Math and Photography

Doublets, A Word-Puzzle.

By Charles Dodgson.

London: Macmillan and Co., 1880.

Second edition. The object of Doublets, a game invented by Lewis Carroll, is to transform one word into another in as few steps as possible, changing only one letter at a time. The first “puzzle” in the book is “Drive Pig into Sty.”

Carroll says in the Preface that he invented the game on Christmas Day 1877 for two bored young ladies, who had begged him to send them some riddles. Having none at hand, he instead invented this game, which he originally called “Word-Links.”

Exhibit item 6.1