Carroll, Lewis (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). Autograph Letter, signed

The Residence, Ripon (North Yorkshire, England), January 12, 1867. Two sheets folded to make eight-pages, 7 x 4 1/2 in. (178 x 114 mm). Lengthy seven-page autograph letter, signed by Lewis Carroll to Georgina Mary Balfour ("Gina"), regarding photographs taken of her and her family members by Carroll. Creasing from when folded; scattered light spotting. Published in The Letters of Lewis Carroll (Cohen, Vol. I, pp. 96-98)

A lengthy Lewis Carroll letter concerning his photography of children.

Carroll writes to Georgina "Gina" Mary Balfour (1851-1929), accounting for his actions in regards to her "violent & passionate letter" concerning his supposed failure to send her an order of photographs--one that he can find no record of, and of one photograph he cannot remember ever taking. Gina was the daughter of James Leycester Balfour, headmaster of Kepier Grammar School in Durham, whose family was friends with Carroll from his childhood.

The letter opens, "On receiving your violent & passionate letter this morning, I immediately telegraphed to my printer in London (who I thought must be to blame in the matter) the following message 'O.W.H.H.' (I need hardly tell you that those letters are always understood by the Telegraph Company to mean 'Off With His Head') and in less than an hour I received the following answer 'I.I.D.' (you know of course that these letters stand for 'It Is Done.') However, I found afterwards that he had not been so much in fault as I supposed, & I regretted having sent such a hasty order--but let us quit this painful subject." Carroll took numerous photographs of Gina and her family throughout the 1860s, and here systematically lists all ten of the photos he took of them, as well as noting two orders he had since received from her, prefacing that Gina, "had better rub up your spectacles, & drink a little 'eau sucre' to get your head clear--ahem!"
He further notes to Gina that her mother had given him permission to give a photograph of her to his close friend at Oxford, Robert Godfrey Faussett.

Toward the end of the letter Carroll proposes that Gina bring her baby sister to Oxford, so that he may again photograph them, noting that he had photographed a colleague's baby the previous summer, "bringing her at her sleeping-time, so that she was easier to take than most grown-up people are." Carroll finishes the letter asking, "is it the right thing to send love to a person, & then sign yourself 'yours truly'? I doubt it I think a letter should warm up towards the end, & not cool down..."

According to Carroll biographer Morton N. Cohen, there is no indication that Carroll met the Balfour family again following this letter.

Provenance

From the collection of Justin G. Schiller

Carroll, Lewis (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). Autograph Letter, signed

Carroll, Lewis (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). Autograph Letter, signed