Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
New York: D.Appleton and Co., 1866. First edition, second issue. The Appleton 1866 edition of "Alice" is comprised of the sheets of the suppressed first English issue (1865) with a cancel title page for D. Appleton & Co, New York, 1866. This edition is then the first printing, second issue.
The illustration of the White Rabbit on page one is seen against a muddy background of text from page two. It is clear why the author and Tenniel rejected the printing of these sheets. However, the resulting sale of the inferior but first edition sheets to Appleton have made available to posterity the earliest obtainable sheets from the first edition of this children's masterpiece.
There are two variants of the Appleton cancel title page. In this copy, the "B" of By is directly over the "T" of Tenniel. There are also two variants of the last stanza of the prefatory poem and the Contents page. This is Variant a. According to Selwyn Goodacre "In Variant a, the first line of the last stanza of the prefatory poem reads "Alice! A…", in the list of Contents, RABBIT-HOLE has a hyphen, the "9" in page numbers 29 and 59 is oval, is round in 95, and the 5 in page 95 is undamaged."*
8vo, [x], 192pp, publisher's dark green endpapers, all edges gilt. Wood-engraved frontispiece and 41 vignette illustrations after Sir John Tenniel. Beautifully rebound by Courtland Benson in dark red half morocco, spine in six compartments, gilt decorated and marbled papered boards. The original red cloth from the boards bound in the back of the book. They are bordered with gilt triple fillet lines and a central gilt vignette (of Alice & the Cheshire Cat) also within three gilt-stamped circles.
Small repair on page 1. The minutest of tidemarks on the upper corners of page 1-15. Otherwise an extraordinarily bright copy magnificently rebound with the original cloth bound in.
*Goodacre, Selwyn H. "The 1865 Alice", p. 29 (&) "Lewis Carroll comes to America", p. 113. Item #18362
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