Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1866. With forty-two illustrations by John Tenniel. First edition, second issue (comprising the sheets of the suppressed 1865 printing, with cancel title page dated 1866). Rebound in 20th-century full crushed red morocco with gilt rules and decorations, raised spine bands decoratively gilt, inner and outer dentelle, with marbled endpapers and text block edges. Octavo. [xii], 192, [iv]. 7"x 5.25" Slight bow to boards, minor spots rubbing to text block edges with small nick to fore edge effecting pp 75-108 but not the text, small chips to upper corners pp 43-50, closed tear middle of pp 65-66, faint spots of darkening sparsely throughout text, overall a near fine, tight copy in beautiful binding with bright gilt, in custom mylar. Item #232361
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was first published in 1865 by Macmillan and Co, but after only a few of the two thousand copies were fully published, the edition was suppressed when John Tenniel complained about the poor paper quality and their effect on the printings of his illustrations. Macmillan sold the remaining sheets to the American publisher Appleton, which they used to make this edition and which definitively precedes the second edition, printed in the UK by Macmillan in 1866. All points of issue mentioned in Williams confirms.
The story was inspired by a boat trip on the 4th of July with Robinson Duckworth and the three young daughters of Henry Liddell: Lorina, Alice, and Edith. Under the insistence of Alice, Carroll wrote down the story he told them while they were rowing on the river. Carroll received further encouragement to seek publication of his story by George Macdonald's family, whose children enjoyed the story. In honor of the original audience of Alice's adventure, Carroll based characters on them. Aside from Alice as her namesake throughout the book, in chapter three, A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale, the Duck represents Duckworth, the Lory Lorina, the Eaglet Edith, and the Dodo Carroll himself, stemming from his real name Charles Dodgson.
This copy includes a period inscription on the front fly, dated two years after publication: "Little Laura from Aunt Lizzie on her fifth birthday, Staten Island 1868."
[Williams 10. Williams, Madan, Green, & Crutch 44].
Price: $20,000.00