‘Extremely rare’: A first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 
 
 Books specialist Francis Wahlgren on a remarkable true first edition published in 1865 — one of only 23 surviving copies 
 
 ‘This is a true first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,’ says Francis Wahlgren, Christie’s International Director of Science & Books, of an original 1865 edition of the Lewis Carroll fantasy that went on to become one of the most famous works in children’s literature. It will be offered in a stand-alone sale taking place at 12pm on 16 June, immediately following the Books & Manuscripts auction at Christie’s New York. 
 
 A lecturer in mathematics at Oxford, Carroll’s real passion was for storytelling, says Wahlgren. ‘This copy (estimate: $2,000,000-3,000,000) is interesting because we can trace its history back to the Oxford days,’ he notes. ‘It was given to a little girl by her father, who had a position at Oxford, and it stayed with her for her entire life.’ 
 
 The story of the 1865 edition begins on 4 July 1862 when Charles Dodgson (alias Lewis Carroll), along with a friend The Rev Robinson Duckworth, took the three daughters of Dean Liddell of Christ Church, Oxford — Lorina, Alice and Edith — on a boat trip on the Thames. During the afternoon he related the first parts of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, the precursor to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. On their return, Alice asked him to write down the story. 
 
 ‘Seeing an 1865 Alice is a very special thing. This edition has the original integrity which any collector really values’ 
 
 Working with renowned illustrator John Tenniel of Punch magazine, Lewis Carroll developed the elements of the story into this book. Three years later, during June 1865, the first edition was printed with the intention to have Macmillan & Co. of London publish it on 4 July 1865. Lewis Carroll requested 50 advance copies to give away. A few days later Carroll heard from Tenniel that he was ‘entirely dissatisfied with the printing of the pictures.’ Carroll withdrew the entire edition of 2000 and asked for the advance copies he had sent to be returned. 
 
 Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge ('Lewis Carroll'), Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. London: [The Clarendon Press for] Macmillan, 1865. 42 wood-engraved illustrations by the Dalziel brothers after John Tenniel. Original publisher’s red cloth decorated in gilt, original endpapers with Burn bindery ticket on rear pastedown. Estimate: $2,000,000-3,000,000. This work is offered on 16 June at Christie’s New York 
 
 ‘Seeing an 1865 Alice is a very special thing,’ Wahlgren continues. ‘There are only 23 surviving copies, of which all but five are in public institutions.’ This edition has remained remarkably intact over the intervening 150 years since its publication, and still features its original binding, binder’s ticket and title page. ‘It has the original integrity which any collector really values,’ Wahlgren adds. It is one of ten surviving copies still in original red cloth, only two of which are in private hands, the other described as ‘heavily worn’. 
 
 This copy was given by Lewis Carroll to George William Kitchin, a colleague of Carroll’s at Christ Church, and Secretary of the School Book Committee for the University Press. Kitchin later gave the book to his daughter Alexandra (‘Xie’) Rhoda Kitchin (born 1864), who was one of Carroll’s favourite photographic models. The book is accompanied by an original photograph of her taken by Lewis Carroll. She sold the copy at auction in 1925, but, sadly, died on the day of the sale. 
 
 ‘This book is extremely rare,’ says Wahlgren, ‘and really epitomises why I do my job and why I’m here at Christie’s.’ 
 
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 One of the great rarities of 19th century literature - a true first edition of “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll - will be up for auction at Christie’s in New York City on June 16. The book--one of only 23 known copies--is expected to fetch between $2m and $3m. 
 
 Two thousand copies of the first edition of “Alice in Wonderland” were printed by Macmillan in 1865, with 50 advance copies sent to Carroll to give away as he wished. Shortly after their arrival, however, Carroll heard from the book’s illustrator, John Tenniel, that he was “entirely dissatisfied with the printing of the pictures.” Carroll recalled the print run and asked for the advance copies he’d distributed to be returned to him. Mostly they were, and the vast majority of the print run was scrapped for waste paper. 
 
 But at least 23 copies survived, with a lingering possibility that other copies might surface over time. Of the known copies, eighteen are owned by institutions and five by private individuals. 
 
 The copy at auction was given by Carroll to his Oxford colleague George William Kitchin, who passed it on to his daughter Alexandra. She, in turn, sold the book at auction in 1925 to the Pforzheimer library. The book has since passed through multiple hands. Its current owner is Jon Lindseth, a Carroll scholar and bibliographer. To read more about Lindseth and this book, go here. 
 
 [Image from Christie’s]
– "One of the great rarities of 19th century literature" is about to hit the auction block. A first edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland will be sold by Christie's on June 16—almost exactly 151 years after it was first printed. The book's existence is actually quite remarkable: As Fine Books Magazine explains, 2,000 copies were printed in 1865, but illustrator John Tenniel was so unhappy with the printing of the pictures that he ordered every copy be returned and a fresh copy printed. The returned copies were to be "sold as waste paper," Carroll wrote in his diary. Yet 23 known copies survive—18 of which are kept in public institutions, according to Christie's. The available copy is expected to fetch $2 million to $3 million, "making it presumably the most expensive waste paper that ever existed," per Quartz. A Carroll scholar says the edition is "so choice" that "collectors would trade whole segments of their libraries for a single copy of the 'first' Alice; bibliographers dream of uncovering an unrecorded copy; and literary chroniclers are at a loss to explain how, even in the heyday of Victorian publishing, such extravagant decisions could be made over a single children's book as were made over this one," per the Guardian. Carroll, who lost the equivalent of $62,000 on the first edition, personally gave the copy to a colleague at Oxford University—where he worked as a mathematician—who gave it to his daughter. It changed hands several times after her death in 1925 before making its way to its current owner, but it remains "in its true original state, with the text and binding as they were when the book was first produced," Christie's says. (An unpublished story of Peter Rabbit just emerged.)