You can find hundreds of versions of Alice's classic tale, but this one is my favorite. Wonderland, Looking Glass, and the Snark are all together, fighting for your attention as soon as you dare to pick up the book. This version was published in 1925, when the world had not yet lost its innocence, unaware of what was around the corner. The pages are uncut, such a joy to hold, really. This is why we buy used books, so we can share the previous owner's secrets.

Frances Clareva White, December 25th 1925. From Daddy & Mummy with heaps of love -

Who was Frances? This was obviously a Christmas gift...does anyone from this family still survive? Did they treasure this book? Was it eventually sold, an orphan of the shelves? Memory's mystic band.

The other bonus of this edition is the introduction from Alexander Woollcott. Again, in the age of innocence, we get details of Lewis Carroll's daily life.

You must picture Lewis Carroll as living precisely in his quarters in the Tom Quad at Christ Church, all his life neatly pigeonholed, all the letters he wrote or received in thirty-seven years elaborately summarized and catalogues, so that by the time he died there were more than 98,000 cross references in the files of his correspondence. He was the kind of man who kept a diagram showing where you sat, lest he serve you with the same dish when you came again.

Years ago, while on a wonderful plum pudding-filled visit to Guernsey, a group of us walked from the hotel to sing the Christmas Mass. When we finished our sherry-indulged singing, we started back when we came upon a lone gentleman standing on the crisp, winter street. He was quoting the Hunting of the Snark, word for word. A wonderful memory.

Since then, Lewis Carroll's classics have been a part of my holiday celebration.

Book Season = Winter (feliz navidad) ( )

One of the best books of all time, even if the author was a perv. ( )