[Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge] "Lewis Carroll".

This unpublished and unrecorded acrostic poem is written for Jessie Josephine Scrivener (also sometimes using the name of Sinclair).

Prithee tell me, children sweet:
Harry, Kate, and "La Petite".
In your eyes
New meaning lies -
Earnest love is best, I weet.

Joseph Henry Scrivener (1829-1879), also known by his stage name Henry Sinclair, and Maria Scrivener (née Moger) (d.1879) had four children: Jessie Josephine (1865-1952), Sarah "Sally" Caroline, Harry (1872-1940) and Kate Jemima (b.1869). All four children are noted in this acrostic (including Jessie Josephine as "elder sister" and Sally Caroline as "La Petite"). Jesse Josephine was crippled as a child, however Sally Sinclair was a child actress that Dodgson saw on stage. The children were orphaned in childhood and looked after by Mrs Sophia Neate with some financial support from the actor Lionel Brough and Dodgson.

Sotheby's is grateful to Edward Wakeling for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.