Yesterday I went to an exhibition at Dimbola Lodge* of the photographs of Charles Dodgson - more famously known as Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass.

The pictures, mainly portraits, varied in size from about 2" x 3" up to about 6" x 8" (probably whole plate).

I think they were all contact printed and, from what I have read, were all from wet plate processes. By the time dry plates were available, His interest in photography had diminished.

All of the images were surprisingly sharp and well composed. I'm not sure though if they were original prints or new prints for the exhibition. If this exhibition visits anywhere near you it is well worth a look.

* Dimbola Lodge is the former home of Victorian pioneer photographer Julia Margaret Cameron which is now preserved as a photographic museum and galleries. One of the galleries contains a permanent exhibition of her work.

Luckily for me, it is only about 20 miles away from my house!



Steve.

Dodgson had become infamous for his nude photographs of young girls and was shunned by society.

Roger Taylor, Professor of Photographic History at DMU, wrote a book about his work for Princeton University about 6 years ago and debunked the myths surrounding Dodgson.

Ian

I beleive there is a permanent exhibition of some of his work in the Guildford museum.

A lot of todays sicko's try to tag him with todays mentality. Robert Leggat has something to say on this. It says more about people today and how easily they can whipped up into a state of hysteria by the media rather than anything about Dodgson.

http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/carroll.htm

Roger Taylor's book Lewis Carroll, Photographer: The Princeton University Library Albums (http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7241.html), is outstanding, the quality of the reproductions were the best possible. The images were proofed individually before printing and no costs were spared to ensure accurate reproduction.

It's definitely worth looking at.

Ian