Alice's Adventures Under Ground: A Facsimile

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Lenny's description:
Hardcover facsimile edition of the original version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which Carroll wrote and illustrated himself as a Christmas gift for Alice Liddell.

Seller's description:
Generations of readers have loved and embraced Lewis Carroll’s tale of the little girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatures and absurd croquet matches, but how many can recount the history behind this famous story? It all began one golden July afternoon in Oxford in 1862, when the three Liddell siblings—Lorina, Edith, and young Alice—set out on a boating trip with two close friends of the family, Robinson Duckworth and Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. To keep the children amused, Dodgson spun a tale about an inquisitive young girl and her escapades in a magical underground world, eventually writing it down at his heroine Alice Liddell’s request. The little book he produced, entitled Alice’s Adventures under Ground, was beautifully bound in morocco leather, illustrated with 37 charming pictures, and given to Alice as an early Christmas present in November of 1864. Friends and fellow novelists who saw the volume urged Dodgson to publish the book formally, and literary history was made in 1865 when the first of countless best-selling editions rolled off the press. In this superb facsimile edition of Dodgson’s original manuscript, modern readers can at last enjoy the expressive script and vibrant illustrations of the original, one of the British Library’s most prized possessions. Perfect for the literary collector, the lover of Alice, or the child at heart, this remarkable volume includes fascinating biographical commentary on Dodgson as well as a recounting of all the stages through which the manuscript passed. This journey produced a new tale itself, as the manuscript was revised, expanded, and illustrated by Punch cartoonist John Tenniel en route to final publication as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, under Dodgson’s celebrated pen name of Lewis Carroll.

Features:

ISBN13: 9780712350426
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Product details:

Item number (ASIN): 071235042X
Author: Lewis Carroll
Dewey Decimal Number: 820
ISBN: 071235042X
Manufacturer: British Library
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 92
Package Dimensions: 71 x 512 x 756 (hundredths-inches)
Publication Date: February 15, 2009
Publisher: British Library
Binding: Hardcover

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Amazon.com customer reviews:

Average Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Gorgeous -- a fantastic addition to any Carroll lover's bookshelf
This facsimile of Lewis Carroll's original handwritten Alice in Wonderland is beautifully done. The printing is high quality on glossy paper, making it easy to read the handwriting and enjoy the illustrations. The colors used in the original manuscript appear to be preserved throughout. Even the cover is more attractive than I expected; the book is cloth-bound, which didn't show up well in the photos. Facsimiles made with such care are hard to come by, especially at this price. As the last reviewer pointed out, this manuscript does differ a bit from the version that was eventually published, but for most people interested in facsimiles, that's not a negative factor. Buy this along with a copy of the original published version and make your bookshelf happy.

Rating:

- The Original
Before it was published for all the world to read as "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", the original adventure story had been written up and given to Alice Liddell as "Alice's Adventures under Ground". Lewis Carroll (a.k.a Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) had promised to write it for her after telling the story on the "golden afternoon" on July 4th, 1862 and which Dodgson wrote down and gave to Alice on September 13th, 1864. The original story was shorter than "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", and is missing such key characters as the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Cheshire Cat. And yet despite these missing pieces, there is still a wondrous adventure within these pages. The first couple of chapters are very similar to the published version, though there are differences. Alice still follows the rabbit into its burrow, and still falls into the depths of the Earth. The mysterious table with the key on it, the food and drink with the instructions to eat and drink, and the tiny door which leads into the garden that Alice desperately wants to get through are all still part of the story. The short four-chapter book also still takes us to the croquet match, the mock-turtle and finishes with the trial, though in abbreviated form. The foundations are there for the published version, but this shorter version is clearly not up to the level of what was to come. Nevertheless, it makes for an interesting look at the development of the stories which have become world famous and still delight readers of all ages. This version only merits three stars on its own, so I would suggest finding a volume which includes it with the others which allows the reader to look at the story to see how the adventures developed, but still provides the final products with all their fabulous stories intact.