ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, AN 1865 PRINTING RE-DESCRIBED AND NEWLY IDENTIFIED AS THE PUBLISHER'S FILE COPY WITH A REVISED AND EXPANDED CENSUS OF THE SUPPRESSED 1865 ALICE TO WHICH IS ADDED, A SHORT-TITLE INDEX IDENTIFYING AND LOCATING THE ORIGINAL PRELIMINARY DRAWINGS BY JOHN TENNIEL FOR ALICE AND LOOKING-GLASS

New York: Battledore Ltd, 1990. hardcover. Carroll, Lewis. 6 x 9 inches. hardcover. 111 pages. Collectors and those interested in children's books will find this work fascinating as it unearths information about the first actual printing of Alice in Wonderland. Encouraged by his friends, Reverend Charles Dodgson, otherwise known as Lewis Carroll, first had Alice published by Macmillan & Co. and printed by the Clarendon Press in June 1865, arranging to have a specially bound copy delivered to Alice Liddell, the famous Alice for whom the story was spun, the next month on July 4. However, not several weeks after that, John Tenniel, the illustrator, wrote to Dodgson complaining of his dissatisfaction with the printing of his illustrations. Macmillan examined one of the unbound copies of the book and agreed to fully reprint the book using a more commercial printer from London, Richard Clay. The condemned printing was then sold to David Appleton & Co., an overseas publishing house who wanted to distribute copies of the book in America. Only 1,952 copies were sold to them of the original 2,000 copy print run. The title-pages were redone with a New York imprint dated 1866, the sheets were machine-folded and put into cloth bindings with Appleton's name on the lower spine and the new title-page substituted on a stub for the earlier one. Meanwile, Macmillan completed its new edition in November 1865, but post-dated this printing 1866 in time for the holidays. As of this writing, twenty-two copies of the original 1865 Alice are located and known to have survived with their original title-pages plus one copy presented to Christ Church Library, currently lost, by the author. This work resolves the whereabouts of Macmillan's file copy and hopefully provides a framework for future research. An excellent book which contains a wealth of information about the publication of Alice in Wonderland. Well-illustrated throughout. (Inventory #: 49189)