Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll – 1877 | Tenniel Illustrated

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was met with great acclaim when the first edition was released, and its popularity has hardly dwindled since. Where most Victorian children’s literature was educational or moralizing, Lewis’s fantasy story sought to entertain and delight. The whimsical story of a no-nonsense English girl who finds herself in a land of absurd rules and inconsistent logic was enhanced with forty-two illustrations by John Tenniel. These iconic drawings of figures such as the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, and the Red Queen became widely recognized in popular culture, leading to numerous adaptations on stage and in film. This copy is an early first edition, as part of the fifty-fifth thousand printing.

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. With forty-two illustrations by John Tenniel.
• Author: Lewis Carroll
• Illustrator: John Tenniel
• Publisher: London: Macmillan and Co.
• Edition: First edition, Fifty-fifth thousand printing, 1877
• Binding: Original red cloth binding
• Format: Duodecimo (12mo), single volume
• Size: ~ 7.5in x 5.25in (19cm x 13cm)
• Collation: [10], 192, [2]
• Illustrations: 42 illustrations
• Contents Include:
  • Full text of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
  • Illustrated scenes with by John Tenniel
• Provenance: Handwritten gift inscription “Edith Marion C. Conquest, a birthday present from her brother Tom, June 14^th, 1878”
• Reference(s): PMM 354; Carroll Handbook 44

Condition:

Good condition. Cloth binding is stained but securely connected, with intact hinges and only slight edgewear. Spine ends and corners are lightly frayed and bumped. Text block is secure and intact. Pages show occasional foxing throughout, a bit more heavily on the first and last leaves.

Why Collect This?

• Early printing of first Macmillan edition
• Features Tenniel’s original illustrations
• Popular among collectors of Victorian children’s books

Item Number: #31122