1869 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. First American edition. Lee and Shepard, Boston.

Wonderful opportunity to own a cost-effective first authorized American printed edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, printed in Boston in 1869 by Lee and Shepard. The book here finely-bound was well-loved and missing one leaf; reflecting the condition, the price is half of what the book would garner if the internals were in better condition. The binding is exceptional. The binding also includes the original front and rear board cloth bound-in at the rear.

About the Work -

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics professor at Oxford University. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatures. It is seen as an example of the literary nonsense genre. The artist John Tenniel provided wood-engraved illustrations for the book.

It received positive reviews upon release and is now one of the best-known works of Victorian literature; the narrative, structure, characters and imagery have had widespread influence on popular culture and literature, especially in the fantasy genre.

About the Edition -

In 1865 2,000 copies were printed in London, but Carroll objected to their quality and they were sent to the United States to be sold by D. Appleton in New York. Macmillan then issued a better quality 1865 edition in London. The book met with great success, and the first authorized American printing was produced in 1869 by Lee and Shepard, in Boston (this edition).

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 18.5 x 13 x 1.75 cm.

Crimson leather fine-binding. Boards with outer gilt fillet frame. Inner-frame consisting of a roll of leaves and flowers with corner florets in blind. Boards with central heart tool, filled with an arabesque design, in blind. Spine with five raised bands; four compartments with florets and hearts making a heart shaped central medallion in gilt, one compartment with the author in gilt, and one compartment with the title "ALICE IN WONDERLAND" in gilt. All edges original gilt.

Dark-blue marbled endpapers, reflecting the original endpapers.

Illustrated - "Forty-two illustrations by John Tenniel". The missing leaf did have the illustration of the tall Alice, so only forty-one.

Pages - xii (6 leaves of preliminary; half-title, title, etc.), 1-192 (missing 15/16 leaf)

Collation - *6, signatures signed 1-12 in eight

Condition -

See pictures. Attractive binding; one (ring?) rub near fore-edge of front board. Book just the slightest out-of-square.

1/2 title with older repair around edges. Chipping to fore-edge of 1/2 title and frontis leaf. Frontis with rudimentary tissue mount at gutter, chipped at bottom corner. Title page with thumbing, foxing, and chipped at bottom corner. Thumbing, toning and occasional fox spot throughout. 1st leaf after title page also chipped at bottom corner. Heavy thumbing throughout, and thumbing has caused toning. Occasional dog-eared page. Occasional foxing in gutter. Several stains on 10. Missing page 15/16. Ink stain at top margin of 37-40, 37/38 with tear at middle of ink stain. Occasional errant ink mark throughout. One inch tear at fore-edge of 131. Top corner of 133-136 chipped. Top corner dog-eared/chipped from 151 to rear. Some chipping around edge of last blank binder's leaf.

Original cloth coverings from boards quite faded.