1 March 2022 Cheryl

1 March 1856: Lewis Carroll first appeared

Lewis Carroll c.1856, aged 24

The Train was a short-lived monthly publication. The variety of material it included – riddles, trivia, poetry, travel facts, and light content made The Train an ideal magazine for recreational reading. Each issue cost one shilling, and contributors, including the young Charles Dodgson, were unpaid. Sales were favorable when it commenced in 1856, however, as some of the original writers and artists dropped out, the publication’s revenue and overall quality dropped until it ceased altogether in 1858. [1]

On 1 March 1856 mathematics scholar Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (whose last name is pronounced with a silent ‘g’) used the pseudonym Lewis Carroll for the first time.

Dodgson had submitted a poem named Solitude for publication in a short-lived journal edited by Edmund Yates named The Train (1856–58). Until this time, Dodgson had been using “B.B.” to sign his creative work, but Yates thought that it wasn’t appropriate and encouraged Dodgson to come up with something else.

Dodgson translated his first and middle names “Charles Lutwidge,” into Latin as “Carolus Ludovicus.” He reversed the order of the two names, then anglicised them to create “Lewis Carroll.” He liked the sound of that name and felt that it had a whimsical quality well-suited to the playful tone of his writing. The use of pseudonyms was a common practice among Victorian writers, and it allowed Dodgson to keep his work as a writer separate from his professional life as a mathematician and logician.

Although he was open about his pen name amongst his friends, Dodgson refused to acknowledge it publicly, even as Carroll’s popularity grew. He publicly denied any connection with the Alice books and carried around a printed leaflet to hand to people who approached him about this. Dodgson did make some exceptions though, especially if he thought the name Lewis Carroll would facilitate his reception when meeting new people, but he seldom signed his books, and never gave away his portrait.

Lewis Carroll’s work, including the beloved children’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, continues to be enjoyed by readers of all ages today.