Alice's Adventures Under Ground

After we went to see Tim Burton's quite delightful version of Alice in Wonderland , I was drawn back to the original. This is a facsimile edition of the handwritten copy with 37 of his own illustrations that Lewis Carroll gave to Alice Liddell for Christmas in 1864. This is the gentlest version of Alice's adventures -- thoroughly suitable for young children. And it is interesting to see it written in Carroll's handwriting with his rather rough pictures.

Cute, mildly interesting - more for its history than for the story. It's not quite all of Alice in Wonderland (which is apparently almost twice as long), but all the events are in that story, though not necessarily in the same order. It's missing some major bits - the Cheshire Cat and the whole Mad Tea Party, for one. The drawings are nice - he may not have thought of himself as good at sketching, but his people look like people both in profile and in full-face, which is more than I can say for a lot of people sketching today (including me). They look like just ink drawings, though I suspect he either pasted them in after he got a good version or copied them from a good version. Other than the sketches, and I suppose the handwriting, show more there's not much that stands out about the book. The foreword and intro, by Alice's granddaughter and...an editor of the facsimile edition? Russell Ash, not sure - are interesting too, two takes on the history of this manuscript. Glad I read it, I see no need to read it again. show less

The original Alice, which somehow seems more akin to a real dream than the story published later. A few things - obvious things - dawned on me that had never occurred to me before, for instance the gardeners being "spades" and the soldiers "clubs". There's no little pig, or Mad Hatter's Tea Party, or Cheshire Cat, but a little dog, the caterpillar, a gryphon and the Mock Turtle.
The accompanying booklet by Sally Brown about Lewis Carroll and his photography is an interesting complement.

I love holding this book. Because it is a facsimile of the original manuscript, it almost feels as though you are holding the original. The illustrations set into the text are odd and fascinating, and the language of the text is brilliant.

I'm having an Alice binge at the moment and decided i needed to go back to the very beginning of the story to see how it came about.

This book is great, not just having the original story, but also letters to and from the author at the time. A wonderful piece of literary history.

And now i'm straight into 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland', which is the re-written and fleshed out edition of this original.

Definitely something all adults should go back and read - and learn not to take things too seriously.

This was the original version of the published Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, presented to the little girl Alice Liddell to whom he had originally narrated his story on a boat trip. It is half the length of the published story and lacks the Cheshire cat and the Mad Hatter's tea party. Carroll's own illustrations are simpler yet in a way more haunting than the more famous Tenniel illustrations. Still very entertaining. 5/5

Such a cool copy of Carrol’s original story. Also an amazing document showing his handwriting and drawings.