British author, mathematician, and photographer (1832–1898) who, under the pen name Lewis Carroll, published Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, two of the most popular and enduring classics in the canon of children’s literature. ALS signed “C. L. Dodgson,” eight pages on two sets of adjoining sheets, 4.5 x 7, February 15, 1892. Letter to Mr. Bowles, one-time editor of Vanity Fair and The Lady, who became a Conservative M.P. in 1892. In part: Now, affirming you to be an M. P., I wish to submit to your consideration a few remarks about Eastbourne, at which I have, for 8 years or more, resided during the Long Vacation. All last Summer, every Sunday, the place (Eastbourne) was made into a bear-garden, by the determined efforts of the Salvationists to defy the existing law, by playing musical instruments in their processions, and the equally determined efforts of the mob (who, for a wonder where on the side of the law, and in sympathy with the police) to prevent them. These (un)musical processions have been forbidden by the Eastbourne authorities, acting under an Act of Parliament which authorises them, at Eastbourne and a few other favoured places, to forbid them. So far as I understand the matter, the facts are as follows:
1) The authorities ('Town Council' I think it is) have Law on their side. This is not disputed by those who side with the Salvationists: they only plead that the Act in question was passed 'hastily, without due consideration' and they assume it as a constitutional principle that those who think a Law to be unwise, and one that ought to be repealed, are justified not only in trying to get it repealed (which they are now doing, and have an undoubted right to do) but also in persistently breaking it, before they have succeeded in getting it repealed.
2) The authorities also have on their side nearly all the respectable inhabitants of Eastbourne. And surely their claim is a righteous and a very strong one, to be allowed to spend their Sundays in peace and quiet, without being deafened (sometimes before they are up in the morning) by the blare of trumpets and the banging of drums.
3) These musical processions are not only a great nuisance themselves, but are the means of bringing together a mob of all the worst and noisiest…and of producing, or at any rate provoking, and awful amount of profane fun, enough to destroy any small remnant of reverence for holy names and things, which our lower orders may still posess.
4)These law-breakers have the impudence to demand to be protected by the Law, even when in the very act of defiantly breaking the Law! And what is more, they get the protection: and the poor police are worn out, every Sunday, with the labour of preventing the two sets of law-breakers (for of course the mob, who hustle them and smash their trumpets, are also breaking the law) from meeting each other. To me this demand seems about as reasonable as if a man, who was brutally flogging a lame horse, should demand the protection of the Police, to prevent the mob from thrashing him with his own whip!
5) And they have also the impudence to pose as Christian martyrs, and to talk as if brass-bands were an essential element of Christianity! (One of their supporters, writing in an Eastbourne paper, alluded to the householders, who object to these brass-bands as 'the people who object to Christianity!). I hope that you will take this matter into consideration and will see your way, when the proposal to repeal the Local Act, comes before the House to say a word in defence of the Act. Even if it were desirable (which I do not believe) that the Act should some day be repealed, to do it just now would most certainly be interpreted as a concession to defiant law-breakers, and the moral, which the British lower orders would draw from it would be 'if you want a law repealed, break it!”
Dodgson concludes by noting that his correspondent's wife "seems to think, from my declining to figure in her 'Pig-Book' that I have an unaccountable objection to drawing pigs! But it is not so: I should be most happy to draw any number for her: it was the appearing in the autograph collection that I objected to! A 'Pig-Book' (I had never heard of such a thing before) is neither more nor less than an 'Autograph Album' in disguise. And autograph albums are things I cordially detest, and always refuse to have anything to do with them. I find my 'Syzygies' in the 'Lady' a pleasant occupation for leisure hours. I only hope your readers like solving them as much as I like setting them!” Scattered edge toning, a bit heavier to first page, and a pencil notation to top of first page, otherwise fine condition.
Spending his summer vacations on the southern coast of England in the large town of Eastbourne, Dodgson found his calm life severely interrupted by the growing number of Salvationists. Fairly conservative in his religious practices, he responds to their unholy celebrations, “provoking an awful amount of profane fun, enough to destroy any small remnant of reverence for holy names and things, which our lower orders may still possess” and expresses outrage at their loud version of Christianity, “…they have also the impudence to pose as Christian martyrs, and to talk as if brass-bands were an essential element of Christianity!” A wonderfully curmudgeonly letter from the whimsical author in his later days. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
This item is Pre-Certified by PSA/DNA
Buy a third-party letter of authenticity for
$75.00
*This item has been pre-certified by a trusted third-party authentication service, and by placing a bid on this item, you agree to accept the opinion of this authentication service. If you wish to have an opinion rendered by a different authenticator of your choosing, you must do so prior to your placing of any bid. RR Auction is not responsible for differing opinions submitted 30 days after the date of the sale.
