![DODGSON, Charles Lutwidge ("Lewis Carroll"). Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. London: [The Clarendon Press for] Macmillan, 1865.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/1998/NYP/1998_NYP_09046_0038_000(113045).jpg?w=1)
Details
DODGSON, Charles Lutwidge ("Lewis Carroll"). Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. London: [The Clarendon Press for] Macmillan, 1865.
8o (223 x 137 mm). Collation: p4 A2 B-N8. 42 wood-engraved illustrations by the Dalziel brothers after John Tenniel. TEN ORIGINAL PENCIL DRAWINGS FOR THE ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOHN TENNIEL, EACH SIGNED WITH HIS MONOGRAM (all inset to size, nine with caption mounted below, and each inserted opposite its corresponding wood engraving). See individual descriptions under "drawings" below.
Binding: Full brown levant morocco, covers with double gilt fillet surrounding an alternating pattern of larger and smaller gilt leafy sprays (the larger built-up from the smaller tools, gilt stems and gilt dots), flat spine with a single gilt-ruled title panel and repeated smaller gilt leafy spray tools, board edges with double gilt fillet, turn-ins with gilt-ruled border containing repeated smaller gilt leafy spray tool, LEAF EDGES ENTIRELY UNCUT, stamp-signed at foot of front turn-in: "Bound by Riviere & Son for L.S. Montague [sic] 1899," full crimson morocco pull-off case.
Condition: Lower fore-corner of L2 chipped, some occasional minor marginal finger soiling, otherwise in very fine condition.
State: The second preliminary quire of the 1865 Alice is found in two variant states (no priority). The forme contained the text set in duplicate and was printed by half-sheet imposition (work-and-turn). The two settings vary slightly on several points: the present copy shows state "Alice a" (comprising the first line, last stanza, of the Prefatory poem to read "Alice! a..." rather than "Alice! A..."), the Table of Contents with the hyphen in "Rabbit-Hole," the page numerals "29" and "59" with an ovoid "9," and the numeral "95" with a rounded "9" and an undamaged sort "5."
THE VERY RARE FIRST ISSUE OF THE SUPPRESSED FIRST EDITION. APPARENTLY LEWIS CARROLL'S WORKING COPY, MARKED UP BY HIM IN CHARACTERISTIC PURPLE INK IN PREPARATION FOR THE NURSERY ALICE (1889), THE ONLY KNOWN UNTRIMMED COPY, AND WITH TEN ORIGINAL PRELIMINARY DRAWINGS (INCLUDING "THE CHESHIRE CAT") BY JOHN TENNIEL BOUND IN (1899)
"The origin of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is almost a fairy-tale in itself: a boat trip up the river at Oxford one summer's day in 1862 with a crew consisting of two young men from the University and three little sisters, daughters of the Dean of Christ Church. Robinson Duckworth rowed stroke and sang to the children. Charles Dodgson ("Lewis Carroll") rowed bow and invented a story to entertain the three girls, Lorina, Alice and Edith Liddell. His story began with a White Rabbit rushing by, taking a pocket-watch out of his waist-coat pocket, and then disappearing down a rabbit-hole. What followed was pure fantasy. Dodgson, a mathematician, cleverly wove into the story each member of the crew, thinly disguised so that the children might recognise them. For example, Lorina became a Lory, and Edith turned into an Eaglet, and obviously Duckworth became a duck, and Dodgson was the Dodo. Alice was herself for most of the time, but in her confusion she thought she might have changed into Gertrude or Florence. She had exciting adventures meeting other wonderful characters such as the Caterpillar, the King and Queen of Hearts, the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle (the Cheshire Cat, March Hare and Mad Hatter came later in the extended version of the story--this published edition). All the children were enchanted by the tale, but it was Alice who asked Mr. Dodgson to write the stories down for her, a task which took Dodgson several months. He also added his own illustrations, and the leather-bound notebook containing Alice's Adventures Under Ground was given to Alice as an early Christmas gift in 1864. In the meantime, other children and families were privileged to hear the story, and encouraged Dodgson to get the book published. He was advised to use a professional artist. He added further episodes to the tale, changed its title, and at great personal expense, arranged for the book to be published by the Clarendon Press (the publishing arm of Oxford University). Then disaster struck" (Wakeling).
Two thousand copies were to be printed at the Clarendon Press, the aim being to publish the book in time so that a copy could be presented to Alice Liddell on 4 July 1865, exactly three years after the first telling of the Alice story on the boating trip. Dodgson asked Macmillan to bind 50 advance copies for him to give to friends. One of these was sent to his illustrator John Tenniel (1820-1914), who then wrote to Dodgson that he was "entirely dissatisfied with the printing of the pictures." Tenniel, a famous illustrator for Punch, felt that his reputation was at stake and Dodgson, an unknown author, complied with his wishes to withdraw the entire edition. On 2 August, Dodgson began recalling copies that he had already given away, promising replacements as soon as a new edition was available. The remainder of the first edition was sold to the New York publisher Appleton, who issued the original sheets with new title-pages dated 1866 (the second [or first American] issue, see lot 1). In the meantime, in England, Alice was reprinted by Richard Clay for Macmillan and an improved second (first authorized) edition appeared in December 1865, but was dated 1866 in the imprint (see lot 2).
Dodgson donated 34 of the first-issue copies to hospitals and children's homes, including a number that had been returned by friends at his request. Others were retained by the original recipients. ONLY 22 COPIES OF THIS ORIGINAL ISSUE ARE KNOWN TO SURVIVE TODAY and an 1865 Alice is now of legendary rarity on the market. Of these 22 located copies, JUST FIVE ARE IN PRIVATE HANDS, and the remarkable copy offered here is surely the most desirable. As is evident from the census below, it is unquestionably one of the most important of the extant copies.
The Montagu copy is of unique importance in several respects: before 1889 its sheets were marked up in manuscript by the author in preparation of The Nursery Alice (1889), and in 1899 ten of Tenniel's drawings were bound up with them. William H. Bond was the first to understand the true nature of this copy and suggested a connection between it and The Nursery Alice (see "The publication of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"). In a footnote of acknowledgements, he comments: "Another private collector [Kettaneh] generously made available for comparison the only known untrimmed copy of the first edition, which contains ten pencil studies by Tenniel, and markings by Dodgson possibly in preparation for The Nursery Alice." The 1990 monograph by Schiller on the book described it as the Macmillan file copy, marked up by a corrector (not Dodgson) to evaluate the quality of printing, which then resulted in its suppression for the English market. However, detailed comparison unmistakably shows that Dodgson/Carroll marked up these sheets in the first stage of creating his Nursery Alice.
In this copy of the 1865 Alice, 24 (of the 42) illustrations are marked with an adjacent vertical line in the margin in purple ink (distinct from text selection marks). The Nursery Alice, intended for children "from nought to five" (preface), is illustrated with 20 illustrations, which are enlarged and colored versions after Tenniel. All 20 of these illustrations in The Nursery Alice correspond exactly to those marked in this copy. Perhaps most significantly, no unmarked illustrations were published in the Nursery edition beyond this initial selection. Only the "You are old, Father William" series of four illustrations was not reprinted in The Nursery Alice, eventhough these illustrations are here marked in purple ink. Although Carroll was not known to use purple ink at the time when Alice was published, it had become his common practice by the time he was preparing the selection of text and images for his simpler abbreviated Nursery Alice (1889).
Furthermore, the text areas marked with marginal strokes clearly delineate text sections to be reworked for the later Nursery Book. Also intriguing is the fact that one editorial mark, whose textual significance is unclear, is a well-known mathematical symbol (which means "not equivalent").
In addition to the marginal lines and "O" marks (apparently for omit), the following markings occur: p. 7, one word "to" deleted, with delete symbol in margin; p. 34, parenthetical section regarding Shakespeare deleted; p. 84, mathematical? symbol in margin; pp. 98-99, line ending deleted, capital "H" starting new sentence written over lower-case "h" with Carroll's characteristic serif capital; p. 113, the word "seven" deleted, and "five" inserted in margin; p. 145, seven words deleted.
The 105 pages that bear purple markings occur without any observable pattern relating to the production, whether quality of inking, layout of text, or set-up of type. The marks were apparently made after the sheets were folded, opened, but in unbound quires. It is known that Carroll received unbound sheets for other works in advance of publication, and these could have been retained by him for this later revision. It is also possible that Macmillan provided them to him later, as leftover sheets, for revision purposes. "The first idea of a Nursery Edition came to Dodgson in 1881, perhaps as a result of seeing the 1874 Dutch abridgement of Alice. On 15 Feb. he noted in his Diary that 'I wrote to Macmillan to suggest a new idea, -- a Nursery Edition of Alice with pictures printed in colour'" (Williams-Madan-Green-Crutch, p. 161). On 13 April 1881 Macmillan wrote to Dodgson, regarding his proposal: "Please give me a list of the pieces you propose to include, and of the pictures you wish to reproduce. You should consult Mr. Tenniel on this and also on the colourist" (Lewis Carroll and the House of Macmillan, p. 163). Unfortunately, Dodgson's letters to Macmillan between 25 January and 17 August 1881 are missing, as these might have shed more light on the form Dodgson's proposals took.
In another letter to Macmillan regarding this Nursery Edition (17 August 1881), Dodgson wrote: "...please send Mr. Tenniel an Alice in sheets, that he may mark his alterations and cut the pictures out one by one. It seems a pity to spoil a bound copy for this purpose." It now appears that Dodgson himself made a similar use of sheets for selecting text and illustrations. In a later letter to Macmillan (8 July 1885) Dodgson mentions: "Mr. Tenniel has finished colouring the 20 enlarged pictures for the Nursery Alice, and I hope you will soon hear from Mr. Evans about it. I will shortly send you some selected portions of text, to set up for it..." In 1886 the Nursery Alice was announced as being in preparation.
The most compelling argument for relating this copy to the Nursery Edition is the deliberate selection of text and illustration and their relationship to each other. The text is marked with careful attention to the characters and illustrations, which eventually make their way into the Nursery Alice. Lengthy, difficult passages are omitted, the number of characters is limited and, most importantly, the text passages relate (sometimes pages later) clearly to the illustrations chosen, which was the stated intention of the Nursery Edition. At least since 1928 these markings have been attributed to Lewis Carroll and they were described as such in exhibition and auction catalogues up until 1990. The revisiting of Bond's original suggestion yields confirmation that the markings are autograph and re-establishes this as Dodgson's working copy.
DRAWINGS
Thirty of the forty-two of John Tenniel's original preliminary pencil drawings for the illustrations of Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland are known to survive (see Schiller/Census). Although other later drawings of some of these subjects were done by Tenniel on request after the engraved versions, only his original designs for the wood engravings to illustrate the edition are of real importance. THE TEN DRAWINGS BOUND IN THIS COPY COMPRISE THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF THE ORIGINAL DESIGNS IN ANY ONE LOCATION. Of these ten, at least two--"The Cheshire Cat" and "Nothing but a pack of Cards!"--stand as masterpieces of book illustration. All of the drawings were carefully chosen, perhaps by Tenniel himself for Montagu, to keep pace with the development of the story.
This copy also contains two clipped pencil signatures of Tenniel mounted on sheets and bound at front and back. Furthermore, on the half-title Tenniel has inscribed in pencil: "The pencil drawings in the book are the original sketches done by me. John Tenniel." Similar authenticating inscriptions by Tenniel appear in copies of the 1865 Alice that once belonged to Stuart M. Samuel, and Montagu's copy of Looking-Glass (see provenance below), both now at the Rosenbach Museum & Library (see Driver, A Selection from Our Shelves [Philadelphia, 1973] 80-81).
1. "The Pool of Tears" [Alice Swimming], captioned. 44 x 69 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 23. Schiller/Census A7.
2. "A crash of broken glass," captioned. 76 x 56 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 48. Schiller/Census A12.
3. "A Little Bill," captioned. 129 x 51 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 51. Schiller/Census A13.
4. "The Blue Caterpillar," captioned. 95 x 73 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 59 (Chapter V headpiece). Schiller/Census A15.
5. "For The Duchess" [The Frog Footman], captioned. 90 x 75 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 77. On the verso is a pencil sketch by Tenniel depicting Alice in a similar pose to the one illustrated on page 18 ("The Rabbit...scurried away into the Dark"). Schiller/Census A20.
6. "The Cheshire Cat," captioned. 131 x 90 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 91. The drawing had been separated into two pieces at some point and later rejoined horizontally along the trunk of the tree, just above Alice's head. On the verso is an unfinished pencil sketch by Tenniel (apparently unrelated to the Alice cycle of illustrations). Based on a composite version drawn by Carroll from an early woodblock proof, Schiller suggests that this was done to accomodate the new episodes of Dodgson's expanding text into the next chapter. Schiller/Census A23 (and see A24).
7. "Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!" 64 x 51 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 103. Schiller/Census A26.
8. "Dormouse and Teapot," captioned. 64 x 76 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 110. Schiller/Census A27.
9. "The mad Hatter," captioned. 51 x 64 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 173. Schiller/Census A39.
10. "Nothing but a pack of Cards!" captioned. 115 x 82 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 188, the final illustration of the book. Schiller/Census A42.
PROVENANCE
1. Lewis Carroll's working copy, the folded sheets provided to him by Macmillan & Co., publishers. Extensive autograph markings throughout in purple ink, planning the contents of The Nursery Alice (1889).
2. Louis Samuel Montagu, bound by Riviere for him (dated 1899), preserving the full untrimmed edges. Montagu was the eldest son of Sir Samuel Montagu, first Baron Swaythling, a distinguished foreign exchange banker and prominent Jewish philanthropist (see DNB, First Supplement). Montagu inherited the peerage at his father's death in 1911. He also owned a copy of Through the Looking Glass (which originally contained 22 original preliminary drawings by John Tenniel) for which he commissioned a matching slipcase from Riviere which bears the collector's name "L.S. Montagu 1905" (now in the Rosenbach Foundation Museum, along with the drawings which have been removed and matted separately). Montagu's widow Gladys Helen Rachel, the Dowager Lady Swaythling, consigned this book (and his Looking-Glass) for sale on 21 May 1928 for a net of #6000 ($30,000) to:
3. A.S.W. Rosenbach, 1928, who also acquired at the same time the companion volume Through the Looking-Glass, which he retained in his personal library and loaned for exhibition at the 1932 Columbia University centenary. A postcard from Gladys Swaythling to Rosenbach, May 21 1928, in the Swaythling correspondence files at the Rosenbach reads: "I hereby authorise Dr. A. Rosenbach to dispose of my Alice in Wonderland & Alice through the looking glass with Tenniels original drawings for six thousand pounds..." Rosenbach cabled Lady Swaythling on 15 June 1928 that her Alice had just been sold to:
4. Eldridge R. Johnson, Carroll collector and President of Victor Talking Machine Company, who purchased this book from Rosenbach for $40,000. He also acquired the inscribed copy to Mrs. Craik in its original cloth (now at Princeton, see census) and the original manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground (now in the British Library). Sold at the auction of his estate to:
5. Francis A. Kettaneh, puchased through Dr. Rosenbach at Eldridge Johnson's estate sale, New York, Parke-Bernet, New York, 3 April 1946, lot 52 for $23,000. (It was underbid by Chicago bookseller Frances Hamill on behalf of collector Harriet Borland). Sold at the auction of his library to:
6. Justin G. Schiller, purchased through John Fleming at the sale of Francis Kettaneh's library in Paris, Claude Gurin, Htel Drouot, 20 May 1980, lot 125 (for an account of this sale, see Schiller, "The Vicissitudes of an 1865 'Alice'," in: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, pp. 22-26).
EXHIBITED
The Free Library of Philadelphia: 27 June to 16 October 1928 (exhibited along with the manuscript for Alice's Adventures Under Ground), its first public display after its purchase by Eldridge R. Johnson of Moorestown, New Jersey.
The New York Public Library: 12 November 1928 to 31 January 1929.
The Cooper Library, Camden, New Jersey: 13 to 14 February 1929.
The Moorestown Community House, Moorestown, New Jersey: 12 April 1929.
The Library of Congress: 17 October 1929 to 28 February 1930.
The Boston Public Library: 9 June to 17 October 1930.
Columbia University, Avery Library: 28 March to 15 May 1932. The Lewis Carroll Centenary Exhibit (item 2a, where it is described as "Carroll's own uncut copy, with ten original drawings by Tenniel").
The Grolier Club: 16 December 1953 to 31 January 1954, "Famous Children's Books: American, British, Continental."
The Pierpont Morgan Library: 19 November 1954 to 28 February 1955, "Children's Literature Books and Manuscripts." Item 211.
The Pierpont Morgan Library: 2 September to 30 November 1975, "Early Children's Books and their Illustration." Item 209.
CENSUS
The following census follows (in abbreviated form) the updated census by Schiller of the Goodacre revision. It includes the Christ Church copy (missing since sometime between 1924-28).
1. New York University, Bobst Library, Alfred Berol Collection: ex-Agnes Thomas--Robert Edwin Thomas--Percival H. Alder-Barrett. Proof copy, trimmed, binder's cloth.
2. Justin G. Schiller: the copy here offered for sale.
3. Harvard University, Houghton Library, Harcourt Amory Collection: ex-C.L. Dodgson--George M. Williamson. Presentation binding in white vellum (intended for Alice Liddell).
4. Rosenbach Museum & Library: ex-Marion Terry ("MAB")--C.L. Dodgson--Stuart M. Samuel--William A. White. Presentation copy, rebound.
5. Christ Church, Oxford: missing since 1924-28. Presentation copy, original cloth.
6. Princeton University, Firestone Library, Morris Parrish Collection: ex-Dinah Mulock Craik--Mrs. Richards, of Blindwell--A.S.W. Rosenbach--Eldridge R. Johnson--Francis A. Kettaneh--Raymond M. Wapner. Presentation copy, original cloth (restored).
7. New York University, Bobst Library, Alfred Berol Collection: ex-Thomas Vere-Bayne--John Gribbel--John Bancker Gribbel--A.S.W. Rosenbach--Louis Rabinowitz--Alfred Berol. Known as "The Lost Alice," presentation copy, original cloth.
8. Huntington Library: ex-George Dalziel--T.G. Arthur. Original cloth.
9. Jon A. Lindseth: ex-Alexandra Rhoda Kitchin--Carl H. Pforzheimer--Harriet Borland--William Self. Original cloth (repaired).
10. Oxford University, Bodleian Library: ex-W. Combe(?)--St. Raphael's Home--Lord Harewood--Roger Lancelyn Green. Original cloth.
11. University of Texas, Humanities Research Center, Warren Weaver Collection: ex-Metropolitan Convalescent Institution, Children's Branch--Alice Cousins--L.C. Kent-Morgan--Warren Weaver. Known as "The India Alice," original cloth.
12. The British Library: ex-Alice Fannie Thomas--Sir Leicester Harmsworth--Duke of Gloucester. Original cloth (recased).
13. National Library of Scotland: ex-Hugh F.B. Sharp. Original cloth.
14. Private Collection, U.S.A.: ex-Robert Partridge--John N.S. Davis. Original cloth (restored).
15. Indiana University, Lilly Library: ex-Richard S. Wormser. Original cloth (recased and restored).
16. Harvard University, Houghton Library, Harcourt Amory Collection: ex-Harcourt Amory. Rebound in morocco.
17. Newberry Library: ex-Louis H. Silver. Rebound in morocco (internal repairs).
18. Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library: ex-Frederick C. Rogers. Rebound in morocco (lacking half-title).
19. Martin Bodmer Library, Geneva: ex-Wolcott--Frank Abbie Nye--Gabriel Wells--David Randall. Rebound in morocco.
20. Pierpont Morgan Library, Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. Collection of Lewis Carroll: ex-Henry Hollister Pease--Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. Rebound in morocco by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson.
21. Charles and Stephanie Lovett, North Carolina. Rebound in morocco.
22. New York Public Library, Berg Collection: ex-Anthony Lucy--J. Edwards--Jerome Kern--Owen D. Young. Rebound in morocco (restored).
23. Marquess of Bath, Longleat House: ex-Lord Cross--Herman V. Wilkinson. Recased in later Macmillan cloth binding.
8o (223 x 137 mm). Collation: p4 A2 B-N8. 42 wood-engraved illustrations by the Dalziel brothers after John Tenniel. TEN ORIGINAL PENCIL DRAWINGS FOR THE ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOHN TENNIEL, EACH SIGNED WITH HIS MONOGRAM (all inset to size, nine with caption mounted below, and each inserted opposite its corresponding wood engraving). See individual descriptions under "drawings" below.
Binding: Full brown levant morocco, covers with double gilt fillet surrounding an alternating pattern of larger and smaller gilt leafy sprays (the larger built-up from the smaller tools, gilt stems and gilt dots), flat spine with a single gilt-ruled title panel and repeated smaller gilt leafy spray tools, board edges with double gilt fillet, turn-ins with gilt-ruled border containing repeated smaller gilt leafy spray tool, LEAF EDGES ENTIRELY UNCUT, stamp-signed at foot of front turn-in: "Bound by Riviere & Son for L.S. Montague [sic] 1899," full crimson morocco pull-off case.
Condition: Lower fore-corner of L2 chipped, some occasional minor marginal finger soiling, otherwise in very fine condition.
State: The second preliminary quire of the 1865 Alice is found in two variant states (no priority). The forme contained the text set in duplicate and was printed by half-sheet imposition (work-and-turn). The two settings vary slightly on several points: the present copy shows state "Alice a" (comprising the first line, last stanza, of the Prefatory poem to read "Alice! a..." rather than "Alice! A..."), the Table of Contents with the hyphen in "Rabbit-Hole," the page numerals "29" and "59" with an ovoid "9," and the numeral "95" with a rounded "9" and an undamaged sort "5."
THE VERY RARE FIRST ISSUE OF THE SUPPRESSED FIRST EDITION. APPARENTLY LEWIS CARROLL'S WORKING COPY, MARKED UP BY HIM IN CHARACTERISTIC PURPLE INK IN PREPARATION FOR THE NURSERY ALICE (1889), THE ONLY KNOWN UNTRIMMED COPY, AND WITH TEN ORIGINAL PRELIMINARY DRAWINGS (INCLUDING "THE CHESHIRE CAT") BY JOHN TENNIEL BOUND IN (1899)
"The origin of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is almost a fairy-tale in itself: a boat trip up the river at Oxford one summer's day in 1862 with a crew consisting of two young men from the University and three little sisters, daughters of the Dean of Christ Church. Robinson Duckworth rowed stroke and sang to the children. Charles Dodgson ("Lewis Carroll") rowed bow and invented a story to entertain the three girls, Lorina, Alice and Edith Liddell. His story began with a White Rabbit rushing by, taking a pocket-watch out of his waist-coat pocket, and then disappearing down a rabbit-hole. What followed was pure fantasy. Dodgson, a mathematician, cleverly wove into the story each member of the crew, thinly disguised so that the children might recognise them. For example, Lorina became a Lory, and Edith turned into an Eaglet, and obviously Duckworth became a duck, and Dodgson was the Dodo. Alice was herself for most of the time, but in her confusion she thought she might have changed into Gertrude or Florence. She had exciting adventures meeting other wonderful characters such as the Caterpillar, the King and Queen of Hearts, the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle (the Cheshire Cat, March Hare and Mad Hatter came later in the extended version of the story--this published edition). All the children were enchanted by the tale, but it was Alice who asked Mr. Dodgson to write the stories down for her, a task which took Dodgson several months. He also added his own illustrations, and the leather-bound notebook containing Alice's Adventures Under Ground was given to Alice as an early Christmas gift in 1864. In the meantime, other children and families were privileged to hear the story, and encouraged Dodgson to get the book published. He was advised to use a professional artist. He added further episodes to the tale, changed its title, and at great personal expense, arranged for the book to be published by the Clarendon Press (the publishing arm of Oxford University). Then disaster struck" (Wakeling).
Two thousand copies were to be printed at the Clarendon Press, the aim being to publish the book in time so that a copy could be presented to Alice Liddell on 4 July 1865, exactly three years after the first telling of the Alice story on the boating trip. Dodgson asked Macmillan to bind 50 advance copies for him to give to friends. One of these was sent to his illustrator John Tenniel (1820-1914), who then wrote to Dodgson that he was "entirely dissatisfied with the printing of the pictures." Tenniel, a famous illustrator for Punch, felt that his reputation was at stake and Dodgson, an unknown author, complied with his wishes to withdraw the entire edition. On 2 August, Dodgson began recalling copies that he had already given away, promising replacements as soon as a new edition was available. The remainder of the first edition was sold to the New York publisher Appleton, who issued the original sheets with new title-pages dated 1866 (the second [or first American] issue, see lot 1). In the meantime, in England, Alice was reprinted by Richard Clay for Macmillan and an improved second (first authorized) edition appeared in December 1865, but was dated 1866 in the imprint (see lot 2).
Dodgson donated 34 of the first-issue copies to hospitals and children's homes, including a number that had been returned by friends at his request. Others were retained by the original recipients. ONLY 22 COPIES OF THIS ORIGINAL ISSUE ARE KNOWN TO SURVIVE TODAY and an 1865 Alice is now of legendary rarity on the market. Of these 22 located copies, JUST FIVE ARE IN PRIVATE HANDS, and the remarkable copy offered here is surely the most desirable. As is evident from the census below, it is unquestionably one of the most important of the extant copies.
The Montagu copy is of unique importance in several respects: before 1889 its sheets were marked up in manuscript by the author in preparation of The Nursery Alice (1889), and in 1899 ten of Tenniel's drawings were bound up with them. William H. Bond was the first to understand the true nature of this copy and suggested a connection between it and The Nursery Alice (see "The publication of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"). In a footnote of acknowledgements, he comments: "Another private collector [Kettaneh] generously made available for comparison the only known untrimmed copy of the first edition, which contains ten pencil studies by Tenniel, and markings by Dodgson possibly in preparation for The Nursery Alice." The 1990 monograph by Schiller on the book described it as the Macmillan file copy, marked up by a corrector (not Dodgson) to evaluate the quality of printing, which then resulted in its suppression for the English market. However, detailed comparison unmistakably shows that Dodgson/Carroll marked up these sheets in the first stage of creating his Nursery Alice.
In this copy of the 1865 Alice, 24 (of the 42) illustrations are marked with an adjacent vertical line in the margin in purple ink (distinct from text selection marks). The Nursery Alice, intended for children "from nought to five" (preface), is illustrated with 20 illustrations, which are enlarged and colored versions after Tenniel. All 20 of these illustrations in The Nursery Alice correspond exactly to those marked in this copy. Perhaps most significantly, no unmarked illustrations were published in the Nursery edition beyond this initial selection. Only the "You are old, Father William" series of four illustrations was not reprinted in The Nursery Alice, eventhough these illustrations are here marked in purple ink. Although Carroll was not known to use purple ink at the time when Alice was published, it had become his common practice by the time he was preparing the selection of text and images for his simpler abbreviated Nursery Alice (1889).
Furthermore, the text areas marked with marginal strokes clearly delineate text sections to be reworked for the later Nursery Book. Also intriguing is the fact that one editorial mark, whose textual significance is unclear, is a well-known mathematical symbol (which means "not equivalent").
In addition to the marginal lines and "O" marks (apparently for omit), the following markings occur: p. 7, one word "to" deleted, with delete symbol in margin; p. 34, parenthetical section regarding Shakespeare deleted; p. 84, mathematical? symbol in margin; pp. 98-99, line ending deleted, capital "H" starting new sentence written over lower-case "h" with Carroll's characteristic serif capital; p. 113, the word "seven" deleted, and "five" inserted in margin; p. 145, seven words deleted.
The 105 pages that bear purple markings occur without any observable pattern relating to the production, whether quality of inking, layout of text, or set-up of type. The marks were apparently made after the sheets were folded, opened, but in unbound quires. It is known that Carroll received unbound sheets for other works in advance of publication, and these could have been retained by him for this later revision. It is also possible that Macmillan provided them to him later, as leftover sheets, for revision purposes. "The first idea of a Nursery Edition came to Dodgson in 1881, perhaps as a result of seeing the 1874 Dutch abridgement of Alice. On 15 Feb. he noted in his Diary that 'I wrote to Macmillan to suggest a new idea, -- a Nursery Edition of Alice with pictures printed in colour'" (Williams-Madan-Green-Crutch, p. 161). On 13 April 1881 Macmillan wrote to Dodgson, regarding his proposal: "Please give me a list of the pieces you propose to include, and of the pictures you wish to reproduce. You should consult Mr. Tenniel on this and also on the colourist" (Lewis Carroll and the House of Macmillan, p. 163). Unfortunately, Dodgson's letters to Macmillan between 25 January and 17 August 1881 are missing, as these might have shed more light on the form Dodgson's proposals took.
In another letter to Macmillan regarding this Nursery Edition (17 August 1881), Dodgson wrote: "...please send Mr. Tenniel an Alice in sheets, that he may mark his alterations and cut the pictures out one by one. It seems a pity to spoil a bound copy for this purpose." It now appears that Dodgson himself made a similar use of sheets for selecting text and illustrations. In a later letter to Macmillan (8 July 1885) Dodgson mentions: "Mr. Tenniel has finished colouring the 20 enlarged pictures for the Nursery Alice, and I hope you will soon hear from Mr. Evans about it. I will shortly send you some selected portions of text, to set up for it..." In 1886 the Nursery Alice was announced as being in preparation.
The most compelling argument for relating this copy to the Nursery Edition is the deliberate selection of text and illustration and their relationship to each other. The text is marked with careful attention to the characters and illustrations, which eventually make their way into the Nursery Alice. Lengthy, difficult passages are omitted, the number of characters is limited and, most importantly, the text passages relate (sometimes pages later) clearly to the illustrations chosen, which was the stated intention of the Nursery Edition. At least since 1928 these markings have been attributed to Lewis Carroll and they were described as such in exhibition and auction catalogues up until 1990. The revisiting of Bond's original suggestion yields confirmation that the markings are autograph and re-establishes this as Dodgson's working copy.
DRAWINGS
Thirty of the forty-two of John Tenniel's original preliminary pencil drawings for the illustrations of Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland are known to survive (see Schiller/Census). Although other later drawings of some of these subjects were done by Tenniel on request after the engraved versions, only his original designs for the wood engravings to illustrate the edition are of real importance. THE TEN DRAWINGS BOUND IN THIS COPY COMPRISE THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF THE ORIGINAL DESIGNS IN ANY ONE LOCATION. Of these ten, at least two--"The Cheshire Cat" and "Nothing but a pack of Cards!"--stand as masterpieces of book illustration. All of the drawings were carefully chosen, perhaps by Tenniel himself for Montagu, to keep pace with the development of the story.
This copy also contains two clipped pencil signatures of Tenniel mounted on sheets and bound at front and back. Furthermore, on the half-title Tenniel has inscribed in pencil: "The pencil drawings in the book are the original sketches done by me. John Tenniel." Similar authenticating inscriptions by Tenniel appear in copies of the 1865 Alice that once belonged to Stuart M. Samuel, and Montagu's copy of Looking-Glass (see provenance below), both now at the Rosenbach Museum & Library (see Driver, A Selection from Our Shelves [Philadelphia, 1973] 80-81).
1. "The Pool of Tears" [Alice Swimming], captioned. 44 x 69 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 23. Schiller/Census A7.
2. "A crash of broken glass," captioned. 76 x 56 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 48. Schiller/Census A12.
3. "A Little Bill," captioned. 129 x 51 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 51. Schiller/Census A13.
4. "The Blue Caterpillar," captioned. 95 x 73 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 59 (Chapter V headpiece). Schiller/Census A15.
5. "For The Duchess" [The Frog Footman], captioned. 90 x 75 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 77. On the verso is a pencil sketch by Tenniel depicting Alice in a similar pose to the one illustrated on page 18 ("The Rabbit...scurried away into the Dark"). Schiller/Census A20.
6. "The Cheshire Cat," captioned. 131 x 90 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 91. The drawing had been separated into two pieces at some point and later rejoined horizontally along the trunk of the tree, just above Alice's head. On the verso is an unfinished pencil sketch by Tenniel (apparently unrelated to the Alice cycle of illustrations). Based on a composite version drawn by Carroll from an early woodblock proof, Schiller suggests that this was done to accomodate the new episodes of Dodgson's expanding text into the next chapter. Schiller/Census A23 (and see A24).
7. "Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!" 64 x 51 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 103. Schiller/Census A26.
8. "Dormouse and Teapot," captioned. 64 x 76 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 110. Schiller/Census A27.
9. "The mad Hatter," captioned. 51 x 64 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 173. Schiller/Census A39.
10. "Nothing but a pack of Cards!" captioned. 115 x 82 mm., inlaid to size and bound opposite the printed illustration on page 188, the final illustration of the book. Schiller/Census A42.
PROVENANCE
1. Lewis Carroll's working copy, the folded sheets provided to him by Macmillan & Co., publishers. Extensive autograph markings throughout in purple ink, planning the contents of The Nursery Alice (1889).
2. Louis Samuel Montagu, bound by Riviere for him (dated 1899), preserving the full untrimmed edges. Montagu was the eldest son of Sir Samuel Montagu, first Baron Swaythling, a distinguished foreign exchange banker and prominent Jewish philanthropist (see DNB, First Supplement). Montagu inherited the peerage at his father's death in 1911. He also owned a copy of Through the Looking Glass (which originally contained 22 original preliminary drawings by John Tenniel) for which he commissioned a matching slipcase from Riviere which bears the collector's name "L.S. Montagu 1905" (now in the Rosenbach Foundation Museum, along with the drawings which have been removed and matted separately). Montagu's widow Gladys Helen Rachel, the Dowager Lady Swaythling, consigned this book (and his Looking-Glass) for sale on 21 May 1928 for a net of #6000 ($30,000) to:
3. A.S.W. Rosenbach, 1928, who also acquired at the same time the companion volume Through the Looking-Glass, which he retained in his personal library and loaned for exhibition at the 1932 Columbia University centenary. A postcard from Gladys Swaythling to Rosenbach, May 21 1928, in the Swaythling correspondence files at the Rosenbach reads: "I hereby authorise Dr. A. Rosenbach to dispose of my Alice in Wonderland & Alice through the looking glass with Tenniels original drawings for six thousand pounds..." Rosenbach cabled Lady Swaythling on 15 June 1928 that her Alice had just been sold to:
4. Eldridge R. Johnson, Carroll collector and President of Victor Talking Machine Company, who purchased this book from Rosenbach for $40,000. He also acquired the inscribed copy to Mrs. Craik in its original cloth (now at Princeton, see census) and the original manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground (now in the British Library). Sold at the auction of his estate to:
5. Francis A. Kettaneh, puchased through Dr. Rosenbach at Eldridge Johnson's estate sale, New York, Parke-Bernet, New York, 3 April 1946, lot 52 for $23,000. (It was underbid by Chicago bookseller Frances Hamill on behalf of collector Harriet Borland). Sold at the auction of his library to:
6. Justin G. Schiller, purchased through John Fleming at the sale of Francis Kettaneh's library in Paris, Claude Gurin, Htel Drouot, 20 May 1980, lot 125 (for an account of this sale, see Schiller, "The Vicissitudes of an 1865 'Alice'," in: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, pp. 22-26).
EXHIBITED
The Free Library of Philadelphia: 27 June to 16 October 1928 (exhibited along with the manuscript for Alice's Adventures Under Ground), its first public display after its purchase by Eldridge R. Johnson of Moorestown, New Jersey.
The New York Public Library: 12 November 1928 to 31 January 1929.
The Cooper Library, Camden, New Jersey: 13 to 14 February 1929.
The Moorestown Community House, Moorestown, New Jersey: 12 April 1929.
The Library of Congress: 17 October 1929 to 28 February 1930.
The Boston Public Library: 9 June to 17 October 1930.
Columbia University, Avery Library: 28 March to 15 May 1932. The Lewis Carroll Centenary Exhibit (item 2a, where it is described as "Carroll's own uncut copy, with ten original drawings by Tenniel").
The Grolier Club: 16 December 1953 to 31 January 1954, "Famous Children's Books: American, British, Continental."
The Pierpont Morgan Library: 19 November 1954 to 28 February 1955, "Children's Literature Books and Manuscripts." Item 211.
The Pierpont Morgan Library: 2 September to 30 November 1975, "Early Children's Books and their Illustration." Item 209.
CENSUS
The following census follows (in abbreviated form) the updated census by Schiller of the Goodacre revision. It includes the Christ Church copy (missing since sometime between 1924-28).
1. New York University, Bobst Library, Alfred Berol Collection: ex-Agnes Thomas--Robert Edwin Thomas--Percival H. Alder-Barrett. Proof copy, trimmed, binder's cloth.
2. Justin G. Schiller: the copy here offered for sale.
3. Harvard University, Houghton Library, Harcourt Amory Collection: ex-C.L. Dodgson--George M. Williamson. Presentation binding in white vellum (intended for Alice Liddell).
4. Rosenbach Museum & Library: ex-Marion Terry ("MAB")--C.L. Dodgson--Stuart M. Samuel--William A. White. Presentation copy, rebound.
5. Christ Church, Oxford: missing since 1924-28. Presentation copy, original cloth.
6. Princeton University, Firestone Library, Morris Parrish Collection: ex-Dinah Mulock Craik--Mrs. Richards, of Blindwell--A.S.W. Rosenbach--Eldridge R. Johnson--Francis A. Kettaneh--Raymond M. Wapner. Presentation copy, original cloth (restored).
7. New York University, Bobst Library, Alfred Berol Collection: ex-Thomas Vere-Bayne--John Gribbel--John Bancker Gribbel--A.S.W. Rosenbach--Louis Rabinowitz--Alfred Berol. Known as "The Lost Alice," presentation copy, original cloth.
8. Huntington Library: ex-George Dalziel--T.G. Arthur. Original cloth.
9. Jon A. Lindseth: ex-Alexandra Rhoda Kitchin--Carl H. Pforzheimer--Harriet Borland--William Self. Original cloth (repaired).
10. Oxford University, Bodleian Library: ex-W. Combe(?)--St. Raphael's Home--Lord Harewood--Roger Lancelyn Green. Original cloth.
11. University of Texas, Humanities Research Center, Warren Weaver Collection: ex-Metropolitan Convalescent Institution, Children's Branch--Alice Cousins--L.C. Kent-Morgan--Warren Weaver. Known as "The India Alice," original cloth.
12. The British Library: ex-Alice Fannie Thomas--Sir Leicester Harmsworth--Duke of Gloucester. Original cloth (recased).
13. National Library of Scotland: ex-Hugh F.B. Sharp. Original cloth.
14. Private Collection, U.S.A.: ex-Robert Partridge--John N.S. Davis. Original cloth (restored).
15. Indiana University, Lilly Library: ex-Richard S. Wormser. Original cloth (recased and restored).
16. Harvard University, Houghton Library, Harcourt Amory Collection: ex-Harcourt Amory. Rebound in morocco.
17. Newberry Library: ex-Louis H. Silver. Rebound in morocco (internal repairs).
18. Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library: ex-Frederick C. Rogers. Rebound in morocco (lacking half-title).
19. Martin Bodmer Library, Geneva: ex-Wolcott--Frank Abbie Nye--Gabriel Wells--David Randall. Rebound in morocco.
20. Pierpont Morgan Library, Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. Collection of Lewis Carroll: ex-Henry Hollister Pease--Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. Rebound in morocco by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson.
21. Charles and Stephanie Lovett, North Carolina. Rebound in morocco.
22. New York Public Library, Berg Collection: ex-Anthony Lucy--J. Edwards--Jerome Kern--Owen D. Young. Rebound in morocco (restored).
23. Marquess of Bath, Longleat House: ex-Lord Cross--Herman V. Wilkinson. Recased in later Macmillan cloth binding.
Sale room notice
Please note that this lot measures 203 x 137 mm, not 223 x 137 mm. as stated in the catalogue.