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I have been considering writing my own version for years and I finally felt it was time to give it a try.

Sequels to the ‘Alice’ books have been published before, but I must admit that I was often a bit disappointed in them, as I always felt something was missing. Either the writing style did not feel very Carrollian, or the story contained little to no poetry, or the puns and jokes were not up to standard, or there were no hidden references, or other characteristic Carrollian elements were missing. It may be arrogant, but I thought that, even though English is not my native language, with all my background knowledge I surely could do better?

So here it is: another ‘Alice’ story in which she encounters silly characters in silly situations, this time in and under-water world. I’ve put in jokes, puns, and poetry, as well as more or less obscure references to well known people, politics, poems and songs, and mathematics. I also tried to incorporate into my story other specific elements that one can find in Carroll’s ‘Alice’ stories, like his particular use of punctuation, exactly 12 chapters, the covert return of the Hatter and the March Hare, and more. And as all good books must have pictures, it contains exactly 42 illustrations in the style of John Tenniel, skilfully drawn by the talented Robert Louis Black!

The book is now available for purchase. You can order it directly from me through this website, but you can also find it at Amazon and other online bookstores, or order a copy from your local bookseller.

Reverend Davies’ interest in Lewis Carroll led him to write several articles about the chess game in ‘Through the Looking Glass’. These articles have now been bundled and republished by the Clergy Correspondence Chess Club, which Davies founded, in a book called “The Chess Player’s Alice”.

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In the book, Hunt mainly discusses the three ‘layers’ that can be found in the Alice in Wonderland books (including Alice’s Adventures Under Ground):

1. Private jokes that only Alice and her sisters would understand (mainly in “Alice’s Adventures Under Ground” and “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”);
2. References to things in their society;
3. Dodgson’s private thoughts and feelings (mainly in “Through the Looking Glass”).

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In 1932 there was a celebration of the centenary of Lewis Carroll’s birth. Alice Liddell (by then married and named Alice Hargreaves) received an honorary degree from Columbia University, for which she traveled to New York. For this centenary, a limited edition of 1500 hardcover books was published, which were all signed by Alice (and also by the typographer and binder, Frederic Ward).

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In “The Annotated Alice”, Gardner has added many annotations to the stories “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass and what Alice found there”. These annotations explain amongst other puns and references, or provide more background information that helps you place the story in a Victorian perspective, enabling you to enjoy it as the readers in that time did.

This Turkish version, which was published yesterday, is not a translation of the most recent version of the book (“The Anniversary Deluxe Edition”, published in 2015), but of “The Definitive Edition” from 1998.

You can order the book from Alfa Kitap’s website.

The copy bears pencil sketches of Humpty Dumpty on the wall and Alice holding a fawn. The images are reversed, in imitation of what Tenniel would have drawn on the wood for the engraving process. There’s also an inscription with Tenniel’s monogram and the line “Ever yours”.

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The first edition

For those that are not familiar with the first edition, let me first describe what the book is about.

In “The Tenniel illustrations to the ‘Alice’ books”, Hancher discusses in great detail how John Tenniel’s illustrations for both ‘Alice’ books were possibly inspired, consciously or not, by existing works of other illustrators. He also discusses what the recurring elements in Tenniel’s style of drawing are, which leads to similarities between the ‘Alice’ illustrations and his earlier work for amongst others the magazine ‘Punch’. He also tells us how much influence Carroll had on the illustrations and how much freedom Tenniel received from the author.

The first chapter, about resemblances between Tenniel’s earlier work and his Alice illustrations, is quite extensive. Later chapters are rather short and each discuss one illustration from the ‘Alice’ books specifically.

The last two chapters concern the process of woodcutting and its quality, printing techniques, and picture placement within the ‘Alice’ texts.

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