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Alice’s Day 2026

Oxford’s annual Alice’s Day festival will be held on Saturday 4 July.

The theme for 2026 is ‘Snarks, Rhymes & Riddles’.

During this day, all kinds of family-friendly events will take place, including storytelling, talks, games, crafts, trails, and tours, like a Magic Lantern talk, an opportunity to learn how to play croquet, the viewing of the 2023 film “The Hunting of the Snark”, and a shadow puppetry theatre that brings the poem Jabberwocky to life. The Story Museum offers half price entry to their immersive galleries, face painting and storytelling. The Museum of Oxford allows you to handle Alice related objects.

As usual, there will also be free talks from the Lewis Carroll Society: “Lewis Carroll’s ‘Useful and Instructive’ limericks” by Mark Davies, “Say ‘How D’Ye Do?’ and Shake Hands” by Matt Crandall, and “Lewis Carroll, Darwin, and The Hunting of the Snark” by Stephen Thetford. At the end of the day there will be an informal social gathering for society members, that is also open to anyone else who is interested in mingling with fellow Alice in Wonderland / Lewis Carroll fans!

The fun does not stop there, because the next day you’ll have the opportunity to do a leisurely walk around Christ Church Meadow with local historian, author and Lewis Carroll trustee Mark Davies, who will highlight in particular the role of the River Thames in the creation of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and ‘Through the Looking-Glass’. And there is a family event at the ‘treacle well’ that is mentioned in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

The full programme for the day can be found on the website of the Story Museum.

 

Lewis Carroll’s copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland now digitally viewable

Lewis Carroll’s own copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, that was recently donated to Christ Church, has now been digitised by the Bodleian Library.

It concerns Lewis Carroll’s personal copy of the 1865 suppressed first edition, which is not only very rare because it is one of the few surviving original editions – it also contains ten of Tenniel’s original pencil sketches, which are bound into the volume. The book also includes Carroll’s handwritten notes for what would later become the ‘Nursery Alice’ edition.

This so called ‘Michelson Alice’ (named after the woman who donated it) can now be viewed onlin on the Bodleian Library website: https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/a315d687-3639-4494-9f24-df52bafdc829/surfaces/bf248500-4857-43f2-bb86-6468b5f15e06/

Lewis Carroll Visiting Fellowship for research at Bodleian Libraries and Christ Church

The Bodleian Libraries and Christ Church in Oxford, UK, are offering a fellowship to conduct Lewis Carroll research using their archival manuscript and printed books collections.

Researchers external to the University of Oxford are invited to pursue their own research projects relating to Lewis Carroll and his interest, that require use of the Bodleian Libraries’ collections and the Christ Church Library. This includes the recent donation of the 1865 Michelson Alice (Lewis Carroll’s own copy of Alice’s Adventures) and the Jon A. Lindseth Lewis Carroll Collection. Topics might include studies in children’s literature, humorous verse and literary illustration, nineteenth-century photography, histories of Oxford, its colleges, University and people, and the cultural impact of mathematics.

The Lewis Carroll Visiting Fellowship can be held for up to one month. The scheme reimburses expenses of up to £2200 per month.

You can apply now for a the Fellowship in 2026-2027.

More information can be found on the Bodleian Libraries website.

Reissue of “The Philosopher’s Alice”

“The Philosopher’s Alice: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass” was published in 1974 and has been out of print for quite some time. It has recently been reissued, with a new foreword.

This new edition features a 3 page foreword by Mark Burstein, president emeritus of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America.

As in the original edition, there is a 13 page introduction from Peter Heath in which he discusses how Carroll’s ‘Alice’ books should be seen or categorised (spoiler: not as nonsense, and perphaps more as a book for adults than for children).

Then follow the full texts of both “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice found there”, including John Tenniel’s illustrations. The story is supplemented with annotations from Heath, that explain the lines from a philosophical viewpoint, showing that there is in fact a lot of sense and reason in Carroll’s story. Through his comments, the reader learns about “philosophical blunders, logical fallacies, conceptual confusions, and linguistic breakdowns”.

The book ends with two appendixes: a bibliography of commentators and a list of philosophical authors who quote or allude to Alice.

The book is published by Angelico Press and can be ordered from Amazon and other bookstores.

 

Virtual tour: Exhibition of the archives of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson

You can attend an online tour through the foyer display and cabinet exhibition of the Surrey History Centre, where parts of their archives of Charles Dodgson are on display.

Surrey History Centre has a significant Lewis Carroll collection. Senior archivist and curator Isabel Sullivan will give you a virtual walk through some of their exhibits..

On public view for the first time are items from important collections received over the past two years, including from the Dodgson family.

Date and time: 15 October 2025, 17:30 – 18:45
Location
: Online (Zoom)
Cost: £6
Booking: https://customer.surreycc.gov.uk/article/2169?eventid=9286-6051-4314-6635&bookingformid=602 (88 spaces available)
More information: https://customer.surreycc.gov.uk/surrey-heritage-upcoming-events

Summer school: Lewis Carroll’s Oxford

During this summer you can once more follow a week long course about Lewis Carroll in Oxford, UK.

During the course, you will explore Lewis Carroll’s books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and examine their origins in Oxford (town and gown, architecture, personalities) as well as hidden histories and controversies. The course will also look at Alice’s further adventures in art and popular culture, science and politics and the question of why, 150 years later, Alice is still so fascinating to us.

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