Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by British author Lewis Carroll (1832-1838) is a classic work of nonsense literature first published in 1865. Originally intended for children, the novel has become a perennial favorite of adults thanks to Carroll’s sophisticated wordplay and humor. Carroll’s work has influenced or inspired authors as diverse as James Joyce and Neil Gaiman, surrealist painters like Salvador Dalí, and the philosopher Gilles Deleuze. The novel has never been out of print and has been widely translated and adapted. Carroll published the sequel Through the Looking Glass in 1871, a book that has also become a classic. This guide uses the 1977 Easton Press edition, part of the collection The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written.

The novel began as a story that Carroll told to the three daughters of his friend Henry Liddell while on a boat ride on the River Cherwell in 1862. Carroll first wrote the story with his own illustrations as Alice’s Adventures Underground and expanded it into the widely known published version in 1865. John Tenniel is the original illustrator, and his famous wood block illustrations, which range from whimsical to unsettling, convey the gothic aesthetic of Victorian children’s literature and have become inseparable from the story.