Reading Alice in Wonderland as a child gave me my interest in weird, anthropomorphic creatures, as well as some of my favorite quotes ("It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then"). I'm a huge fan of the book and, if I had a lot of money, I would place a bid on this extremely rare first edition copy of Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel. It comes from a recalled Macmillan & Co. pressing of the book and is expected to fetch $2-3 million later this month.
As Christie's explains, 2,000 copies were printed in 1865, but illustrator John Tenniel was "entirely dissatisfied 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" but at least 23 survived — six of which are in private hands, including the one going on auction.
Christie's copy was owned, at one point, by Carroll's Oxford colleague George William Kitchin. The book has since passed through multiple hands but has "remained intact over the intervening 150 years since its publication, and still features its original binding, binder's ticket and title page."
Comments
Post a Comment