A lyrical writer and an indefatigable researcher."
--Newsweek


Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 03/17/2011
ISBN: 9780195396195
Pages: 110
Weight: 0.61lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.60w x 0.70d

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 02/28/2011
Kirkus Reviews 11/15/2010
Library Journal 01/01/2011 pg. 98
Booklist 02/01/2011 pg. 16
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 11/01/2011 pg. 182