DODGSON, Charles Lutwidge (1832-1898). 'Lewis Carroll'.
Autograph Letter Signed ('C L Dodgson') to Mrs Poole, wife of the historian Reginald Lane Poole, 1 page 8vo (oblong) with envelope, Ch[rist] Ch[urch], 13 March 1897. A letter to the mother of at least one of Dodgson's 'child friends' inviting her to dinner and tea.
Rachel Emily Lane Poole (née Malleson, 1860-1937) was a considerable scholar. The author of Catalogue of Oxford Portraits (3 volumes, 1912-25) she was also the first woman to be elect to the Society of Antiquaries. Her elder daughter Dorothy Joy (1882-1947), alluded to in this letter, was to become an an Oxford academic. Peggy, also mentioned in the letter, may have been a younger daughter.

'... Pending that hoped-for epoch when there may be a sufficient amount of Dorothean mind available for dining, & a sufficient amount of Peggean body available for taking tea, will you come & do both - in alphabetical order, of course. ...'

Three letters to Mrs Poole are printed by Morton Cohen The Letters of Lewis Carroll, one of which alludes to another dinner engagement , but the present letter is apparently unpublished.
[No: 20675]