Reflections in a looking glass

the long version

Beloved as the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, two of the most popular children's stories of all time, the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (alias Lewis Carroll) was also one of the great photographers of children of the nineteenth century. The photographs in this richly illustrated book - a number of them previously unpublished - reflect Carroll's lifelong fascination with children and their world. These remarkable portraits of his "child friends" were made between 1856 and 1880, during the height of the Victorian Age in England - many of them at Carroll's rooms at Oxford, where he was Mathematical Lecturer. Also included in this volume are Carroll's photographs of friends, family, and luminaries of the day, as well as the only four nude portraits that have come to light. The central text, by Carroll biographer and leading scholar Morton N. Cohen, discusses the role of photography in Carroll's vast and diverse creative output. Cohen adds annotated captions and excerpts from Carroll's diaries and other writings to provide unique insight into the creative genius that produced the Alice books and other children's favorites.