Morton Cohen, a scholar of Victorian literature who spent much of his career editing the letters and writing the definitive biography of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, the author, as Lewis Carroll, of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass,” died on June 12 in Manhattan. He was 96.

His death was confirmed by Lewis Falb, a friend and co-executor of his will.

Mr. Cohen’s fascination with Carroll began when he was a child in Montreal and his older sister Ilene brought home an elegantly bound copy of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” on one of her regular Friday night visits.

“And you ought to read it by yourself,” she told him, according to an article he wrote for The New York Times in 1990.

“But it’s about a girl,” he said.

“Yes, it is,” Ilene Cohen responded. “But it’s very interesting, and it’s got pictures.” ...