Alice in Wonderland – British Library

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I’m a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland, and 2015 marks the 150th anniversary of the first publication of Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. To celebrate, the British Library is holding an exhibition all about Alice.

Starting from Carroll’s initial conception of the tale – as a story told to while away the hours on an Oxford river jaunt one warm June – the exhibition covers the initial manuscript version, Alice Under Ground (which he wrote for Alice Liddell), followed by the full published version complete with John Tenniel’s illustrations. Over the next century and a half, various editions of Alice and its sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass, have been produced, with illustrations from the likes of Arthur Rackham, Mervyn Peake and Salvador Dali. The exhibition focuses mainly on illustrated editions of the books, but it also includes merchandise produced at the time (Carroll was pretty savvy about such things) and more recently. A must-see for all Alice fans.

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