A fifth of a loaf is better than none, right?

This is Graham Ovenden's collection of photographs by Lewis Carroll of Henry George Liddell's family. Or, rather, three of his family. That's about a fifth....

There are sixteen photos in all. Set aside the one photo of Charles Dodgson (Carroll), and they are all photos of the daughters of Dean Liddell. That leaves fifteen photos of one or another Liddell. There are ten which feature Alice Liddell (five of Alice alone, five group shots); eight of Alice's older sister Lorina (three of Lorina alone, five group shots); six of their little sister Edith (two of Edith along, four group shots) -- and one shot of Harry Liddell, the older brother, with his three sisters. That's it. None of the other siblings (sisters Rhoda and Violet and a slew of brothers). None of Dean Liddell himself, and none of his wife Lorina (for whom Alice's sister Lorina was named). Nor photos of the spouses of the various children, nor the children's children, nor of their friends, homes, or any other part of their lives. Nor do we see, for instance, Julia Margaret Cameron's photographs of Alice (even though Ovenden had access to at least some of them, since he published them in a book containing one of Cameron's photo collections). We don't even see Dodgson's photos of Alice and Lorina from after the 1860s.

Many of these photos are common (you'd have to try very hard not to have see Dodgson's photo of Alice as "The Beggar Maid"). Some are rarely printed but accessible. There is only one -- of Alice and Lorina -- that I had never seen before. To assure that they are presented in the best possible way, they're printed on good high-quality paper, so the prints will look a lot better than what you'll find in a lot of books about Dodgson. So it would not be unfair to call this the "Best of Dodgson's Photos of the Liddell Girls." If what you want is just the three girls, as pre-teens, it's fine. Although be aware that the photos are without context -- they aren't even given their proper titles.

If you want a real Liddell Family Album, though, this isn't it. Too many family members are left out. You'll get much more in the biographies of Dodgson or of Alice, or even in some of the sale catalogs of Alice/Dodgson memorabilia. (The 2001 Sotheby's catalog is probably the best, since it actually has photos of Alice after the age of twenty!) If I sound irked, it's because I am. This is a perfectly good, if thin, little book. But a Liddell Family Album it is not. ( )