Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832–1898), the son of an Anglican minister. Like his father, Carroll went to Oxford and was ordained as an Anglican priest. He remained at Christ Church, Oxford, as a mathematics tutor, and he also became a skilled photographer. He is best known today, however, as an author of children's books. His popularity as a children's writer is based on his inventive tales Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1871).

The first book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, grew out of tales that Carroll told to a group of children on a boat trip up the Thames River. Alice Liddell, the young daughter of the dean of Carroll's school, pleaded with Carroll to write a story featuring her as the heroine. She wanted him to call these tales "Alice's adventures." He soon created a hand-printed storybook called Alice's Adventures Underground. Carroll became convinced the story was publishable, and Alice's Adventures soon became one of the most popular works of children's literature in the world. After its publication, Carroll wrote several more books for children as well as some books on mathematics.