| White Rabbit Press | “The Nursery Alice” ~ Background |
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2 - Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (biography, by Edward Wakeling) 3 - Sir John Tenniel (biography, by Edward Wakeling) 4 - Alice Pleasance Liddell (biography, by Edward Wakeling) 5 - Emily Gertrude Thomson (biography, by Edward Wakeling)) 6 - "The Nursery 'Alice' Illustrations" (by Brian Sibley, courtesy The Lewis Carroll Society, UK)
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"The Nursery Alice" (excerpt) Carroll first conceived the idea of a nursery version of Alice around the beginning of 1881. In his diary on February 15 1881 he wrote "I wrote to Macmillan to suggest a new idea a "Nursery Edition' of Alice with pictures printed in ." For a number of years he negotiated the details of the publication (most especially the colouring of the illustrations) both with Mr. Tenniel and with Mr. Macmillan. In his diary on March 29 1885 Carroll lists fifteen literary projects he is currently engaged in and "Nursery Alice" appears ninth on this list together with the note that "twenty pictures are now being coloured by Mr. Tenniel." Carroll began working on the text for this adaptation on December 28 1888 (for which date his diary records simply "Began text of The Nursery Alice The text was done in a little under two months and on February 20 1889 Carroll's diary records "Sent off the last bit of MS. for The Nursery Alice." The book was printed in an edition of 10 000 copies but when Carroll saw the proofs he wrote to Macmillan (on June 23 1889): It is a great disappointment to me to have to postpone, til Xmas, the publication of The Nursery 'Alice: but it is absolutely necessary. The pictures are far too bright and gaudy and vulgarise the whole thing. None amuse be sold In England . . . Mr. Evans [the printer] must begin again and print 10 000 with Tenniel's coloured pictures before him." Carroll goes on to suggest that Macmillan attempt to sell the rejected 10 000 copies to America (as had been done with the rejected first edition of Alice). After a prolonged negotiation 4000 copies were sold to America where they were brought out with the Macmillan New York imprint (see number 25). Of the remaining 6000 sheets a portion were issued in 1891 as a "People's Edition" priced at 2 shillings (see 25a) and the remainder were issued in 1897 as a cheap issue priced at one shilling. The new edition was published on March 25 1890 also in an edition of 10 000 copies but sales were slow and so in 1896 the price was reduced from 4 shillings to I shilling. In his preface to the 86th thousand of Alice (see above number 10) Carroll writes: "I take this opportunity of announcing that the Nursery 'Alice hitherto priced at four shillings net, is now to be had on the same terms as the ordinary shilling picture books although I feel sure that it is. in every qualify (except the text itself, on which I am not qualified to pronounce) greatly superior to them... I am content to reckon my outlay on the book as so much dead loss and rather than let the little ones, for whom it was written, go without it, I am selling it at a price which is, to me, much the same as giving it away." The entire issue of the Jabberwocky for Autumn 1975 is devoted to various aspects of The Nursery Alice, and Selwyn Goodacre's article "The Nursery Alice - A Bibliographical Essay", on pp. 110-120 of that publication gives a detailed biographical history of this title. For further reading: ©Dodgson and the Victorian Cult of the Child ©The Illustrations of Sir John Tenniel ©Lewis Carroll and His Illustrators ©The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll (Rev. C.L. Dodgson) by Stuart Dodgson Collingwood ©Tenniel's Illustrations - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass ©Illustrator of Alice in Wonderland ©Lenny's Alice in Wonderland Site ©Alice Liddell - the original Alice ©LibriVox - different recordings of Alice Pleasance Liddell by Lewis Carroll ©Descendants of William the Conqueror ©Biography of Emily Gertrude Thomson by Lesley O'Neil ©Contrariwise - The Association for new Lewis Carroll Studies |
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