Lot 547: Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, 1866 London MacMillan

ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll). London: MacMillan and Co., 1866. With forty-two illustrations by John Tenniel (illustrator). Octavo. 192pp. Second (First Published) Edition; first Issue with page 30 correctly numbered and the  inverted “S” on the last line of the contents page. Bound in London by Wood (likely Henry T. Wood & Sons) in full blue morocco with gilt decorated corners, the spines with 5 raised bands and title “Alice In Wonderland”, author’s name, and date of 1866 in gilt. Original red covers and spine bound in at rear of book. Gilt decorated inner boards, marbled endpapers with bookplate of Lillian Stokes Gillespie to front. Binder’s mark stamped in gilt to the lower inner front board. All edges gilt. Note: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was first published in 1865 by Macmillan and Co, but after only a few of the planned two thousand copies were fully published, the edition was suppressed when John Tenniel complained about the poor paper quality and their effect on the printings of his illustrations. Most of the copies that were printed went to Carroll to distribute to friends; they were subsequently donated to hospitals. Note: Lillian May (Stokes) Gillespie (1869-1915) was an independently wealthy socialite from the Stokes family of New York, a line of enormously successful financiers and merchants.

PROVENANCE:

Private Nashville Collection. 

CONDITION:

Front cover detached (kept secure with tape), along with 4 additional leaves, including half title. Frontispiece leaf separate but laid in. Spine separating from rear. Some foxing to front pages. Previous bookseller’s catalog entry pasted in.