CARROLL, Lewis.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. First edition, second issue: the first practicably obtainable issue of the original printing, comprising sheets of the suppressed 1865 printing of Alice with a cancel title page. The issue consisted of the first printing sheets with new tipped-in title pages also printed at the Clarendon Press in Oxford.Lovett identifies two versions of signature [b]. This copy corresponds to his variant A ("Alice! A childish..." in the prefatory poem, and no hyphen in "Rabbit Hole" in the table of contents).The story of the first printing of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a fine bibliographical tale. Although Dodgson had visited the publishers on 15 July 1865 to inscribe presentation copies, he had detected no problem. He was contacted by Tenniel on 19 July, who was "dissatisfied with the printing of the pictures". Williams, Madan, Green, and Crutch note that "it may be added that Tenniel must have been hypersensitive about his drawings".Dodgson tried to recall the copies, and a new printing was ordered, becoming the second, but first published, edition. Faced with the question of what to do with the original printing, it was decided to sell the remaining sheets to the New York firm of A. Appleton. After consulting Tenniel, Dodgson authorized the issue on 10 April 1866 and was invoiced for the printing of American title pages on 26 May.

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