What’s the ultimate book for fans of Alice in Wonderland? It might be one of the Limited Editions Club editions from 1932 that were signed by Alice Hargreaves, the original Alice who inspired Lewis Carroll to write his fantastic story. AbeBooks sold such a copy for £2,500/$4,000 earlier this week.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is 150 years old this summer and you are going to see a lot of Alice-themed articles in the coming months as the literary world pays tribute to this iconic children’s book.
The LEC edition features the famous original illustrations by John Tenniel. Alice Hargreaves was the married name of Alice Liddell. Carroll was a close friend of the Liddell family and the nature of his relationship with Alice has been much debated. She went on to marry a cricketer called Reginald Hargreaves, and have three sons – two of whom were killed in World War I.
She was forced to sell her personal manuscript of Carroll’s book when she ran into financial problems, but the copy was eventually purchased by the British Library and brought back from America. Alice died in 1934.
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/blog/2015/02/24/imagine-owning-a-copy-of-alice-in-wonderland-signed-by-the-original-alice
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=Lewis+Carroll&bi=0&bx=off&ds=30&kn=Hargreaves&pn=Limited+Editions+Club&recentlyadded=all&sgnd=on&sortby=17&sts=t&tn=Alice%27s+Adventures+in+Wonderland&x=59&y=7