Alice in Escherland

Alice in Escherland incorporating Funmaths: Celebrating the Worlds of Lewis Carroll and M.C. Escher. Jointly written calendar for 1998- by John Bibby, John Sharp and Edward Wakeling.

QED Publications, 1998

ISBN: 1858530261

Edward Wakeling is a former chairman of the Lewis Carroll Society. His interest in Lewis Carroll apparently began in 1975 when he attended an exhibition at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire organized by the Lewis Carroll Society. This started an interest in collecting Lewis Carroll’s works, and he now owns one of the finest collections of Carroll material in private hands. (I’m planning on rivalling him eventually 😉 )

1998 marked both the centenary of Dodgson’s death and of Escher’s birth this calendar explores the life and works of them both, with important dates highlighted, and lots of puzzles and games.

There’s a page exploring Dodgson’s interest in the number 42 (said to be the reason that Douglas Adams chose it as the ‘answer’ in the Hitchhiker series).

There are also pages on Alice in Flatland, Escher and Möbius Bands, Morphing and Golden Rectangles.

Out of print, but occasionally available on Amazon: Alice in Escherland

Lewis Carroll in Numberland: His Fantastical Mathematical Logical Life

Lewis Carroll in Numberland: His Fantastical Mathematical Logical Life by Robin Wilson.

Paperback Penguin, 2009.

ISBN-13: 978-0141016108

Robin Wilson (born December 1943) is a Visiting Emeritus Professor in Pure Mathematics at the Open University, a Stipendiary Lecturer at Pembroke College, Oxford and professor of geometry at Gresham College.

He says:

In Graph Theory my main interests are in colouring problems – especially in edge–colourings of graphs and the four–colour problem. In the history of mathematics, I am interested in British mathematics – especially the 17th century and the period 1860 – 1940 and in the history of graph theory and combinatorics.

He’s apparently the son of Harold Wilson, former Prime Minister.

From the publisher’s blurb:

Lewis Carroll’s writings have inspired and entertained generations of readers, but now his forgotten achievements in the world of numbers are finally brought to light by highly acclaimed author and mathematician Robin Wilson. Here Wilson explores the singular imagination of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson – known to millions around the world as Lewis Carroll – the creator of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass”. “Lewis Carroll in Numberland” shows how this incredible mind was not limited to the exuberant fantasy and word play of his children’s books which brim with mathematical allusions – arithmetical, geometrical, logical and mechanical. Dodgson’s exceptional talent as a mathematician won him the Christ Church Mathematical Lectureship at Oxford, a position he held for over twenty-six years. During this time he published extensively and brilliantly in the traditional fields of geometry, logic and algebra. Wilson’s passionate celebration of Dodgson’s mathematical achievements reveals that his work in numbers went far beyond the purely academic. We are taken inside the mind of a man who turned his mathematical genius to the study of voting patterns, to the design of tennis tournaments and even to the prolific creation and popularization of imaginative, numerical puzzles. This absorbing book introduces us to the mind behind the myth and shows the true range of Carroll’s extraordinary talents and numerous contributions to British society.

Bought on Amazon: Lewis Carroll in Numberland: His Fantastical Mathematical Logical Life

Beyond the Looking Glass: Reflections of Alice and Her Family

Beyond the Looking Glass: Reflections of Alice and Her Family: by Colin Gordon.

Published by Hodder & Stoughton: hardback 1st edition with dustjacket (1 Oct 1982).

246pp plus bibliography, acknowledgements and an index. Lots of illustrations and photographs both in colour and black and white.

The story of Alice Liddell (the child for whom Dodgson first told the Alice story on the river in Oxford) and her family told through materials from a “treasure-trove” of records discovered in the playroom of a house in rural Gloucestershire.

Picked up in Jane Gibberd Secondhand Books on Lower Marsh, London for £6.

I really think Alice looks like Geraldine James in the photo on the cover….

Available on amazon: Beyond the Looking Glass: Reflections of Alice and Her Family

Mr. Dodgson

Mr.Dodgson: Nine Lewis Carroll Studies, with a Companion-guide to the “Alice at Longleat” Exhibition. Edited by Denis Crutch.

Published by The Lewis Carroll Society (April 1973).

Paperback.

With 16 black and white illustrations (including Photographs & facsimiles) and a folding genealogical table.

Available on Amazon: Mr. Dodgson. Nine Lewis Carroll studies, with a Companion-guide to the Alice at Longleat Exhibition

In Pursuit of Lewis Carroll

In Pursuit of Lewis Carroll by Raphael Shaberman.

Published by Greenwich Exchange, 1994.

ISBN: 1871551137

From the cover:

Sherlock Holmes and the Author uncover new evidence in their investigations into the mysterious life and writings of Lewis Carroll.

Together, they examine previous works by Carroll that have been overlooked by previous commentators. A newly-discovered poem, almost certainly by Carroll, is published here. S.D. Collingwood’s comprehensive bibliography of Carroll’s work is republished, in full, for the first time in many years.

Each chapter deals with an aspect of Carroll’s highly complex personality. It will surprise readers to learn that Carroll was interested in the problems of the identity of ‘Jack the Ripper’. Carroll’s relationship with his mother and father, with numerous child friends, and with the formidable Mrs Liddell, mother of the immortal ‘Alice’ are re-examined with fascinating results.

This book is essential reading for Carrollians and indeed anyone curious about the genius known by his world-famous pseudonym of ‘Lewis Carroll’.

About the author:

Raphael Shaberman is a life-long student of Lewis Carroll. He is a former teacher of autistic children, and has published a book on the autistic child, as well as a highly-praised bibliography of George MacDonald, the Victorian fantasy writer and author of children’s books.

Available on Amazon: In Pursuit of Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll Photographs

Lewis Carroll Photographs. Editor: Karl Steinorth.

Published by Edition Stemmle, 1991.

ISBN: 372310407X

Square paperback collection of Carroll’s sepia tinted photos and an essay by Colin Ford. Text in German and English.

Carroll/Dodgson took up photography in 1856, under the influence of his uncle Skeffington Lutwidge. He is most famous for his photographs of young girls, but he also took studies of famous people of the time, including Millais, Ellen Terry, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Faraday, Holman Hunt, and Alfred Lord Tennyson.
You can see some of the pictures here.

Amazon link: LEWIS CARROLL: Photographien/Photographs

Lewis Carroll: Looking-Glass Letters

Lewis Carroll: Looking-Glass Letters: The Illustrated Letters. Selected and introduced by Thomas Hinde.

Published by Collins and Brown, 1991. Paperback.

An insight into the life of Lewis Carroll, and the story behind the books, told through Carroll’s own letters and diaries. Includes loads of pictures by all the best known illustrators of Lewis Carroll’s books, including John Tenniel, Edward Lear and Rackham.