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History of Science Museum

Photograph (Albumen Print) of Annie Rogers and Mary Jackson as Queen Eleanor and Fair Rosamund, by C. L. Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), July 3, 1863

Inventory Number 30302


Acknowledgement: © History of Science Museum, University of Oxford, inv.30302

Item type
Object
Provenance
Presented by Dr Bertram Rogers in December 1937. Mentioned in the Museum's annual report for 1939, but not recorded at the time of acquisition. Donor was nephew of one of the subjects, Annie Rogers, who died on October 28, 1937.
Primary inscriptions
Inscribed on back of mount: 'June 1862' [sic].
Other inscriptions
Inscribed on brown-paper folder: 'Photograph taken by Charles Dodgson 1862. Presented by Dr. Bertram Rogers 1938 to the Hist. Science Museum.' [in R. T. Gunther's hand]. Typescript note by the donor pasted inside the folder facing the photograph; for text see narratives.
Physical material
Paper
Card
Dimensions
Height: 206mm Width: 152mm
Inventory No
30302

Description

Albumen print (from a wet collodion glass negative) mounted on card and enclosed in a brown paper folder together with a typescript note from the donor. Two girls, Annie Rogers (right) and Mary Jackson, posing and dressed as Queen Eleanor and Fair Rosamund, an elaborately carved chair between them. Queen Eleanor wears a crown and carries a curved dagger in her left hand and a large mug in her right, rested on the chair arm (she is offering her rival the choice of the dagger or poison). Fair Rosamund wears a head-band with stars, and is presumably kneeling, her hands clasped resting on the chair seat. Arched top. Vertical format. Approximately 8 by 6 inches, on a 10 by 8 inch mount. Sepia and yellowy colour.

Dodgson image no. 974, taken on July 3, 1863, probably in Badcock's Yard, St Aldates, Oxford [information courtesy of Edward Wakeling]. The age given for Annie Rogers in the typed note is correct for June/early July 1863, confirming that date in spite of the several conflicting inscriptions.

For fuller descriptive and historical commentary see narratives.