Introduction

This facility presents more than 40 letters relating to John Tenniel’s work as illustrator of the Alice books, together with extensive explanatory notes and images.

There is a paucity of extant letters between Charles Dodgson and John Tenniel. Edward Wakeling and Morton Cohen collected only ten letters between the two men in their collection Lewis Carroll & His Illustrators (New York: Cornell Univ Press and London: Macmillan, 2003.) Only four of these were written during the production of the two books, all from Tenniel, and only one of the ten is from Dodgson. Unfortunately, this last, written a few months after the release of Looking-Glass, had little to do with the book, being a mere complaint to get one of the writers at Punch magazine to refrain from using his real name in reference to Alice.

Some sources (Dodgson’s diaries and Stuart Dodgson Collingwood’s biography, for example) along with implications made in the surviving letters, indicate the existence, at some point, of a handful of other letters. Yet it is without a doubt, as Wakeling and Cohen note, that Dodgson “must have sent Tenniel dozens if not hundreds of letters in connection with the Alice books”. Similarly, Tenniel must have sent about as many to Dodgson.

To rectify the paucity of extant letters between Dodgson and Tenniel, the letters included within this resource extend the criteria for inclusion. Though we exclude those between the two men, we include letters written by Tenniel regarding Alice to his engravers, collectors and friends, for example, and those written by Tenniel’s family members, either on his behalf or about him. We also include a few odd letters from collectors who have met with Tenniel family members. In short, if a letter addresses Tenniel’s working method or the provenance of his drawings and tracings or any issue related to the Alice books, and if that information may be of interest to a scholar or a casual reader of Carroll’s works, it is included. One letter is even included to clear up the very point why it should not be included.

Letter texts, notes and images provided by Matthew Demakos, unless otherwise stated.