Review: The Rossettis in Wonderland by Dinah Roe

The Rossettis in Wonderland by Dinah Roe

The exiled Italian poet Gabriele Rossetti arrived in London in 1824 with a few letters of introduction, little money and less English. But within one generation, he would bequeath his new city with a remarkable cultural legacy through the accomplishments of his children.

This is the family biography of Matriarch, Gabriele Rossetti, his wife, Frances Rossetti (Polidori), their four children:
Dante Gabriel Rossetti,Maria Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, and Willliam Michael Rossetti. 

Paperback, 412 pages

Published November 2011 by Haus Publishing

ISBN 1907822011 

ISBN13: 97819078

The P.R.B

by Christina Georgina Rossetti

The P.R.B. is in its decadence:—

for Woolner in Australia cooks his chops;

And Hunt is yearning for the land of Cheops;

D. G. Rossetti shuns the vulgar optic;

While William M. Rossetti merely lops

His B.s in English disesteemed as Coptic;

Calm Stephens in the twilight smokes his pipe

But long the dawning of his public day;

And he at last, the champion, great Millais

Attaining academic opulence

Winds up his signature with A.R.A.:—

So rivers merge in the perpetual sea,

So luscious fruit must fall when over ripe,

And so the consummated P.R.B.

The Rossettis in Wonderland is such an accomplishment in its nature that I will try my best not to gush. I term this book as a 'family biography' because what Dinah Roe has done is absolutely exquisite.  She has written biographies for all six members of the Rossetti family from father and mother to all four children.

Husband and Father:  Gabriele Rossetti

Wife and Mother:  Frances Rossetti (Polidori)

Son:  Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Painter and Poet

Daughter:  Christina Rossetti - Poet seated below her mother, Frances.

Daughter:  Maria Frances Rossetti - Dedicated her life to Christ.

Son:  William Michael Rossetti - Critic and keeper of the Pre-Raphaelite flame.  

Can you imagine the dedication and the research that writing this Victorian family history would take? I am in awe of what she has done. Dinah Roe dedicates the beginning chapters of the book on Gabriele and Frances Polidori. I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that the matriarch of the family was part of the Polidori family. A direct genetic link to Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Frankenstein and Dracula fame which is now stuff of legends. There is talent and genius on both sides of the Rossetti family along with some medical and genetic diseases as in any family.  

The title of this family biography is a play on words referring to family friend, Lewis Carroll, but also a family 'wonderland' reference as well. I will leave it to you, the reader, to discover all the wonders of this beautiful family saga for yourself. I wouldn't want to spoil anything for you. 

What I really enjoyed was how cleverly and with painstaking passion Dinah Roe included a few siblings per chapter. She did not just focus on one sibling per chapter. It can be read chronologically however the focus on the creativity, financial status, and artistic friendships of son, Dante Gabriel Rossetti seemed to be the focal point for reasons that become clear as you read.  The life of painter and poet, DGR, is here in full spotlight spectrum; all the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, love life, illness, sibling rivalry is here.  It is all fascinating to read. 

You will discover, for those interested, the sibling relationships between brothers:  William and 'Gabriel'/DGR. You will learn how even though William was artistic, he always felt in the shadow of older brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti.  So, William focused on the written word and thank goodness for us. Whether you agree with his critiques of his family is not the point. If it were not for William's painstaking documentation of family letters, drawings, etc., we would not have any reference to such talented artists like Christina Rossetti and the paintings and poetry of her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti who reflected his lovers and Pre-Raphaelte subject matter in his paintings and poems.  

When it comes to Christina Rossetti I learned that she had neuralgia as a young girl which may or may not contributed to her short temper and bursts of anger. She developed Graves Disease later in life which photographs will show the change of her facial appearance. She was very close to her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti who thought her to be the best poet of the family.  He seemed to understand her moods and helped her get published within the artistic family community before finding publication later in her life. 

William and Maria seem to share similar natures both being shy and quieter than their outspoken siblings.  I didn't get the feeling that Maria felt in Christina's shadow; they were close but the artistic focus was with brother Rossetti where as Maria was more like her mother enjoying religious fervor.  Again, Dinah Roe dedicates chapters focused on Maria Frances Rossetti which brings her to light as a woman. She is the lesser known sibling having published works of her own. She was not physically attractive and never found a man to marry.  She had crushes but no proposals came her way. She turned down financial and career help from her brothers later in life, opting to marry Christ and live out her days serving him.  

It was such fun to read chapter eight which focused on the decorating of Red House which I didn't know that Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his then wife, Lizzie Siddal, helped paint and decorate the house as well as friends Edward Burne-Jones and his wife, Georgie.  There was a wonderful mention of William Morris and how the arts and crafts movement began with Morrises' creation of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, + Co., which would become Morris and Co. in 1875, which the PRB nicknamed, 'The Firm', (page 214).

It seems that Oscar Wilde was a fan of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. He tried to become friends with him late in Rossetti's life when he was near to death and quite ill. Wilde created a comic opera entitled, Patience' or Bunthorne's Bride where a character called Bunthorne - 'pretentious fleshy poet' was supposedly modeled after Rossetti. Needless to say, Dante Gabriel Rossetti hated Wilde and his poetry.

Lastly, during the chapters covering the illness and death of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, I was happily surprised to see the author acknowledge parallels between son Rossetti's decline and his father's  death i.e. paranoia, psychosomatic blindness and deep depression (page 314, 15). 

If you are a fan of Christina Rossetti and never heard of her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti doesn't matter. I urge anyone curious about the Rossettis to please read this wonderfully fun and intriguing Victorian family history. 

The Rossetti family by Lewis Carroll, albumen print, 7 October 1863

L-R:  seated left on stairs Christina Rossetti, next to her Dante Gabriel Rossetti, seated mother, Frances Rossetti, brother William Michael Rossetti and sister Maria Frances Rossetti. Absent is father Gabriele away in Italy.

The black marks on the albumen print is rain splashing down on the camera lens as written by Lewis Carroll in his diary entry.

My review of Lewis Carroll Photography on the Move by Lindsay Smith

Though he is now known primarily as the author of the Alice books, in his lifetime Lewis Carroll was interested at least as much in photography as in writing. Though he remains one of Victorian culture’s most prominent and compelling figures, few readers have had the chance to explore the extent of his passion for photography, a new technology that was gaining popularity during his lifetime. Lewis Carroll: Photography on the Move follows the journey of Carroll’s photography in tandem with his writing. Beginning in the glass studio Carroll had built above his college rooms at Christ Church, Oxford, this book traces his fascination for photographs through his visits to London theatres, his annual trips to the seaside town of Eastbourne and his extraordinary excursion to Russia in 1867. Many of the preoccupations that make Carroll’s writing so remarkable are also present in his photography, particularly his interest in the boundless imaginations of children. Carroll was also an avid collector of photographs and, on occasion, commissioned professional photographers to set up studio sittings. 
 

This engaging and beautifully illustrated book uncovers in depth a lesser-known side of the renowned writer. It gives a valuable and cogent account of Carroll’s visual and literary career.

  

288 pages

Hardback
Publisher: Reaktion Books

9781780235196

90 illustrations, 55 in colour

Author, Lindsay Smith is Professor of English at the University of Sussex and co-director of its Centre for the Visual. Her books include Pre-Raphaelitism: Poetry and Painting (2013), The Politics of Focus: Women, Children and Nineteenth-century Photography (1998) and Victorian Photography, Painting and Poetry (1995).

 Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), [Self-portrait], 1875.
Albumen print, 7.5 x 6 inches.
Gernsheim Collection, Harry Ransom Center.
Image courtesy of Harry Ransom Center.

(This image is found on the back of the book cover)

In this age of social media and technology we can take digital photographs instantly with a touch of our fingertip on our phones no less! Think back to the nineteenth-century when cameras were made of wooden boxes balanced on stands. When taking one photographic image included deadly chemicals, glass slides, and hours to pose and photograph.  The photographer needed a dark room to develop the photographs and now our expectations are immediate and instantaneous. We control every aspect of digital photography. I wonder what our nineteenth-century photographers would think of us now?  

With the title Photography on the Move, Lindsay Smith takes an academic, psycho-social perspective when it comes to the subject of Lewis Carroll, his child sitters, and photography.  She explains how her term photography on the move is twofold. Firstly, in a literal sense of people having to write handwritten letters containing individual albumen prints, carte-de-visites within the letter and envelope itself. Just imagine if mailing letters and old fashioned correspondence was your only mode of communication?  Lewis Carroll would photograph his female child sitters, develop their photographs then mail them to the children's parents and even the girls themselves. For instance, in the introduction we meet a young girl named Dolly Draper who was photographed by Edmund Draper in 1875. She mailed Lewis Carroll a photograph of herself. He loved it so much that he not only wrote a letter in reply, he wrote another letter to her father Edward Draper  including a photograph he took.  Photographs were indeed on the move!  Secondly, photography on the move refers to different times in Carroll's life when, as  a photographer, he travelled with his camera to take photographs. The focus on the subject of photography becomes a literal geographical connection to its location and origin in terms of setting, place, and time. 

Some of my favorite chapters of, Lewis Carroll Photography on the Move deal with the life of Carroll as a photographer instead of author of children's stories. Explained in great researched detail you will gain a better understanding of the man behind the camera; from his first purchased camera on 18 March 1856 to his circle of friends i.e. Reginald Southey, Julia Margaret Cameron and how he followed the photographic method of Frederick Scott Archer in 1851.  

 

 Alice Liddell by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)

albumen carte-de-visite, 25 June 1870

Alice Liddell is discussed in this book from a chronological and photographic perspective: ‘the beggar maid’ to Alice in Wonderland.  When Lewis Carroll photographed Alice Liddell on 25 June 1870 I wonder if he knew that it would be for the last time? She was then eighteen years old looking rather angry finally immortalized as a woman. The little girl gone forever as her expression and discomfort shows on her face.   My understanding was the correspondence between Alice and Carroll after 1870 was sparse to say the least; especially,after a falling out with her parents. The details are in the book but I will leave that subject up to the reader. It is not the primary focus of the author's book nor is it mine. 

The author does something rather special. She shares mentions of the grown Alice Liddell as subject of photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron. Now, it is 1872  and a twenty year old Alice Liddell is in Freshwater Bay on the Isle of Wight posing for photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron. Her first subject was to portray goddess Alethea and in a second Cameron photograph Alice Liddell portrays goddess Pomona. When Lewis Carroll goes to the Deanery of Christ Church, Oxford, to visit Alice Liddell's father, Henry George Liddell the then current Dean it lifts the veil of mystery surrounding Lewis Carroll. This visit was on 24 April 1873 when Carroll found himself sitting in the Liddell Family drawing room with their mother, Lorina Liddell Senior and  Alice Liddell. Alice was twenty one years old and excitedly began showing him Cameron's large sized albumen prints. I can just picture the scene. The three of them squished together on the sofa, Alice handing him Cameron's prints smiling while she exchanges glances with her parents.  One thing is clear to me now, Lewis Carroll definitely not only kept up his correspondence with the Liddell Family he physically visited them and spent time with them. He shared such important aspects of Alice Liddell's life as a grown woman as well as her family. The only thing not mentioned further was Carroll's reaction or opinion upon seeing Cameron's photographs of a goddess like Alice Liddell...

                                                                                     

Alice Liddell forever captured by 

Julia Margaret Cameron as 

Althea on the left and Pomona on

the right. 

 Lewis Carroll (C.L. Dodgson). The Tennysons and the Marshalls, 1857

 

Another fascinating chapter covers photographer, Lewis Carroll on the move in the Lake District during 1857 at a house called Monk Coniston while new friends Alfred Tennyson was honeymooning with his wife, Emily Tennyson and their two sons Hallam and Lionel.I mention this because this chapter of the book directly correlates to one of my earlier articles I wrote about Tennyson's honeymoon trip, 1857 Tennyson mystery solved  

One interesting note about this Tennyson chapter is the fact that the author mentions how Lionel Tennyson, youngest son of Alfred Tennyson had a stammer. She concludes that one of the possible reasons for the falling out between Tennyson and Carroll was the fact that Carroll wrote to Tennyson mentioning how he should bring Lionel to see a doctor to help him with his sons stammer. Lewis Carroll grew up also having a bad stammer, so obviously could sympathize and I'm sure empathize with poor little Lionel's plight. Not mentioned in the book but I just wanted to explain further how The Tennyson's provided the best doctors and speech therapists for Lionel over the years as he grew up as evidenced in family letters. Lionel himself later explained how he had  a stammer well into his young adulthood.  

Lewis Carroll Photography on the Move is a wonderfully fascinating read.  I am so glad that Lindsay Smith has shared her research. I learned a lot about the man behind the camera. It was so refreshing to read about different aspects of his life and not just focus again on his nonsense writings, his Alice in Wonderland years, etc.

Lewis Carroll Photography on the Move by Lindsay Smith is published in hardcover now, Amazon UK

 Lewis Carroll Photography on the Move by Lindsay Smith is published in two weeks, Amazon US

A review of The Looking Glass House by Vanessa Tait

Author Vanessa Tait explains the inspiration behind her novel,

The Looking Glass House 

Oxford, 1862. As Mary Prickett takes up her post as governess to the daughters of the Dean of Christ Church, she is thrust into a strange new world. Mary is poor and plain and desperate for change but the little girls in her care see and understand far more than their naive new teacher. And there is another problem: Mary does not like children, especially the precocious Alice Liddell.

When Mary meets Charles Dodgson, the Christ Church mathematics tutor, at a party at the Deanery, she wonders if he may be the person to transform her life. Flattered by his attentions, Mary begins to believe that she could be more than just an overlooked, dowdy governess.

One sunny day, as Mary chaperones the Liddells on a punting trip, Mr Dodgson tells the story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. But Mary is determined to become Mr Dodgson's muse - and will turn all the lives around her topsy-turvey in pursuit of her obsession.

  

·  Hardcover: 304 pages

·  Publisher: Corvus (2 July 2015)

·  Language: English

·  ISBN-10: 1782396543

·  ISBN-13: 978-1782396543

 The Liddell Sisters sitting outside the deanery garden of Christ Church, Oxford 

 

Mary Prickett, Governess Liddell Family

This is not your contemporary Alice in Wonderland themed novel. Oh, the story has the usual and most recognizable elements of course, until you start reading. For instance, author, Vanessa Tait introduces real Liddell family governess Mary Prickett. From her perspective and ever so direct vantage point, she takes us along on a journey inside the deanery, Christ Church, Oxford where we meet sisters Ina, Edith and Alice Liddell. Oxford is the main setting where all the action takes place because the sisters are the daughters of Dean of Christ Church, Oxford Henry Liddell and his wife, Mrs. Liddell, Lorina Hanna Liddell.  (Two photographs below: Left, Henry Liddell by Julia Margaret Cameron and on the right his wife, Mrs. Liddell)

What I enjoyed most about, The Looking Glass House is how involved Mrs. Liddell was with her daughters. She was at times overbearing in nature but Vanessa Tait brings her to life interestingly enough with the same 'pricklyness' of character as governess Mary Prickett. You get  a good sense of the father of the house, Henry Liddell who for the most part is mentioned in name and title only. He serves as a spectre almost coming and going to serve the purpose of setting, place and time. 

This novel is a story based upon real people, places and events. Yet, there is no clearly structred chronological timeline to the narration. Even though a year 1862 is mentioned in the opening, you will not find any other years specifically mentioned; not as chapter headings and not even throughout them.  I am so accustomed to having these types of novels including a date and a year next to each chapter heading that it is refereshing not to have them. It makes the reader's mind wander and wonder when certain events start to happen to the main focus Alice Liddell. This does not mean that you have to be familiar with Alice Liddell's real life but if you do just take note that nothing is clear cut for the reader. Just use your imagination and enjoy reading the story. 

Another aspect of the novel that I truly loved reading about was the subject of photography. As the novel progresses, Mr. and Mrs. Liddell come to meet 'Dodgson' a young man with a stammer when he speaks  and a lilt to his walk. He catches the eye of governess Mary Prickett who seems to be a bit keen on him but dare not admit it. She is not the most attractive of women, plain and still a spinster!  She has her prospects though but I shall leave it to the reader to see what happens to good old 'Pricks' as the girls call her.  

At the climax of the novel, Vanessa Tait addresses the 'questionable' aspect of Alice Liddell's life related to her 'friendship' with Charles Dodgson/Lewis Carroll. She does this cleverly and through Mrs. Liddell we see some tough love family mother-daughter moments. My heart broke along with Alice but I believe Mrs. Liddell did what a mother does to keep her family in tact.  I really hope everyone who loved Lewis Carroll's books and photographs reads, 'The Looking Glass House' and finds it captivating and moving. 

 

“Open your mouth and shut your eyes” by C.L. Dodgson/ Lewis Carroll, July 1860.

'Edith, you sit on the table. You, Ina, stand with your back to her, facing Alice. Good!' 

Mr. Dodgson handed Edith the bag of cherries to hold and gave one to Ina to dangle above Alice's mouth. Alice was to open her mouth as if in the process of receiving it. Then he disappeared into the darkroom that he had set up in the Deanery's broom cupboard, and reappeared carrying a glass plate, which he pushed into the back of the camera. It did seem magical, thought Mary, to be able to crystallize the exact image of a thing on to a photographic plate, as if spirits had got in.  

The camera was in front of Mary on it s three spindly legs, its great eye staring at the cathedral.  Mr. Dodgson stooped and pulled the hood over his shoulders, then reached round and pulled off the cap.  Mr. Dodgson fidgeted and stepped from foot to foot, each movement sending a minute ripple down his trouser legs.  How many seconds did it take to make a photograph? Time beat in a slow pulse at her temples." 

 "It seemed it was usual to follow Mr. Dodgson into the broom cupboard to see the photograph being brought to life, but when she went in,Mary found the place unrecognizable. It still smelt of dust, but in front of that now there was a tang of something else, a sharper smell. The brooms had been cleared away and glass funnels and trays stacked in their place. The skylight had been covered with a black square of material and a subterranean gloom hung over the room, in which Mr. Dodgson moved with an urgency and fluidity mary had not noticed before. He reached up and poured a strong-smelling liquid into one basin and quickly thrust the glass plate into it. 

They all stared down into the basin. Slowly something began to emerge, a light patch in the middle of the plate. 

'Oh look, here come my teeth!' said Alice. 'That is not your teeth, Alice, that is your hair. Your teeth and dress will be black, and your lips and hair white. It is all reversed - negative into positive, positive into negative.' 'Is that why the plate is called a glass negative? asked Ina.  'Exactly so, yes. When I make a print from it, it is all turned round back to normal.'

'We have something here, I think,' said Mr. Dodgson. 'This will make a fine photograph. Excellent even. A story, entire and complete.' He leant down and kissed Alice on the top of her head, then Ina, then Edith. 'For once to have achieved what I set out to do in the morning is most satisfying.' 

Thank you for my review copy, Corvus Books UK/Atlantic Books UK

The Looking Glass House by Vanessa Tait is now published in the UK. To purchase, Amazon UK

The US publishing date is April 1, 2016.

An 1857 Alfred Tennyson mystery solved!

Since my visit to The Morgan Library Museum last February 2014 to conduct some research on Alfred Tennyson and his family; I read through the Tennyson archives held there when one letter Tennyson wrote stood out to me. Since that day, I have been curious about who this photographer was that Tennyson refers to not by name...Thus, the mystery. Alright, its not Agatha Christie, but for me it might as well have been... TENNYSON'S LETTER READS AS FOLLOWS TAKEN FROM THE ACTUAL LETTER I HELD IN MY HANDS AT THE MORGAN MUSEUM THAT DAY. I TRANSCRIBED THE FOLLOWING:

Farringford
I.W.
Ap. 25th/57

Dear Sir,
I have this morning received the photographs of my two boys. The oldest is very well likened:  the other, perhaps, not so well.
My best thanks. I wish you had come up here when you were at Freshwater as it is.
I look forward to the pleasure of  making your acquaintance at some future time.
                                                                                                                              Yours very truly,
                                                                                                                               A. Tennyson

Immediately, I read this and thought, 'what photographer' is Tennyson referring to? It wasn't Mrs. Cameron, obviously, Oscar Rejlander took The Tennyson Family photos during the 1860s on the grounds of Farringford House. It wasn't John Mayall. Possibly Lewis Carroll who photographed Tennyson's boys, Hallam and Lionel in 1857. I'll get to that later. I knew it wasn't Carroll because Tennyson mentions not meeting the photographer and Tennyson and Carroll met before and after 1857!  So, 1857 photographs of the boys taken by someone Tennyson did not meet yet...this leaves one man named Reginald Southey who in 1857 took the two following very important photographs of two sets of boys who were sons of two of the most prominent nineteenth century figures and very good friends:

 Is this not the sweetest photograph of Alfred Tennyson's sons:  LEFT: oldest boy, Hallam Tennyson looking directly into the camera 'capturing his likeness' as his father says and the younger profile of Lionel Tennyson staring at something..., Hallam was five years old in 1857 and his brother would have been three years old in 1857.  Hallam Tennyson (1852-1928) and Lionel Tennyson (1854-86) as children by Reginald Southey, Freshwater, Isle of Wight. Albumen print, 84 x 137mm (3 3/48 x 5 3/8").  1857, Princeton Library.

Two sons of nineteenth century photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron: Charles Cameron (1848-?) and Harry (Henry) Cameron (1852-1911) as children by Reginald Southey. Freshwater, Isle of Wight. Albumen print, 84 x 137mm (3 3/8 x 5 3/8"). 1857.  Princeton Library. Charles would have been nine years old and his brother Harry only five years old!  Reginald Southey used the same set, the same back pillow. Perhaps even the same clothes? 

Now for the background and you can draw your own conclusions...

In Emily Tennyson’s journal entry from 24 April 1857, ‘Mr. Reginald Southey’s photograph of the boys arrives. One can trace some likeness to Hallam in that of Hallam little ruffian tho’ he be. Lionel comes out still less distinctly but one is grateful.’ Tennyson himself wrote to Southey to thank him for the prints, suggesting that he might like to visit Farringford if he were to return to Freshwater.

Southey’s photographs of the Tennyson boys and of the Camerons’ sons Charles and Henry, were apparently posed in the house where the Camerons were staying while on the Isle of Wight to attend the wedding of Horatio Tennyson. Although very small and lacking the scale and impact of Julia Margaret’s own photographs, Southey’s portraits are close-ups, with background and extraneous detail carefully omitted. 

Hallam and Lionel Tennyson with Julia Marshall (28 September 1857) Taken by Charles Dodgson a.k.a. Lewis Carroll.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, son Hallam, James G. Marshall, his wife Mary nee Spring Rice, and their daughter Julia Marshall, taken on 28 September 1857 at Monk Coniston Park, Ambleside, Marshalls home in the Lake District. An intricately posed portrait.

 More of the Lewis Carroll connection...

A rare original photograph by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) of Alfred Lord Tennyson with his son Hallam, seated together with James and Mary Marshall and their daughter Julia. (Could this Julia Marshall be the same Julia Marshall photographed above with Tennyson's boys?) Mary Marshall was the sister of one of Tennyson’s Cambridge friends, and the family owned Monk Coniston, which later became the home of Beatrix Potter. It was there that Tennyson and his wife Emily spent part of their delayed honeymoon in 1851. The Marshalls were “part of a huge family network of enormously wealthy linen manufacturers” and “loved having literary and artistic guests” (R. B. Martin. Tennyson: The Unquiet Heart, 1980, pp. 338-339). At the time he made this photograph, Charles Dodgson was still an unknown mathematics lecturer. He was also a pioneering photographer in the early days of the medium’s existence. Dodgson “had an eye for the beauty around him and a good sense of composition, qualities amply evident in his photographs”. Historian Helmut Gernsheim called his photographic achievements “truly astonishing” and proclaimed him “the most outstanding photographer of children in the nineteenth century” (ODNB). Dodgson was a good friend of the Marshalls, and this photograph was taken during a visit to Monk Coniston in September 1857. Dodgson knew of Tennyson’s stay at the adjoining Tent Lodge, and on paying a social call was “most kindly received [by Mrs. Tennyson] and spent nearly an hour there. I also saw the two children, Hallam and Lionel, 5 and 3 years old, the most beautiful boys of their age I ever saw. I got leave to take portraits of them… she even seemed to think it was not hopeless that Tennyson himself might sit, though I said I would not request it, as he must have refused so many that it is unfair to expect it” (Gernsheim, Lewis Carroll Photographer, p. 42). On 22 September he recorded in his diary that he met Tennyson himself: “Brought my books of photographs to be looked at. Mr. and Mrs. Tennyson admired some of them so much that I have strong hopes of ultimately getting a sitting from the poet, though I have not yet ventured to ask for it. He threw out several hints of his wish to learn photography, but seemed to be deterred by a dread of the amount of patience required” (Gernsheim p. 42). Dodgson’s own patience was rewarded on the 28th and 29th, when he made portraits of all the Tennyson family members, writing of the 29th that “Went over to the Marshall’s about 11 and spent the day till 4 in photography. I got a beautiful portrait of Hallam, sitting, and a group in the drawing-room of Mr. Tennyson and Hallam, Mr. and Mrs. Marshall and Julia” (Gernsheim p. 42). 

Monk Coniston survives today and here are some photographs of the honeymoon spot of Lord and Lady Tennyson - just for fun!

 Tent Lodge in Cumbria, The Lake District is where The Tennyson's honeymooned in September 1850 and it still stands today; even open to the public!!

“From a letter of Carlyle to his wife, dated September 1850, we get a glimpse of the newly-wedded couple on a visit at Tent Lodge, Coniston.  “Alfred looks really improved, I should say; cheerful in what he talks, and looking forward to a future less detached than the past has been. A good soul, find him where and how situated you may. Mrs. Tennyson lights up bright glittering blue eyes when you speak to her; has wit, has sense; and were it not that she seems so very delicate in health, I should augur really well of Tennyson’s adventure.” (The Homes and Haunts of Alfred Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate by George G. Napier, published in 1892, pg. 156.)

 Monk Coniston Estate, Cumbria, Lake District, England. Monk Coniston Rooms