Dinner invite shows what Lewis Carroll had for tea

Lewis Carroll is known for his literary work, including Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Staff at Lincoln Cathedral have discovered a dinner party invitation sent by author Lewis Carroll in 1875, with guests including some of those who inspired his work.

The cathedral's curator Fern Dawson said the invite had been sent by Carroll to a former precentor of Lincoln - Henry Ramsden Bramley - who is known for his Victorian revival of Christmas carols.

Other guests included Carroll's former tutor, Prof Bartholomew Price, who was nicknamed the bat as his lectures went "above the audience's heads", as well as Rev John Slatter, who played chess with Carroll.

Ms Dawson described the find as a "hidden gem".

She said the invite was accompanied by a seating plan, which, down the centre, read the 'cloud-capped towers' - a reference to William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.

The dinner invite was discovered by staff at Lincoln Cathedral

There was also a menu, which included soup, black curry, lamb cutlets, apple souffle and apricot cream.

"You really get a sense of what might have been happening, and what the conversations might have been," Ms Dawson said.

"The mad hatters tea party really is recreated here."

Ms Dawson described it as "a hidden gem"

To mark the find, Ms Dawson said excerpts from the document had been stitched into the costumes for an upcoming production of Alice in Wonderland at Lincoln Arts Centre, which is taking place on 11, 12 and 13 December.

"If you look very closely at the Mad Hatter, you will find in her lapel a little handkerchief with actual prints on," she said.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was written by Oxford University scholar and teacher Charles Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, and was first published in June 1865.

In 1871, Carroll published a sequel called Through the Looking Glass, which introduced the Jabberwocky and Tweedles Dum and Dee.

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