Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Carroll, Lewis - 1866

NY: D. Appleton and Co, 1866. Tenniel, John. Octavo. (v)ff., 192pp. First edition, second issue. With forty-two illustrations by John Tenniel. Carroll's enduring tale of a child's dreamworld was first issued in 1865 by Macmillan and Company of London, but Carroll and Tenniel were unhappy with the print quality of the illustrations and canceled the issue, insisting that the book be reprinted. Few copies of that first issue were ever released; fewer still are known to exist today. Many of the sheets had yet to be bound when Carroll suppressed the edition, and a number of these unbound sheets had been sold to Carroll's American publisher, Appleton, who added its own title page. Thus, the first American edition is comprised of the sheets from the suppressed London edition. Subsequently, Macmillan issued its second edition of Alice with re-set type and reprinted illustrations. Alice was an immediate sensation. Copies of the book were avidly read by their young owners and tend to show some wear as a result. This copy bound by Rivière in full red calf with triple gilt rules on both covers, gilt dentelles, and marbled endpapers. Spine richly gilt in six compartments, with leather labels in two compartments, lettered in gilt. Original endpapers and red cloth binding bound-in following the text. Rear board faintly scuffed, spine lightly rubbed in spots. Pages show occasional light finger smudges and a few professionally repaired marginal tears; very faint owner's inscription. A.e.g. (Ray English 185A; Carroll Handbook [1979] 44; Williams 9; see Printing and the Mind of Man 354).