Through the Looking-Glass, and what Alice found there

London: Macmillan and Co., 1872.

First Edition. With 50 illustrations by John Tenniel. Handsomely bound in full red morocco by Bayntun with gilt title lettering to the panelled spine, gilt tooling, gilt circular devices of the Queen with her crown and sceptre to upper and lower boards; all edges gilt; frontispiece engraving with the tissue-guard. Text exceptionally clean and free from any foxing and old inscriptions. Tipped in on the recto of the final advert leaf is a small, four page booklet by Carroll entitled 'To all child-readers of "Alice in Wonderland", dated 1817, in which he wishes his young readers "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year", continuing "May God bless you, dear children, and make every Christmas-tide, as it comes round to you, more bright and beautiful than the last..." A fine copy of the first edition of Carroll's classic work for children. The sequel to Alice in Wonderland actually appeared at Christmas, 1871, five years after the publication of 'Wonderland' but was post-dated 1872 on the titlepage. It sold extremely well, with 15,000 copies being bought in the first seven weeks of publication. Most children's books of this time were instructional or were dry tales with a pious moral message so it is not surprising that the satirical and witty Alice books were enjoyed by both adults and children. Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym of the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), a shy, mathematics don, at Christ Church College, Oxford. He was fond of children and loved to entertain them with puzzles, games and stories. His two Alice books were based on stories he told to entertain the three eldest daughters of the Reverend Henry George Liddell, Dean of Christ Church. Many of the characters in the book would be instantly recognisable to them as they were based on people they knew in and around Oxford. Dodgson's favourite daughter was Alice who thus became the main character in the stories.