Which creatures are used as croquet balls in the novel ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’?
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Croquet Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Croquet is a sport   that involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court.

History

The oldest document to bear the word croquet with a description of the modern game is the set of rules registered by Isaac Spratt in November 1856 with the Stationers' Company in London.  This record is now in the Public Record Office. In 1868, the first croquet all-comers' meet was held at Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire and in the same year the All England Croquet Club was formed at Wimbledon, London.

Regardless when and by what route it reached England and the British colonies in its recognizable form, croquet is, like golf, pall-mall, trucco, and kolven, among the later forms of ground billiards, which as a class have been popular in Western Europe back to at least the Late Middle Ages, with roots in classical antiquity, including sometimes the use of arches and pegs along with and balls and mallets or other striking sticks (some more akin to modern field hockey sticks).     By the 12th century, a team ball game called ' or ', akin to a chaotic version of hockey or football (depending on whether sticks were used), was regularly played in France and southern Britain between villages or parishes; it was attested in Cornwall as early as 1283.   

In the book Queen of Games: The History of Croquet,  Nicky Smith presents two theories of the origin of the modern game of croquet, which took England by storm in the 1860s and then spread overseas.

The first explanation is that the ancestral game was introduced to Britain from France during the 1630–1685 reign of Charles II of England, and was played under the name of ' (among other spellings, today usually pall-mall), derived ultimately from Latin words for'"ball and mallet' (the latter also found in the name of the earlier French game, ').  This was the explanation given in the ninth edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica, dated 1877.  In his 1810 book The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, Joseph Strutt, in 1611, described the way pall-mall was played in England at the time:  "Pale-maille is a game wherein a round box[wood] ball is struck with a mallet through a high arch of iron, which he that can do at the fewest blows, or at the number agreed upon, wins.  It is to be observed, that there are two of these arches, that is one at either end of the alley. The game of mall was a fashionable amusement in the reign of Charles the Second, and the walk in Saint James's Park, now called the Mall, received its name from having been appropriated to the purpose of playing at mall, where Charles himself and his courtiers frequently exercised themselves in the practice of this pastime."  

While the name pall-mall and various games bearing this name also appeared elsewhere (France and Italy), the description above suggests that the croquet-like games in particular were popular in England by the early 17th century.  Some other early modern sources refer to pall-mall being played over a large distance (as in golf), however an image in Strutt's 1801 book shows a croquet-like ground billiards game (balls on ground, hoop, bats and peg) being played over a , garden-sized distance.  The image's caption describes the game as "a curious ancient pastime", confirming that croquet games were not new in early nineteenth century England.

In Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary, his definition of "pall-mall" clearly describes a game with similarities to modern croquet: "A play in which the ball is struck with a mallet through an iron ring".  However, there is no evidence that pall-mall involved the croquet stroke which is the distinguishing characteristic of the modern game.

The second theory is that the rules of the modern game of croquet arrived from Ireland during the 1850s, perhaps after being brought there from Brittany where a similar game was played on the beaches. Regular contact between Ireland and France had continued since the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169. By no later than the early 15th century, the game ' (itself ancestral to pall-mall and perhaps to indoor billiards) was popular in France, including in the courts of Henry II in the 16th century and Louis XIV of the 17th. At least one version of it, ' ('wheel') was a multi-ball lawn game.  Records show a game called "crookey", similar to croquet, being played at Castlebellinghamin County Louth, Ireland, in 1834, which was introduced to Galway in 1835 and played on the bishop's palace garden, and in the same year to the genteel Dublin suburb of Kingstown (today Dún Laoghaire) where it was first spelt as "croquet".  There is, however, no pre-1858 Irish document that describes the way game was played, in particular there is no reference to the distinctive croquet stroke.  The noted croquet historian Dr Prior, in his book of 1872, makes the categoric statement "One thing only is certain: it is from Ireland that croquet came to England and it was on the lawn of the late Lord Lonsdale that it was first played in this country." This was about 1851. 

John Jaques apparently claimed in a letter to Arthur Lillie in 1873 that he had himself seen the game played in Ireland and, "I made the implements and published directions (such as they were) before Mr Spratt [mentioned above] introduced the subject to me." Whatever the truth of the matter, Jaques certainly played an important role in popularising the game, producing editions of the rules in 1857, 1860, and 1864.

Croquet became highly popular as a social pastime in England during the 1860s. It was enthusiastically adopted and promoted by the Earl of Essex who held lavish croquet parties at Cassiobury House, his stately home in Watford, Hertfordshire, and the Earl even launched his own Cassiobury brand croquet set.   By 1867, Jaques had printed 65,000 copies of his Laws and Regulations of the game. It quickly spread to other Anglophone countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States. No doubt one of the attractions was that the game could be played by both sexes; this also ensured a certain amount of adverse comment.

By the late 1870s, however, croquet had been eclipsed by another fashionable game, tennis, and many of the newly created croquet clubs, including the All England club at Wimbledon, converted some or all of their lawns into tennis courts. There was a revival in the 1890s, but from then onwards, croquet was always a minority sport, with national individual participation amounting to a few thousand players. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club still has a croquet lawn, but has not hosted any significant tournaments. The English headquarters for the game is now in Cheltenham.

Captain Moreton's Eglinton Castle

The earliest known reference to croquet in Scotland is the booklet The Game of Croquet, its Laws and Regulations which was published in the mid-1860s for the proprietor of Eglinton Castle, the Earl of Eglinton. On the page facing the title page is a picture of Eglinton Castle with a game of "croquet" in full swing. 

The croquet lawn existed on the northern terrace, between Eglinton Castle and the Lugton Water. The 13th Earl developed a variation on croquet named Captain Moreton's Eglinton Castle croquet, which had small bells on the eight hoops "to ring the changes", two pegs, a double hoop with a bell and two tunnels for the ball to pass through. In 1865 the 'Rules of the Eglinton Castle and Cassiobury Croquet' was published by Edmund Routledge.  Several incomplete sets of this form of croquet are known to exist, and one complete set is still used for demonstration games in the West of Scotland. It is not known why the earl named the game thus. 

Competitive variations

There are several variations of croquet currently played, differing in the scoring systems, order of shots, and layout (particularly in social games where play must be adapted to smaller-than-standard playing courts). Two forms of the game, association croquet and golf croquet, have rules that are agreed internationally and are played in many countries around the world. The United States has its own set of rules for domestic games. Gateball, a sport originated in Japan under the influence of croquet, is played mainly in East and Southeast Asia and the Americas and can also be regarded as a croquet variant.

As well as club-level games, there are regular world championships and international matches between croquet-playing countries. The sport has particularly strong followings in the UK, US, New Zealand and Australia; every four years, these countries play the MacRobertson Shield tournament. Many other countries also play. The current world rankings  show England in top place for association croquet, followed by Australia and New Zealand sharing second place, with the United States in fourth position; the same four countries appear in the top six of the golf croquet league table, below Egypt in top position, and with South Africa at number five.

Croquet is popularly believed to be viciously competitive.  This may derive from the fact that (unlike in golf) players will often attempt to move their opponents' balls to unfavourable positions. However, purely negative play is rarely a winning strategy: successful players (in all versions other than golf croquet) will use all four balls to set up a break for themselves, rather than simply making the game as difficult as possible for their opponents. At championship-standard association croquet, players can often make all 26 points (13 for each ball) in two turns.

Croquet was an event at the 1900 Summer Olympics. Roque, an American variation on croquet, was an event at the 1904 Summer Olympics.

Pronunciation

Like similar words with a French derivation, the final 't' is silent. British pronunciation puts the accent on the first syllable, American on the second: ˈkrəʊkeɪ versus kroʊˈkeɪ.

Variations

Association

Association croquet is the name of an advanced game of croquet, played at international level. It involves four balls teamed in pairs, with both balls going through every hoop for one pair to win. The game's distinguishing feature is the "croquet" shot: when certain balls hit other balls, extra shots are allowed. The six hoops are arranged three at each end of the court, with a centre peg.

In association croquet one side takes the black and blue balls, the other takes red and yellow.
At each turn, players can choose to play with either of their balls for that turn.
At the start of a turn, the player plays a stroke. If the player either hits the ball through the correct hoop ("runs" the hoop), or hits another ball (a "roquet"), the turn continues.
Following a roquet, the player picks up his or her own ball and puts it down next to the ball that it hit. The next shot is played with the two balls touching: this is the "croquet stroke" from which the game takes its name. By varying the speed and angle at which the mallet hits the striker's ball, a good player can control the final position of both balls: the horizontal angle determines how much the balls diverge in direction, while the vertical angle and the amount of follow-through determine the relative distance that the two balls travel.

After the croquet stroke, the player plays a "continuation" stroke, during which the player may again attempt to make a roquet or run a hoop. Each of the other three balls may be roqueted once in a turn before a hoop is run, after which they become available to be roqueted again.
The winner of the game is the team who completes the set circuit of six hoops (and then back again the other way), with both balls, and then strikes the centre peg (making a total of 13 points per ball = 26).

Good players may make "breaks" of several hoops in a single turn.  The best players may take a ball round a full circuit in one turn. "Advanced play" (a variant of association play for expert players) gives penalties to a player who runs certain hoops in a turn, to allow the opponent a chance of getting back into the game; feats of skill such as triple peels or better, in which the partner ball (or occasionally an opponent ball) is caused to run a number of hoops in a turn by the striker's ball help avoid these penalties.

A handicap system ('bisques') provides less experienced players a chance of winning against more formidable opponents. Players of all ages and both sexes compete on level terms.

The World Championships are organised by the World Croquet Federation (WCF)  and usually take place every 2 or 3 years. The 2016 championships took place in Florida, the winner being Stephen Mulliner of England — at 62, the oldest ever champion.  The current Women's Association Croquet World Champion (2015) is Miranda Chapman of England.  The New Zealand team won the last MacRobertson International Croquet Shield tournament, which is the major international test tour trophy in association croquet. It is contested every three to four years between Australia, Great Britain, the United States and New Zealand. Historically the British have been the dominant force, winning 14 times out of the 20 times the event has been held. In individual competition, the UK is often divided by subnational country (England, Scotland and Wales), while Northern Ireland joins with the republic in an All Ireland association (as it does in other sports).

The world's top 10 association croquet players as of December 2015 were Robert Fulford (England), Robert Fletcher (Australia), Reg Bamford (South Africa), Greg Bryant (New Zealand), Paddy Chapman (New Zealand), David Maugham (England), Jamie Burch (England), Jonathan Kirby (Scotland), Jeff Dawson (England), Samir Patel (England). 

Unlike most sports, men and women compete and are ranked together. Three women have won the British Open Championship: Lily Gower in 1905, Dorothy Steel in 1925, 1933, 1935 and 1936, and Hope Rotherham in 1960. While male players are in the majority at club level in the UK, the opposite is the case in Australia and New Zealand.

The governing body in England is The Croquet Association, which has been the driving force of the development of the game. The rules and tournament regulations are now maintained by the International Laws Committee, established by the croquet associations of England and Wales (CA), Australia (ACA), New Zealand (CNZ) and the United States (USCA).

Golf

In golf croquet, a hoop is won by the first ball to go through each hoop. Unlike association croquet, there are no additional turns for hitting other balls.

Each player takes a stroke in turn, each trying to hit a ball through the same hoop. The sequence of play is blue, red, black, yellow. Blue and black balls play against red and yellow. When a hoop is won, the sequence of play continues as before. The winner of the game is the player/team who wins the most hoops.

Golf croquet is the fastest-growing version of the game,  owing largely to its simplicity and competitiveness.  There is an especially large interest with competitive success by players in Egypt.  Golf croquet is easier to learn and play, but requires strategic skills and accurate play. In comparison with association croquet, play is faster and balls are more likely to be lifted off the ground.

In April 2013, Reg Bamford of South Africa beat Ahmed Nasr of Egypt in the final of the Golf Croquet World Championship in Cairo, becoming the first person to simultaneously hold the title in both association croquet and golf croquet.  As of 2015, the Golf Croquet World Champion was Ahmed El Mahdi (Egypt) and the Women's Golf Croquet World Champion was Judith Hanekom (South Africa). 

Garden

Garden croquet is widely played in the UK. The rules are easy to learn and the game can be played on lawns of almost any size but usually around 32 ft by 40 ft. The rules are similar to those described above for Association Croquet with three major differences:

# The starting point for all balls is a spot  in from the boundary directly in front of hoop 1. 
# If a strikers ball goes off, there is no penalty, it comes back on  and the turn continues.
# In a croquet stroke the croqueted ball does not have to move when the strikers ball is struck.

This version of the game is easy for beginners to learn. The main Garden Croquet Club in the UK is the Bygrave Croquet Club which is a private club with five lawns. Other clubs also use garden croquet as an introduction to the game, notably the Hampstead Heath Croquet Club and the Watford Croquet Club.

American six-wicket

The American rules version of croquet, another six-hoop game, is the dominant version of the game in the United States and is also widely played in Canada. It is governed by the United States Croquet Association. Its genesis is mostly in association croquet, but it differs in a number of important ways that reflect the home-grown traditions of American "backyard" croquet.

Two of the most notable differences are that the balls are always played in the same sequence (blue, red, black, yellow) throughout the game, and that a ball's "deadness" on other balls is carried over from turn to turn until the ball has been "cleared" by scoring its next hoop. A Deadness Board is used to keep track of deadness on all four balls.  Tactics are simplified on the one hand by the strict sequence of play, and complicated on the other hand by the continuation of deadness. A further difference is the more restrictive boundary-line rules of American croquet. 

In the American game, roqueting a ball out of bounds or running a hoop out of bounds causes the turn to end, and balls that go out of bounds are replaced only 9 in from the boundary rather than  as in association croquet. "Attacking" balls on the boundary line to bring them into play is thus far more challenging.

Nine-wicket

Nine-wicket croquet, sometimes called "backyard croquet", is played mainly in Canada and the United States, and is the game most recreational players in those countries call simply "croquet". In this version of croquet there are nine wickets, two stakes, and six balls. Players compete individually with a single ball, or Cutthroat, to stake out first. There are  six balls in a typical set so up to six players can compete at once but a game can be played with fewer balls. The course is arranged in a double-diamond pattern, with one stake at each end of the course.  Players start at one stake, navigate one side of the double diamond, hit the turning stake, then navigate the opposite side of the double diamond and hit the starting stake to win the game.

Another variation of basic backyard croquet is Partner Ball where two teams compete against each other. It is played with four balls, and teams are blue-black versus red-yellow. Sequence of play is according to the colors on the stakes:blue, red, black, yellow. Up to four players can compete as two teams making this a more friendly and sociable game where people can strategize and work together. Games are won by aggressive scoring of multiple wickets in one turn. This is called "break play".

Each time a ball is roqueted a croquet shot must be taken, players have four options after roqueting another ball.  These reflect the more individual aspect of nine-wicket croquet.  The options are:
. 
If two bonus shots are scored by striking another ball, the first of these two shots may be taken in any of four ways:
from a mallet-head distance or less away from the ball that was hit (“taking a mallet-head”)
From a position in contact with the ball that was hit, with the striker ball held steady by the striker's foot or hand (a “foot shot” or “hand shot”)
From a position in contact with the ball that was hit, with the striker ball not held by foot or hand (a “croquet shot”)
From where the striker ball stopped after the roquet.
The second bonus shot after a roquet is an ordinary shot played from where the striker ball came to rest, called a "continuation shot".

* Croquet shot: Players place their ball in contact with the ball they hit and strike their ball in such a way that both balls move. This "buggy ride" is very useful for positioning the ball for a second use after going through a wicket. Firing a ball is when a player place their hand or foot on top of their ball, then strike their own ball such that their opponent's ball moves away while their own ball remains in place. Players often "fire" a ball far away or off the court to get them away from their next wicket. They may then take their second shot as a "continuation shot". Carryover Deadness is often imposed to make the game more difficult and players have to remember who they hit last before getting cleared of deadness by going through their next wicket.

In Cutthroat, the first person to finish the course wins the game.  However, some players prefer to use an endgame procedure called "poison". In poison, once a player has scored the last hoop but has not hit the starting stake, their ball becomes "poison", which allows them to eliminate other balls from the game by roqueting them. If a non-poison ball roquets a poison ball, the standard roqueting options apply, but if a poison ball travels through a wicket or hits a stake for any reason, it forfeits and is eliminated from the game.The last person remaining is the winner. 

In Partner Ball games are usually timed to 60 minutes with the high score team (most wickets cleared) being the winner.

Ricochet

This version of the game was invented by John Riches of Adelaide, Australia with help from Tom Armstrong in the 1980s. The game can be played by up to 6 people and is very easy to learn. For this reason it is often used as a stepping stone to association croquet. Ricochet has similar rules to association and garden croquet, except that when a ball is roqueted, the striker's ball remains live and two free shots are earned. This enables strikers to play their ball near to another opponent ball and ricochet that too thus earning two more free shots. Running a hoop earns one free shot.

Glossary of terms

* Backward ball: The ball of a side that has scored fewer hoops (compare with 'forward ball'). 
* Ball-in-hand: A ball that the striker can pick up to change its position, for example:
# any ball when it leaves the court has to be replaced on the yard-line
# the striker’s ball after making a roquet must be placed in contact with the roqueted ball
# the striker’s ball when the striker is entitled to a lift. 
* Ball in play: A ball after it has been played into the game, which is not a ball in hand or pegged out.
* Baulk: An imaginary line on which a ball is placed for its first shot in the game, or when taking a lift. The A-baulk coincides with the western half of the yard line along the south boundary; the B-baulk occupies the eastern half of the north boundary yard line.
* Bisque, half-bisque A bisque is a free turn in a handicap match. A half-bisque is a restricted handicap turn in which no point may be scored.
* Break down: To end a turn by making a mistake.
* Continuation stroke: Either the bonus stroke played after running a hoop in order or the second bonus stroke played after making a roquet.
* Croquet stroke: A stroke taken after making a roquet, in which the striker's ball and the roqueted ball are placed together in contact.
* Double tap: A fault in which the mallet makes more than one audible sound when it strikes the ball.
* Forward ball: The ball of a side that has scored more hoops (compare with 'backward ball').
* Hoop: Metal U-shaped gate pushed into ground. (Also called a wicket in the US).
* Leave: The position of the balls after a successful break, in which the striker is able to leave the balls placed so as to make life as difficult as possible for the opponent.
* Lift: A turn in which the player is entitled to remove the ball from its current position and play instead from either baulk line. A lift is permitted when a ball has been placed by the opponent in a position where it is wired from all other balls, and also in advanced play when the opponent has completed a break that includes hoops 1-back or 4-back.
* Object ball: A ball which is going to be rushed.
* Peg out: To cause a rover ball to strike the peg and conclude its active involvement in the game.
* Peel: To send a ball other than the striker's ball through its target hoop.
* Pioneer: A ball placed in a strategic position near the striker's next-but-one or next-but-two hoop, to assist in running that hoop later in the break.
* Primary colours or first colours: The main croquet ball colours used which are blue, red, black and yellow (in order of play). Blue and black, and red and yellow, are played by the same player or pair.
* Push: A fault when the mallet pushes the striker's ball, rather than making a clean strike.
* Roquet: (Second syllable rhymes with "play".) When the striker’s ball hits a ball that he is entitled to then take a croquet shot with. At the start of a turn, the striker is entitled to roquet all the other three balls once. Once the striker's ball goes through its target hoop, it is again entitled to roquet the other balls once.
* Rover ball: A ball that has run all 12 hoops and can be pegged out.
* Rover hoop: The last hoop, indicated by a red top bar. The first hoop has a blue top.
* Run a hoop: To send the striker’s ball through a hoop. If the hoop is the hoop in order for the striker’s ball, the striker earns a bonus stroke.
* Rush: A roquet when the roqueted ball is sent to a specific position on the court, such as the next hoop for the striker’s ball or close to a ball that the striker wishes to roquet next.
* Scatter shot: A continuation stroke used to hit a ball which may not be roqueted in order to send it to a less dangerous position.
* Secondary colours or second colours; also known as alternate colours: The colours of the balls used in the second game played on the same court in double-banking: green, pink, brown and white (in order of play). Green and brown versus pink and white, are played by the same player or pair.
* Sextuple peel (SXP): To peel the partner ball through its last six hoops in the course of a single turn. Very few players have achieved this feat, but it is being seen increasingly at championship level.
* Tice: A ball sent to a location that will entice an opponent to shoot at it but miss.
* Triple peel (TP): To send a ball other than the striker’s ball through its last three hoops, and then peg it out. See also Triple Peel, A variant is the Triple Peel on Opponent (TPO), where the peelee is the opponent's ball rather than the partner ball. The significance of this manoevre is that in advanced play, making a break that includes the tenth hoop (called 4-back) is penalized by granting the opponent a lift (entitling him to take the next shot from either baulk line). Therefore, many breaks stop voluntarily with three hoops and the peg still to run.
* Wired: When a hoop or the peg impedes the path of a striker's ball, or the swing of the mallet. A player will often endeavour to finish a turn with the opponent's balls wired from each other.
* Yard line: An imaginary line  from the boundary. Balls that go off the boundary are generally replaced on the yard line (but if this happens on a croquet stroke, the turn ends).

In art and literature

The way croquet is depicted in paintings and books says much about popular perceptions of the game, though little about the reality of modern play.
* In 1868 a song titled Croquet (essentially anonymous: by M.B.C.S and W.O.F.) was included in a popular song book by W. O. Perkins, The Golden Robin (Pub. Oliver Ditson & Company, New York). ("Upon the smoothly shaven lawn, Beneath the skies of May, Oh, boys and girls, this merry morn, Come out and play Croquet ..."); there are four full verses.
* Winslow Homer, Édouard Manet, Louise Abbéma and Pierre Bonnard all have paintings titled The Croquet Game.
* Norman Rockwell often depicted the game, including in his painting Croquet.
* A favorite subject of Edward Gorey, a croquet reference often appeared in the first illustration of his books. The Epiplectic Bicycle opens with two illustrations of the main characters playing with croquet mallets.
* H. G. Wells wrote The Croquet Player, which uses croquet as a metaphor for the way in which people confront the very problem of their own existence.
* Lewis Carroll featured a nonsense version of the game in the popular children's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: a hedgehog was used as the ball, a flamingo as the mallet, and playing cards as the hoops.
* In the Thursday Next series of novels, notably Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde depicts an alternative world in which croquet is a brutal mass spectator sport.
* In the 1988 film Heathers, Winona Ryder and her friends, the Heathers, are depicted as playing croquet, though at the beginning, the Heathers are playing croquet to hit someone on the head.
*  The cover of the 1971 Genesis album "Nursery Cryme" shows Cynthia, a character in the song 'Musical Box' holding a croquet mallet with a few heads on the playing field including another character of the song Henry's head that she removed with said mallet.

In politics

On 25 May 2006, the then British Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, was photographed by The Mail on Sunday playing croquet at his official residence, Dorneywood.  Following shortly after a sex scandal  that had forced Prescott to resign his ministerial responsibilities while retaining his salary and privileges,  the incident was portrayed as evidence that Prescott had little real responsibility for running the country during the absence of the Prime Minister. Shortly afterwards, Prescott announced that he would no longer make use of the Dorneywood residence.

It was also reported that the incident led to a 300% increase in sales of croquet equipment at Asda,  while the TV channel Five announced that they would be running a series featuring croquet matches played at country houses pitting "rich" against "poor" players. 

Clubs

About 200 croquet clubs across the United States are members of the United States Croquet Association.  USCA-affiliated clubs in major US cities include the New York, Chicago, Beverly Hills, Denver, Phoenix, San Francisco, Oakland, Houston, Boston, Detroit, Kansas City, Louisville, Seattle, and Portland Croquet Clubs.

Many colleges have croquet clubs as well, such as The University of Virginia, The University of Chicago, Pennsylvania State University,  Bates College, SUNY New Paltz, and Harvard University. Notably, St. John's College and the US Naval Academy engage in a yearly match in Annapolis, Maryland. Both schools also compete at the collegiate level and the rivalry continues to be an Annapolis tradition, attracting thousands of spectators each April.

In England and Wales, there are around 170 clubs affiliated with the Croquet Association.  The larger clubs include Bowdon, [http://Cheltenhamcroquet.org Cheltenham], Edgbaston, Surbiton, Guildford and Godalming, Nailsea, Nottingham, Roehampton, Sidmouth, and Woking. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club at Wimbledon is famous for its lawn tennis tournament, but retains an active croquet section. At the other end of the scale and also affiliated to the Croquet Association is [http://www.bygravecroquetclub.org.uk Bygrave Croquet Club] which specialises in playing and promoting Garden Croquet. There are also clubs in many Universities and Colleges, with an annual Varsity match being played between Oxford and Cambridge.  With over 1800 participants, the 2011 Oxford University "Cuppers" (inter-college) tournament claimed to be not only the largest croquet tournament ever, but the largest sporting event in the University. 

In Scotland, the Edinburgh Croquet Club exists. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named 
Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children.  It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre.  Its narrative course and structure, characters and imagery have been enormously influential in both popular culture and literature, especially in the fantasy genre.

Background

Alice was published in 1865, three years after Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and the Reverend Robinson Duckworth rowed a boat up the Isis on 4 July 1862  (this popular date of the "golden afternoon"  might be a confusion or even another Alice-tale, for that particular day was cool, cloudy, and rainy ) with the three young daughters of Henry Liddell (the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and Dean of Christ Church): Lorina Charlotte Liddell (aged 13, born 1849, "Prima" in the book's prefatory verse); Alice Pleasance Liddell (aged 10, born 1852, "Secunda" in the prefatory verse); Edith Mary Liddell (aged 8, born 1853, "Tertia" in the prefatory verse). 

The journey began at Folly Bridge in Oxford and ended 3 miles (5 km) north-west in the village of Godstow. During the trip, Dodgson told the girls a story that featured a bored little girl named Alice who goes looking for an adventure. The girls loved it, and Alice Liddell asked Dodgson to write it down for her. He began writing the manuscript of the story the next day, although that earliest version no longer exists. The girls and Dodgson took another boat trip a month later when he elaborated the plot to the story of Alice, and in November he began working on the manuscript in earnest.Carpenter, p. 57

To add the finishing touches, he researched natural history for the animals presented in the book, and then had the book examined by other children—particularly the children of George MacDonald. He added his own illustrations but approached John Tenniel to illustrate the book for publication, telling him that the story had been well liked by children.

On 26 November 1864, he gave Alice the handwritten manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground, with illustrations by Dodgson himself, dedicating it as "A Christmas Gift to a Dear Child in Memory of a Summer's Day".  Some, including Martin Gardner, speculate that there was an earlier version that was destroyed later by Dodgson when he wrote a more elaborate copy by hand. 

But before Alice received her copy, Dodgson was already preparing it for publication and expanding the 15,500-word original to 27,500 words,  most notably adding the episodes about the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Tea-Party.

Plot

Chapter One – Down the Rabbit Hole:  Alice is feeling bored and drowsy while sitting on the riverbank with her older sister, who is reading a book with no pictures or conversations. She then notices a White Rabbit wearing a waistcoat and pocket watch, talking to itself as it runs past. She follows it down a rabbit hole, but suddenly falls a long way to a curious hall with many locked doors of all sizes. She finds a small key to a door too small for her to fit through, but through it she sees an attractive garden. She then discovers a bottle on a table labelled "DRINK ME", the contents of which cause her to shrink too small to reach the key, which she has left on the table. She eats a cake with "EAT ME" written on it in currants as the chapter closes.

Chapter Two – The Pool of Tears: Chapter Two opens with Alice growing to such a tremendous size that her head hits the ceiling. Alice is unhappy and, as she cries, her tears flood the hallway. After shrinking down again due to a fan she had picked up, Alice swims through her own tears and meets a Mouse, who is swimming as well. She tries to make small talk with him in elementary French (thinking he may be a French mouse) but her opening gambit "Où est ma chatte?" ("Where is my cat?") offends the mouse and he tries to escape her.

Chapter Three – The Caucus Race and a Long Tale: The sea of tears becomes crowded with other animals and birds that have been swept away by the rising waters. Alice and the other animals convene on the bank and the question among them is how to get dry again. The Mouse gives them a very dry lecture on William the Conqueror. A Dodo decides that the best thing to dry them off would be a Caucus-Race, which consists of everyone running in a circle with no clear winner. Alice eventually frightens all the animals away, unwittingly, by talking about her (moderately ferocious) cat.

Chapter Four – The Rabbit Sends a Little Bill: The White Rabbit appears again in search of the Duchess's gloves and fan. Mistaking her for his maidservant, Mary Ann, he orders Alice to go into the house and retrieve them, but once she gets inside she starts growing. The horrified Rabbit orders his gardener, Bill the Lizard, to climb on the roof and go down the chimney. Outside, Alice hears the voices of animals that have gathered to gawk at her giant arm. The crowd hurls pebbles at her, which turn into little cakes. Alice eats them, and make her smaller again.

Chapter Five – Advice from a Caterpillar: Alice comes upon a mushroom; sitting on it is a blue Caterpillar smoking a hookah. The Caterpillar questions Alice and she admits to her current identity crisis, compounded by her inability to remember a poem. Before crawling away, the caterpillar tells Alice that one side of the mushroom will make her taller and the other side will make her shorter. She breaks off two pieces from the mushroom. One side makes her shrink smaller than ever, while another causes her neck to grow high into the trees, where a pigeon mistakes her for a serpent. With some effort, Alice brings herself back to her normal height. She stumbles upon a small estate and uses the mushroom to reach a more appropriate height.

Chapter Six – Pig and Pepper: A Fish-Footman has an invitation for the Duchess of the house, which he delivers to a Frog-Footman. Alice observes this transaction and, after a perplexing conversation with the frog, lets herself into the house. The Duchess's Cook is throwing dishes and making a soup that has too much pepper, which causes Alice, the Duchess, and her baby (but not the cook or grinning Cheshire Cat) to sneeze violently. Alice is given the baby by the Duchess and to her surprise, the baby turns into a pig. The Cheshire Cat appears in a tree, directing her to the March Hare's house. He disappears, but his grin remains behind to float on its own in the air, prompting Alice to remark that she has often seen a cat without a grin but never a grin without a cat.

Chapter Seven – A Mad Tea-Party: Alice becomes a guest at a "mad" tea party along with the March Hare, the Hatter, and a very tired Dormouse who falls asleep frequently, only to be violently woken up moments later by the March Hare and the Hatter. The characters give Alice many riddles and stories, including the famous "Why is a raven like a writing desk?". The Hatter reveals that they have tea all day because Time has punished him by eternally standing still at 6 pm (tea time). Alice becomes insulted and tired of being bombarded with riddles and she leaves, claiming that it was the stupidest tea party that she had ever been to.

Chapter Eight – The Queen's Croquet Ground: Alice leaves the tea party and enters the garden, where she comes upon three living playing cards painting the white roses on a rose tree red because The Queen of Hearts hates white roses. A procession of more cards, kings and queens and even the White Rabbit enters the garden. Alice then meets the King and Queen. The Queen, a figure difficult to please, introduces her trademark phrase "Off with his head!", which she utters at the slightest dissatisfaction with a subject. Alice is invited (or some might say ordered) to play a game of croquet with the Queen and the rest of her subjects, but the game quickly descends into chaos. Live flamingos are used as mallets and hedgehogs as balls, and Alice once again meets the Cheshire Cat. The Queen of Hearts then orders the Cat to be beheaded, only to have her executioner complain that this is impossible since the head is all that can be seen of him. Because the cat belongs to the Duchess, the Queen is prompted to release the Duchess from prison to resolve the matter.

Chapter Nine – The Mock Turtle's Story: The Duchess is brought to the croquet ground at Alice's request. She ruminates on finding morals in everything around her. The Queen of Hearts dismisses her with the threat of execution and she introduces Alice to the Gryphon, who takes her to the Mock Turtle. The Mock Turtle is very sad, even though he has no sorrow. He tries to tell his story about how he used to be a real turtle in school, which the Gryphon interrupts so that they can play a game.

Chapter Ten – : The Mock Turtle and the Gryphon dance to the Lobster Quadrille, while Alice recites (rather incorrectly) "'Tis the Voice of the Lobster". The Mock Turtle sings them "" during which the Gryphon drags Alice away for an impending trial.

Chapter Eleven – Who Stole the Tarts?: Alice attends a trial in which the Knave of Hearts is accused of stealing the Queen's tarts. The jury is composed of various animals, including Bill the Lizard; the White Rabbit is the court's trumpeter; and the judge is the King of Hearts.
During the proceedings, Alice finds that she is steadily growing larger. The dormouse scolds Alice and tells her she has no right to grow at such a rapid pace and take up all the air. Alice scoffs and calls the dormouse's accusation ridiculous because everyone grows and she cannot help it. Meanwhile, witnesses at the trial include the Hatter, who displeases and frustrates the King through his indirect answers to the questioning, and the Duchess's cook.

Chapter Twelve – Alice's Evidence: Alice is then called up as a witness. She accidentally knocks over the jury box with the animals inside, and the King orders the animals to be placed back into their seats before the trial continues. The King and Queen order Alice to be gone, citing Rule 42 ("All persons more than a mile high to leave the court"), but Alice disputes their judgement and refuses to leave. She argues with the King and Queen of Hearts over the ridiculous proceedings, eventually refusing to hold her tongue. The Queen shouts her familiar "Off with her head!" but Alice is unafraid, calling them out as just a pack of cards, just as they start to swarm over her. Alice's sister wakes her up from a dream, brushing what turns out to be some leaves, and not a shower of playing cards, from Alice's face. Alice leaves her sister on the bank to imagine all the curious happenings for herself.

Characters

Lists of characters

The following is a list of main characters in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Character allusions

In  The Annotated Alice, Martin Gardner provides background information for the characters. The members of the boating party that first heard Carroll's tale show up in Chapter 3 ("A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale"): 
*Alice Liddell (portrayed as the character Alice) herself is there
*Carroll is caricatured as the Dodo (Dodgson stuttered when he spoke, and common lore suggests that he sometimes pronounced his last name as Dodo-Dodgson)
*The Duck refers to Canon Duckworth
*The Lory and Eaglet refer to Alice Liddell's sisters Lorina and Edith.
*Bill the Lizard may be a play on the name of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.  One of Tenniel's illustrations in Through the Looking-Glass — the 1871 sequel to Alice — depicts the character referred to as the "Man in White Paper" (whom Alice meets as a fellow passenger riding on the train with her) as a caricature of Disraeli, wearing a paper hat. 
*The illustrations of the Lion and the Unicorn (also in Looking-Glass) bear a striking resemblance to Tenniel's Punch illustrations of Gladstone and Disraeli. 
*It has been suggested by some writers that The Hatter is a reference to Theophilus Carter, a furniture dealer known in Oxford. Tenniel apparently drew the Hatter to resemble Carter, on a suggestion of Carroll's.  However, it is unlikely that Carter was the model for The Hatter, and there is no evidence that Carroll ever invited Tenniel to Oxford for any purpose. 
*The Dormouse tells a story about three little sisters named Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie. These are the Liddell sisters: Elsie is L.C. (Lorina Charlotte), Tillie is Edith (her family nickname is Matilda), and Lacie is an anagram of Alice. 
*The Mock Turtle speaks of a drawling-master, "an old conger eel", who came once a week to teach "Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils". This is a reference to art critic John Ruskin, who came once a week to the Liddell house to teach the children drawing, sketching, and painting in oils. (The children did, in fact, learn well; Alice Liddell, for one, produced a number of skilful watercolours.) 

Poems and songs

Carroll wrote multiple poems and songs for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, including:
* "All in the golden afternoon..."—the prefatory verse, an original poem by Carroll that recalls the rowing expedition on which he first told the story of Alice's adventures underground
* "Beautiful Soup" also known as "Turtle Soup", sung by the Mock Turtle—a parody of James M. Sayles's song "Star of the Evening, Beautiful Star", which was performed as a trio by Lorina, Alice, and Edith Liddell for Lewis Carroll in the Liddell home during the same summer in which he first told the story of Alice's Adventures Under Ground. 
* "How Doth the Little Crocodile"—a parody of Isaac Watts' nursery rhyme, "Against Idleness and Mischief"
* "Speak roughly to your little boy..."—the Duchess' lullaby, is a parody of David Bates' "Speak Gently"
* "The Lobster Quadrille"—a parody of Mary Botham Howitt's "The Spider and the Fly"
* "The Mouse's Tale"—an example of concrete poetry
* "The Queen of Hearts"—an actual nursery rhyme
* "They told me you had been to her..."—the White Rabbit's evidence
* "'Tis the Voice of the Lobster"—a parody of Isaac Watts' "The Sluggard"
* "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat"—a parody of Jane Taylor's "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"
* "You Are Old, Father William"—a parody of Robert Southey's "The Old Man's Comforts and How He Gained Them"

Writing style and themes

Symbolism

Some of the book's adventures may have been based on or influenced by people, situations, and buildings in Oxford and at Christ Church. For example, the "Rabbit Hole" might have been inspired by the actual stairs in the back of the main hall in Christ Church. A carving of a griffon and rabbit may have provided inspiration for the tale, as seen in Ripon Cathedral, where Carroll's father was a canon. 

Carroll was a mathematician at Christ Church, and it has been suggested  that there are many references and mathematical concepts in both this story and Through the Looking-Glass; examples include:
* In chapter 1, "Down the Rabbit-Hole", in the midst of shrinking, Alice waxes philosophical concerning what final size she will end up as, perhaps "going out altogether, like a candle"; this pondering reflects the concept of a limit.
* In chapter 7, "A Mad Tea-Party", the March Hare, the Hatter, and the Dormouse give several examples in which the semantic value of a sentence A is not the same value of the converse of A (for example, "Why, you might just as well say that 'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see'!"); in logic and mathematics, this is discussing an inverse relationship.
* Also in chapter 7, Alice ponders what it means when changing seats around the circular table places them back at the beginning. This echoes a classic circular combinatorics problem, possibly dating from antiquity.
* Again in chapter 7, Alice is asked whether she wants "more tea", and objects that she can't have more because she hasn't had any. The Hatter corrects her: "You mean you can't take less: it's very easy to take more than nothing." This is a play on the allowability of inference in comparatives without "than".
* The Cheshire cat fades until it disappears entirely, leaving only its wide grin suspended in the air, leading Alice to marvel and note that she has seen a cat without a grin, but never a grin without a cat. This echoes ancient questions in logic about substances and predicates.

There have been attempts to reinterpret Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as having a coded submersive layer of meaning, as is common in other examples of children's literature (such as the infamous gold standard reading of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)).  For example, literary scholar Melanie Bayley asserted in the magazine New Scientist that Dodgson wrote Alice in Wonderland in its final form as a scathing satire on new modern mathematics that were emerging in the mid-19th century.   However, such views are not widely held.

Several people have suggested that Dodgson had an interest in the French language (e.g., Martin Gardner and Selwyn Goodacre,), choosing to make references and puns about it in the story. It is most likely that these are references to French lessons—a common feature of a Victorian middle-class girl's upbringing. For example, in the second chapter, Alice posits that the mouse may be French. She therefore chooses to speak the first sentence of her French lesson-book to it: "Où est ma chatte?" ("Where is my cat?"). In Henri Bué's French translation, Alice posits that the mouse may be Italian and speaks Italian to it.

Pat's "Digging for apples" could be a cross-language pun, as pomme de terre (literally; "apple of the earth") means potato and pomme means apple, which little English girls studying French would easily guess. 

In the second chapter, Alice initially addresses the mouse as "O Mouse", based on her memory of the noun declensions "in her brother's Latin Grammar, 'A mouse – of a mouse – to a mouse – a mouse – O mouse!'" These words correspond to the first five of Latin's six cases, in a traditional order established by medieval grammarians: mus (nominative), muris (genitive), muri (dative), murem (accusative), (O) mus (vocative). The sixth case mure (ablative) is absent from Alice's recitation.

In the eighth chapter, three cards are painting the roses red on a rose tree, because they had accidentally planted a white-rose tree that The Queen of Hearts hates. Red roses symbolised the English House of Lancaster, while white roses were the symbol for their rival House of York. This scene is an allusion to the Wars of the Roses. 

Eating and devouring

Carina Garland notes how the world is "expressed via representations of food and appetite", naming Alice's frequent desire for consumption (of both food and words) her "Curious Appetites".  Often, the idea of eating coincides to make gruesome images. After the riddle "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?", the Hatter claims that Alice might as well say, "I see what I eat… I eat what I see" and so the riddle's solution, put forward by Boe Birns,  could be that "A raven eats worms; a writing desk is worm-eaten"; this idea of food encapsulates the idea of life feeding on life, for the worm is being eaten and then becomes the eater  -  a horrific image of mortality.

Nina Auerbach discusses how the novel revolves around eating and drinking, which "motivates much of [Alice's] behaviour", for the story is essentially about things "entering and leaving her mouth".  The animals of Wonderland are of particular interest, for Alice's relation to them shifts constantly because, as Lovell-Smith states, Alice's size-changes continually reposition her in the food chain, serving as a way to make her acutely aware of the "eat or be eaten" attitude that permeates Wonderland. 

Illustrations

The manuscript was illustrated by Dodgson himself who added 37 illustrations—printed in a facsimile edition in 1887. John Tenniel provided 42 wood engraved illustrations for the published version of the book. The first print run was destroyed (or sold to the United States ) at Carroll's request because he was dissatisfied with the quality. The book was reprinted and published in 1866.

John Tenniel's illustrations of Alice do not portray the real Alice Liddell, who had dark hair and a short fringe.

Alice has provided a challenge for other illustrators, including those of 1907 by Charles Pears and the full series of colour plates and line-drawings by Harry Rountree published in the (inter-War) Children's Press (Glasgow) edition.
Other significant illustrators include:  Arthur Rackham (1907), Willy Pogany (1929), Mervyn Peake (1946), Ralph Steadman (1967), Salvador Dalí (1969), Graham Overden (1969), Max Ernst (1970), Peter Blake (1970), Tove Jansson (1977), Anthony Browne (1988), Helen Oxenbury (1999), Lisbeth Zwerger (1999), DeLoss McGraw (2001), and Robert Ingpen (2009).

Reception by reviewers 

The book Alice in Wonderland failed to be named in an 1888 poll of the most popular children's stories. Generally, it received poor reviews, with reviewers giving more credit to Tenniel's illustrations than to Carroll's story. At the release of Through the Looking-Glass, the first Alice tale gained in popularity and, by the end of the 19th century, Sir Walter Besant wrote that Alice in Wonderland "was a book of that extremely rare kind which will belong to all the generations to come until the language becomes obsolete". 

Publication history

Dodgson's tale was published in 1865 as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by "Lewis Carroll" with illustrations by John Tenniel. The first print run of 2,000 was held back because Tenniel objected to the print quality.  A new edition was quickly printed, released in December of the same year but carrying an 1866 date. The text blocks of the original edition were removed from the binding and sold with Dodgson's permission to the New York publishing house of D. Appleton & Company. The binding for the Appleton Alice was virtually identical to the 1866 Macmillan Alice, except for the publisher's name at the foot of the spine. The title page of the Appleton Alice was an insert cancelling the original Macmillan title page of 1865, and bearing the New York publisher's imprint and the date 1866.

The entire print run sold out quickly. Alice was a publishing sensation, beloved by children and adults alike. Among its first avid readers were Queen Victoria  and the young Oscar Wilde.  The book has never been out of print. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has been translated into at least 174 languages.  There have now been over a hundred English-language editions of the book, as well as countless adaptations in other media, especially theatre and film.

The book is commonly referred to by the abbreviated title Alice in Wonderland, which has been popularised by the numerous stage, film, and television adaptations of the story produced over the years. Some printings of this title contain both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.

Publication timeline

The following list is a timeline of major publication events related to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:

* 1865: First UK edition (the second printing).
* 1865: First US edition (the first printing of above). 
* 1869: Alice's Abenteuer im Wunderland  is published in German translation by Antonie Zimmermann.
* 1869: Aventures d'Alice au pays des merveilles  is published in French translation by Henri Bué.
* 1870: Alice’s äfventyr i sagolandet  is published in Swedish translation by Emily Nonnen.
* 1871: Dodgson meets another Alice during his time in London, Alice Raikes, and talks with her about her reflection in a mirror, leading to another book, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, which sells even better.
* 1872: Le Avventure di Alice nel Paese delle Meraviglie  is published in Italian translation by Teodorico Pietrocòla Rossetti.
* 1882: Selchow & Righter publishes The Game of Alice in Wonderland, the first game based on the book.
* 1886: Carroll publishes a facsimile of the earlier Alice's Adventures Under Ground manuscript.
* 1890: Carroll publishes The Nursery "Alice", a special edition "to be read by Children aged from Nought to Five".
 
* 1905: Mrs J. C. Gorham publishes Alice's Adventures in Wonderland retold in words of one syllable in a series of such books published by A. L. Burt Company, aimed at young readers.
* 1906: First translation into Finnish by Anni Swan (Liisan seikkailut ihmemaailmassa).
* 1907: Copyright on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland expires in UK, and so the tale enters the public domain. At least 8 new editions are published in that year alone. 
* 1910: La Aventuroj de Alicio en Mirlando is published in Esperanto translation by E. L. Kearney.
* 1916: Publication of the first edition of the Windermere Series, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Illustrated by Milo Winter.
* 1928: The manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground that Carroll wrote and illustrated and that he had given to Alice Liddell was sold at Sotheby's on 3 April. It sold to Philip Rosenbach for £15,400, a world record for the sale of a manuscript at the time. 
* 1960: American writer Martin Gardner publishes a special edition, The Annotated Alice, incorporating the text of both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. It has extensive annotations explaining the hidden allusions in the books, and includes full texts of the Victorian era poems parodied in them. Later editions expand on these annotations.
* 1961: The Folio Society publication with 42 illustrations by John Tenniel.
* 1988: Carroll and Anthony Browne, illustrator of a new edition from Julia MacRae Books, win the Kurt Maschler Award, or the Emil, for the year's best British "work of imagination for children, in which text and illustration are integrated so that each enhances and balances the other."
* 1998: Lewis Carroll's own copy of Alice, one of only six surviving copies of the 1865 first edition, is sold at an auction for US$1.54 million to an anonymous American buyer, becoming the most expensive children's book (or 19th-century work of literature) ever sold, up to that time. 
* 1999: Carroll and Helen Oxenbury, illustrator of a new edition from Walker Books, win the Kurt Maschler Award for integrated writing and illustration, as did Anthony Browne and the 1988 Julia MacRae edition.
[http://www.bookawards.bizland.com/kurt_maschler_award_for_children.htm "Kurt Maschler Awards"]. Book Awards. bizland.com. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
* 2007: For the 50th anniversary of the British Kate Greenaway Medal (1955–2005), a panel of experts names the 1999 Walker Books edition illustrated by Helen Oxenbury one of the top ten Medal-winning works, composing the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite.[http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/celebration/top_tens.php?action
list "70 Years Celebration: Anniversary Top Tens"]. The CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards. CILIP. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
* 2008: Folio Alice's Adventures Under Ground facsimile edition (limited to 3,750 copies, boxed with The Original Alice pamphlet).
* 2009: Children's book collector and former American football player Pat McInally reportedly sold Alice Liddell's own copy at auction for $115,000. 

Adaptations

Cinema and television

The book has inspired numerous film and television adaptations which have multiplied as the original work is now in the public domain in all jurisdictions. The following list is of direct adaptations of Adventures in Wonderland (sometimes merging it with Through the Looking-Glass), not other sequels or works otherwise inspired by the works (such as Tim Burton's 2010 film Alice in Wonderland):
* Alice in Wonderland (1903), a British silent film directed by Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow, with May Clark as Alice
* Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1910), a silent film directed by Edwin Stanton Porter
* Alice in Wonderland (1915), a silent film directed by W. W. Young
* Alice in Wonderland (1931), the first talkie adaptation, directed by Bud Pollard
* Alice in Wonderland (1933), a film version directed by Norman Z. McLeod, US
* Alice in Wonderland  (1937), a TV adaptation directed by George More O'Ferrall
* Alice in Wonderland (1937) TV adaptation again directed by George More O'ferrall with Usula Henray as Alice 
* Alice in Wonderland (1944) TV adaptation of Eva La Gaillenne's stage version of both books, USA. 
* Alice (1946), a BBC production starring Vivian Pickles directed by George More O'Ferrall, UK 
* Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass (1948) BBC TV broadcast. [http://still-she-haunts-me-phantomwise.tumblr.com/post/104887837272/alices-adventures-in-wonderland-and-through-the] 
* Alice in Wonderland (1949), a live-action/animated film with stop motion segments, directed by Dallas Bower
* Through the Crystal Ball: Alice in Wonderland (1949) US TV performance. 
* Alice in Wonderland (1950), televised on the CBS Ford Theatre, with Iris Mann as Alice, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner 
* Alice in Wonderland (1951), a film version in traditional animation from Walt Disney Animation Studios. Arguably the most well known of the Alice film adaptations, and today considered one of Disney's great classics.  
* Alice au pays des Mervilles (1951) France TV broadcast of a stage version
* Alice in Wonderland (1954) BBC broadcast of a ballet version. 
* Alice in Wonderland (1955), a live television adaptation of the 1932 Eva LeGallienne /Florida Friebus stage adaptation of the novel, directed for television by George Schaefer for the Hallmark Hall of Fame 
* The Adventures of Alice (1960) Televised opera   
* The BP Super Show: Alice in Wonderland (1962) Australian TV series  
* Alice in Wonderland (1966), a BBC television play directed by Jonathan Miller 
* Alice au pays des merveilles (1972), a version made for television, by Jean-Christophe Averty.
* Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972), a musical film version starring Fiona Fullerton as Alice
* Nel Mondo Di Alice (In the World of Alice) Italian TV series in 4 parts. 
* Alice in Wonderland (1976), a porn-musical by Bud Townsend
* Alice Through the Looking-Glass (1973) BBC TV special
* Alice through the Looking-Glass (1973) 12 part TV series by Thelmes TV. 
* Alice in Wonderland (1983), a PBS Great Performances presentation of a 1982 stage play which was in turn a revival of the 1932 LeGallienne production
* Alice in Wonderland (1985), a two-part made-for-TV special produced by Irwin Allen and featuring a large all-star cast
* Alice in Wonderland (1986), a BBC adaptation directed by Barry Letts and starring Kate Dorning
* Alice (1988 film) by Jan Švankmajer, stop motion and live action
* Alice in Wonderland (1999), a 1999 television movie first shown on NBC and then shown on British television on Channel 4

Comic books

The book has also inspired numerous comic book adaptations:
* Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland (1951), Dell Comics
* Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland (1965), Gold Key Comics
* Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland (1984), Whitman
* The Complete Alice in Wonderland (2005), Dynamite Entertainment
* Return to Wonderland (2009), Zenescope Entertainment
* Alice in Wonderland (2011), Zenescope Entertainment

Electronic media

* American McGee's Alice (2000), a third-person psychological horror action video game released for PC on 6 December 2000. Set years after Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, the game features an older, more cynical and macabre incarnation of Alice.
* Alice for the iPad (2010), a popular adaptation by Atomic Antelope. 
* Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland (2015),  150th anniversary interactive online edition released free of charge by The Public Domain Review and publishing platform Medium, with copyright-free text and illustrations, annotated by a dozen Carroll scholars. The site allows free remixes of the public domain and Creative Commons licensed resources with reader-supplied commentaries and artwork.  

Live performances

As the book and its sequel are Carroll's most widely recognised works, they have also inspired numerous live performances, including ballets, musicals, operas, plays, and traditional English pantomimes. These works range from fairly faithful adaptations to those that use the story as a basis for new works. Additionally, over the years, many notable people in the performing arts have been involved in Alice productions.

* A relatively early example of a live performance is Alice in Wonderland, a musical play by H. Saville Clark (book) and Walter Slaughter (music), which played in 1886 at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London.
*The first production on Broadway premiered in 1915, adapted by Alice Gerstenberg and starring Vivian Tobin. 
*Actress Eva Le Gallienne famously adapted both Alice books for the stage in 1932; this production was revived in New York in 1947 and 1982.
*One of the best-known American productions was Joseph Papp's 1980 staging of Alice in Concert at the Public Theater in New York City. Meryl Streep played Alice, the White Queen, and Humpty Dumpty. The cast also included Debbie Allen, Michael Jeter, and Mark Linn-Baker. Performed on a bare stage with the actors in modern dress, the play is a loose adaptation, with song styles ranging the globe. Elizabeth Swados wrote the book, lyrics, and music. Based on both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, Papp and Swados had previously produced a version of it at the New York Shakespeare Festival. 
*The operatic production Alice (1992) uses both Alice books as its inspiration and employs scenes with Charles Dodgson, a young Alice Liddell, and an adult Alice Liddell, to frame the story. Paul Schmidt wrote the play, with Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan writing the music. Although the original production in Hamburg, Germany, received only a small audience, Tom Waits released the songs as the album Alice (2002).
*Michael Sirotta and Heather M. Dominick wrote a musical adaption of the novel, titled Alice in Wonderland, a Musical Adventure (1997), suitable for young actors as well as for adult performers.  

*The Eighth Square, a murder mystery set in Wonderland, written by Matthew Fleming and music and lyrics by Ben J. Macpherson, is a goth-toned rock musical that premiered in 2006 at the New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth, England.
*A ballet by Christopher Wheeldon  and Nicholas Wright  commissioned for The Royal Ballet, titled Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, premiered in February 2011 at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London. The ballet was based on the novel Wheeldon grew up reading as a child and is generally faithful to the original story, although some critics claimed it may have been too faithful.  The ballet overall stays generally light hearted for its running time of an hour and 40 minutes. The ballet returned to the Royal Opera House in 2012.
*The TA Fantastika, a popular Black light theatre in Prague, performs Aspects of Alice, written and directed by Petr Kratochvíl. This adaptation is not faithful to the books; rather, it explores Alice's journey into adulthood while incorporating allusions to the history of Czech Republic.
*A community theater production of Alice was Olivia de Havilland's first foray onto the stage.
*The latest adaption is the musical Wonder.land (2015), with music by Damon Albarn  and lyrics by Moira Buffini.  The musical is a co-production between the Manchester International Festival, the Royal National Theatre and the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris. 

Music

Alice has inspired numerous songs and albums, including:
* Jerome Kern's "Alice in Wonderland," from The Girl from Utah (1914).
* "Alice in Wonderland'" by Sammy Fain and Bob Hilliard appears on the Bill Evans trio album Sunday at the Village Vanguard (1961). 
* Jefferson Airplane's song "White Rabbit", written by Grace Slick and included on their psychedelic album Surrealistic Pillow (1967).
* Chick Corea's album The Mad Hatter released in 1979, which is conceptually derived from events that unfold in the book.
* Siouxsie and the Banshees named their label inside Polydor Wonderland in 1983. 
* Tom Waits' album, Alice (2002), is loosely based on Carroll's relationship with Alice Liddell and themes from the novels. 
*Marilyn Manson described his album Eat Me, Drink Me (2007) as "[his] version of Alice in Wonderland."
* Egypt Central's song "White Rabbit", written by Skidd Mills, was released on the studio album White Rabbit (completed 2010) and to radio stations on 15 February 2011 and made available on iTunes on 1 March 2011. 
* In 2011, Perttu Haapanen composed a vocal work entitled "Readymade Alice", which is described as "Alice in Wonderland being reworked for cyber-space"; this work was commissioned by the 4th International Harald Andersén Competition and most recently performed on 30 September 2015 by the BBC Singers at St. Giles, Cripplegate, London. 
*Taylor Swift's song "Wonderland," from the deluxe edition of her "1989" album.
*AKB48's B-side song, "First Rabbit", which is later also performed by JKT48
* Australian composer Leon Coward's "Beautiful Soup" (2014) a lament for piano and string orchestra. 
*Melanie Martinez, "Mad Hatter" off the album "Cry Baby."
* Adam Lambert, "Down The Rabbit Hole" off the album "For Your Entertainment".

Parodies
 
The book has inspired several parodies, including:
*  The Westminster Alice (1902) by Hector Hugh Munro (Saki), illustrated by Francis Carruthers Gould
*  Alice's London Adventures in Wonderland (2015) by Lewis Carroll and Sarah Elizabeth Beaumont, illustrated by Sarah Elizabeth Beaumont after Sir John Tenniel (Two Monkeys Publishing, London)

Works influenced

Alice and the rest of Wonderland continue to inspire or influence many other works of art to this day, sometimes indirectly via the Disney movie, for example. The character of the plucky yet proper Alice has proven immensely popular and inspired similar heroines in literature and pop culture, many also named Alice in homage.

Illustrations of the different books

File:The Nursery Alice cover illustration.jpg|The cover illustration, by E. Gertrude Thomson
File:The White Rabbit (Tenniel) - The Nursery Alice (1890) - BL.jpg|The White Rabbit by John Tenniel, coloured
File:Alice drink me.jpg|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, John Tenniel, 1865
File:Alice in Wonderland by Arthur Rackham - 13 - That's very curious.jpg|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Arthur Rackham 
File:Gertrude Kay Alice in wonderland caucus.jpg|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Gertrude Kay
File:Liddell & Boyd (Alice in the looking glass works) by Karl Beutel 2011.jpg|An illustration by Karl Beutel
File:Alice in Wonderland by Arthur Rackham - 02 - The Pool of Tears.jpg|The Pool of Tears by Arthur Rackham  
File:Milo winter Alice.jpg|The Pool of Tears by Milo Winter
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