the 'Cut Pages in Diary' document

Despite its small size, the 'cut pages in diary document' is potentially one of the more significant recent discoveries in Carroll's biography, and yet before being published by Karoline Leach in 1996, it had lain for many years, unnoticed by scholars, although catalogued in the Dodgson family archive. What it actually is is a summary - written by one of Carroll's nieces - of a page in his diary that was subsequently cut out, and it's important because it provides the first ever account of what happened on June 27 1863 to bring Dodgson's friendship with the Liddell family to a temporary close. Prior to this find speculation had long been rife about what had happened, and it was generally assumed Carroll's presumed infatuation with Alice Liddell, had caused him to commit some indiscretion.

The 'cut pages in diary document' showed this was not true. Far from yearning for 11 year-old Alice, Carroll's diary for that day recorded that Mrs Liddell talked to him about the gossip that was circulating about him and the children's governess (Mary Prickett) and - more significantly - about 'Ina' (the pet name of Alice's older sister, Lorina). It was this conversation with Mrs Liddell that caused him to 'hold aloof' from the family for some time, presumably until the gossip died down.