The Annotated Alice: 150th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (The Annotated Books)

About this book

A richly illustrated and expanded collectors edition of Martin Gardners The Annotated Alice including Through the Looking-Glass to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Alices Adventures in Wonderland One summer afternoon in 1862 the Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson took a rowboat out on the Thames. With him were three young friends from the Liddell familythe sisters Lorina Edith and Alice. Dodgson often spun fairy tales on these boating trips to pass the time and on this particular afternoon the story was particularly well received by Alice who afterwards entreated him to write it down for her. Dodgson recalled the pivotal moment thusly: "In a desperate attempt to strike out some new line of fairy-lore I had sent my heroine straight down a rabbit-hole to begin with without the least idea what was to happen afterwards." The tale initially titled Alices Adventures Under Ground became Alices Adventures in Wonderland which Dodgson published in 1865 as Lewis Carroll. So began the journey now in its 150th year of one of the most beloved stories of all time. The Annotated Alice: 150th Anniversary Deluxe Edition compiles over half a century of scholarship by leading Carrollian experts to reveal the history and full depth of the Alice books and their enigmatic creator. This volume brings together Martin Gardners legendary original 1960 publication The Annotated Alice; his follow-ups More Annotated Alice and the Definitive Edition; his continuing explication through the Knight Letter magazine; and masterly additions and updates edited by Mark Burstein president emeritus of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America. In these pages Lewis Carrolls mathematical riddles and curious wordplay ingeniously embedded throughout the Alice works are delightfully decoded and presented in the margins along with original correspondence amusing anecdotal detours and fanciful illustrations by Salvador Dal Beatrix Potter Ralph Steadman and a host of other famous artists. Put simply this anniversary edition of The Annotated Alice is the most comprehensive collection of Alice materials ever published in a single volume. May it serve as a beautiful and enduring tribute to the charming utterly original "new line of fairy-lore" that Lewis Carroll first spun 150 years ago. The deluxe anniversary edition of The Annotated Alice includes: A rare never-before-published portrait of Francis Jane Lutwidge Lewis Carrolls mother Over 100 new or updated annotations collected since the publication of Martin Gardners Definitive Edition of The Annotated Alice in 1999 More than 100 new illustrations in vibrant color by Salvador Dal Beatrix Potter Ralph Steadman and 42 other artists and illustrators in addition to the original artwork by Sir John Tenniel A preface by Mark Burstein president emeritus of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America and all of Gardners introductions to other editions A filmography of every Alice-related film by Carroll scholar David Schaefer 225 color and black-and-white illustrations