It was soon after the Liddell family moved to Oxford from Westminster that Charles Dodgeson first saw Alice. He went to the Deanery to help his friend Reginald Southey take a photograph of Christ Church Cathedral, and Alice was playing in the garden with her sisters. The children, particularly Alice, became Dodgeson's favourite photographic subjects and many photographs exist that were taken at that time. Some of these photographs are included in these pages. Although Alice was obviously Dodgeson's favourite, her sisters, Lorina and Edith, were included in the storytelling and on the boat trips when they would all plead for more of the story. Edith died in 1876 aged 22, just before she was to be married. This had a profound effect on Alice and although it was rumoured that Prince Leopold, Queen Victoria's son and possibly Dodgson himself, wished to marry her, it was said that because of the shock of Edith's death, Alice waited until 1880 before marrying Reginald Hargreaves. After Alice grew up there was little contact between her and Dodgson. An apparent coolness developed between Dodgeson and the Dean and Mrs Liddell, who perhaps disapproved of his possible interest in marrying Alice. She was just seventeen when he photographed her for the last time. As Alice grew older and the Alice books became more popular she became an object of curiosity... the real Alice. Usually this embarrassed her. Alice always kept the manuscript of her adventures in Wonderland until her husband died in 1928. Money was needed to pay death duties. The family considered the items they could sell to pay the required amount and finally decided on the Alice manuscript, the most valuable item they possessed. Sotherby's suggested a reserve price of £4,000. It fetched £15.400, an enormous amount in those days and went to America. During the auction Alice was in the limelight again and the press photographed her with headlines about the 'real Alice'... a poor, widowed lady who had to let her country house to make ends meet. Alice, as a little beggar girl. Photographed in the late 1850s by Dodgeson, Alice, Photographed by Dodgeson In 1932, when she was eighty, Alice undertook one last engagement on behalf of Wonderland. She was invited to New York on the centenary of Dodgeson's birth to attend the celabrations and to receive an Honorary Degree from Columbia University. There were press receptions, police escorts through New York and a suite at the Waldorf Astoria. Alice aged 80, on her visit to New York. After the visit to New York there were many letters, requests for autographs and requests for  personal appearances, but by this time Alice was becoming exausted by the demands. She wrote to her son "But, oh my dear, I am tired of being Alice in Wonderland. Do I sound ungrateful? It is-only I do get tired". Alice Liddell died not long after at the age of 82, in 1934, at Westerham in Kent. Alice, photographed by Dodgeson Alice wasn't the litle girl with long, fair hair as Tenniel depicted her. She had dark hair as shown in the photograph that Charles Dodgeson cut into an oval and attached to the last page of his handwritten manuscript. Some time later it was discovered that this photograph was pasted over a drawing of Alice by the author. Click on the picture on the right to see the original drawing of Alice by Carroll. Above:  Alice Liddell, photographed by Julia Margret Cameron in 1872 Alice is around 20 years of age in this photograph. Right: Some of Alice Liddell's momentos including gifts from Dodgson. There is a more detailed version of Alice Liddell´s story if you follow this text link. Alice, aged 80 in New York.