Carroll's ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ Returns to Spiritual Home
- Editor OGN Daily
- Jan 5
- 2 min read
Lewis Carroll's annotated personal copy of his famous book has been returned to Oxford, thanks to an American philanthropist.
In 1862, Lewis Carroll told a magical story about a little girl who fell down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatures. His listener, 10-year-old Alice Liddell, loved it and successfully persuaded him to write the surreal saga down - and, thus, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was born.
Alice was the daughter of the dean of Oxford’s Christ Church college, where Carroll studied and later worked as a math lecturer and librarian. Now, Carroll’s personal copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has found a home at his alma mater, courtesy of American philanthropist and bibliophile Ellen Michelson who recently donated the book jointly to Christ Church and the Bodleian Library, which are both part of the University of Oxford. The book has been dubbed the “Michelson Alice” in her honour.
“When I began the search for the best permanent new home for this unique piece of literary history, I wanted to be sure it would not only be properly preserved, but also available for future research and public appreciation,” Michelson told the Oxford Mail. “Now that the book will reside in its spiritual home in Oxford, I look forward to it being enjoyed by students and Alice enthusiasts for generations to come.”
The volume was one of 2,000 copies printed during the book's original 1865 run. It served as Carroll’s working copy and, as a result, features his handwritten notes and sketches. The book also contains 10 of the 42 original pencil sketches of Carroll’s characters, created by English illustrator John Tenniel.
Roughly a month after the 1865 run, Tenniel asked for the initial copies to be withdrawn over concerns about the quality of the printing. Most of the books were destroyed, but Carroll had already started distributing some to friends. According to ArtNet, only 23 known copies from the original run are still in existence - that includes the one kindly donated by Michelson.
At the time, Carroll - whose real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson - was an unknown writer. Tenniel, on the other hand, was the accomplished chief cartoonist at Punch magazine. As the senior partner on the project, Tenniel got his way with the recall.
