Lewis Carroll’s own copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was donated to Christ Church, Oxford.
The book was donated by Ellen A. Michelson, an American philanthropist and bibliophile, because she wished the book to return to what she viewed as its natural home.
A follow-up volume to the recently published “Alice through the Looking-Glass: A Companion” is going to be published! It will be called “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – A Companion”. If you want to contribute to it, you can submit a paper.
Invited are fresh, cross-disciplinary perspectives on “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and its afterlives to explore literary, historical, and interdisciplinary approaches.
Abstracts of 200-300 words can be submitted using the submission form by 15 May 2025: https://forms.gle/XUsmPfBsXju2XpcR9
Completed pieces (around 3000 words) should be submitted in the first quarter/half of 2026.
Any question about the publication should be directed to [email protected], cc’ing the editors Franziska Kohlt ([email protected]) and Justine Houyaux ([email protected]). If you struggle with this deadline, you are encouraged to contact the editors as it may be possible to work around your schedule.
American scholar and collector Jon Lindseth donated his Lewis Carroll collection to Christ Church. They have started cataloguing and digitising the collection, but you can already see highlights of the collection in an exhibition.
Lindseth, who amongst others initiated the “Alice in a World of Wonderlands” project, owned one of the world’s largest privately held collections of letters, photographs, books, illustrations and other materials by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll). He recently donated the collection to Dodgson’s former place of residence: Christ Church, Oxford.
Included in the Jon A. Lindseth Lewis Carroll Collection are many early editions of Carroll’s works (including presentation copies and a first edition of the 1886 facsimile copy of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground inscribed to Alice’s mother), autographed letters, proofs of illustrations, photographs, and more.
In the exhibition “Pictures and Conversations: the Jon A. Lindseth Lewis Carroll Collection” you can already see some of the highlights of this collection, while Christ Church is still working on cataloguing and digitising the full collection. The exhibition runs until 17 April 2024. Enquiries about the collection can be sent to [email protected].
More information about the donation: https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/news/christ-church-receives-remarkable-lewis-carroll-donation
More information about the exhibition: https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/events/pictures-and-conversations-jon-lindseth-lewis-carroll-collection
For all Italian (speaking) Carroll lovers: a new Lewis Carroll Society has been formed in Italy!
Soon you will be able to subscribe as a member. It’s unclear to me whether they will communicate / publish in English as well.
For more information about the Lewis Carroll Society d’Italia, visit their website (https://www.lewiscarrollsociety.it) or one of their social channels.
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of “Through the Looking-Glass”, the Lewis Carroll Society is launching a writing competition!
The challenge: Write a ‘missing’ chapter for either “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” or “Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice found there”.
Closing date: July 3rd, 2021
Prizes: £100 for the winners of each of the three age groups (0-16 years, 16-20 year, 20+ years old), as well as Chris Riddell’s “Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There” book for the winners and runners-ups.
For rules and additional information, see: https://lewiscarrollsociety.org.uk/writing-competition/
There are several shops completely dedicated to Alice in Wonderland products – and not just in the United Kingdom! If you’re in one of the area’s mentioned below, be sure to pay those shops a visit.
The most famous Alice in Wonderland shop is of course the souvenir shop in Oxford, which was actually encorporated into ‘Through the Looking Glass’! The little shop is literally stuffed to the brim with all kinds of Alice in Wonderland souvenirs. It is located directly in front of Christ Church, where Lewis Carroll and Alice lived, so you can combine a visit to these historical and fun places!
Location: 83 St Aldates, Oxford, UK – https://aliceinwonderlandshop.com/
Are you an artist? Then you may want to join the ‘Wasp in a Wig challenge’: produce an image, in any media, of the Wasp character from the dismissed Through the Looking Glass chapter “A Wasp in a Wig”.
“A Wasp in a Wig” was a chapter in Through the Looking Glass that never made it into the published book. Illustrator John Tenniel thought it wasn’t interesting enough and ‘couldn’t see his way into a picture’. Lewis Carroll then decided to drop the entire episode from the book.
Larissa Averbug, a Brazilian graphic designer and researcher in children’s literature, is currently working on her PhD research, titled “The Multiple Faces of Alice: An Irreversible Creative Dynamic”. The intent is “to investigate, in practice, the creative thinking of contemporary visual artists from distinct media through a ludic experiment”. For her research she is challenging artists to create the Wasp character in any media they like. The challenge might also result in an exhibition and a book for collectors.
If you want an invitation to join the challenge, send Larissa an email: [email protected].
See also the Instagram and Facebook pages of this project.