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Lewis Carroll letter goes under hammer at Bonhams | Lewis Carroll letter goes under hammer at Bonhams |
(about 9 hours later) | |
A letter from Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll, in which he complains about the downside of fame, has sold for £11,825 at auction. | |
Written under his own name, Charles Dodgson, he says he hates "being pointed out to, and stared at, by strangers, and treated as a 'lion'". | Written under his own name, Charles Dodgson, he says he hates "being pointed out to, and stared at, by strangers, and treated as a 'lion'". |
The handwritten letter was expected to fetch between £3,000 and £4,000 at the Bonham's London sale. | |
It was sent to his friend Anne Symonds in 1891. | It was sent to his friend Anne Symonds in 1891. |
Carroll was notoriously shy and he wrote that although he realised many people "like being looked at as a notoriety... we are not all made on the same pattern; and our likes and dislikes are very different". | Carroll was notoriously shy and he wrote that although he realised many people "like being looked at as a notoriety... we are not all made on the same pattern; and our likes and dislikes are very different". |
"I hate all that so intensely that sometimes I almost wish I had never written any books at all," it reads. | "I hate all that so intensely that sometimes I almost wish I had never written any books at all," it reads. |
British buyer | |
The letter was being sold as part of a books, manuscripts, maps and photographs sale - other lots included first editions of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. | |
It was bought by an anonymous British buyer who was present in the room during the bidding. | |
Two photographs by Carroll also sold at the auction. One of a young girl at the seaside sold for £5,250 and his portrait of a three-year-old girl on a couch went for £2,750. | |
Carroll was a lecturer and tutor in mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford, and originally wrote Alice in Wonderland as a private gift to 12-year-old Alice Liddell in 1864. | Carroll was a lecturer and tutor in mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford, and originally wrote Alice in Wonderland as a private gift to 12-year-old Alice Liddell in 1864. |
He came up with the story of Alice and her trip to a fantasy world while on a boat trip in the city with the real Alice and her family in 1862. | He came up with the story of Alice and her trip to a fantasy world while on a boat trip in the city with the real Alice and her family in 1862. |
Their relationship was recently dramatised by American writer John Logan in the play Peter and Alice, starring Dame Judi Dench as the adult Alice Liddell Hargreaves. | Their relationship was recently dramatised by American writer John Logan in the play Peter and Alice, starring Dame Judi Dench as the adult Alice Liddell Hargreaves. |