Carroll, Lewis [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson]

Autograph manuscript in the hand of the editor comprising the first major transcription of Carroll’s diaries, 359 leaves together with 1 index card comprising two sequences reflecting volumes one and two of the published edition, numerous corrections and occasional notes on rectos and margins, 4to, loose leaves, collector’s red morocco-backed slipcase with chemise, occasional light soiling, occasional creases and fraying to extremities [together with:] a first American edition set of the published two volume published edition from 1954, original cloth, price-clipped dust-jackets

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A fascinating document prepared by Roger Lancelyn Green and of significance to the twentieth-century discovery and dissemination of the text. This manuscript serves as a textual witness to the editor’s working practices and methodology.

In 1898 Stuart Dodgson Collingwood first published extracts from his uncle’s thirteen diaries in The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll. The originals were then lost to Carrollian scholarship for over half a century during which time four volumes were lost or destroyed. In 1932 the remaining diaries were found on a cellar floor, having fallen out of a cardboard box, and in the late 1940s the Trustees of the Dodgson estate commissioned Roger Lancelyn Green to prepare an edition of the extant text for publication. Less than three quarters of the text was published in 1953. Following the deposit of Dodgson’s original volumes in the British Library in 1969, the complete text was published by the Lewis Carroll Society between 1993 and 2005 under the editorship of Edward Wakeling.

The present manuscript, in Green’s hand, comprises the editor’s preface, introduction and transcription of Carroll’s diaries. It contains numerous notes and directions to the printer or publisher. There are, for example, two variant title-pages (the abandoned sub-title reading ‘An Anecdotal Biography… based on his hitherto unpublished Diaries’). A note, at the end of volume one, suggests that the text for 12 July to 13 September 1867 be taken from a privately printed work by Morris L. Parrish. The suggestion was not implemented.