Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll First Edition Census Print, Book Lover Gift (Digital Download)

ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
A Bibliographic Census, 1865–1907

Printable wall art — instant digital download

In 1865 Macmillan printed two thousand copies of a book by an Oxford mathematics lecturer who had paid for every one of them out of his own pocket. About fifty were bound. Roughly twenty went out to friends.

Then John Tenniel saw them. Carroll's diary, 20 July 1865: Tenniel "is entirely dissatisfied with the printing of the pictures, and I suppose we shall have to do it all again."

They did it all again. Dodgson called the edition back and swallowed the cost himself. Twenty-three copies of that suppressed printing are recorded. Twenty-two are known to survive.

IDENTIFICATION POINTS

title page "Macmillan and Co. 1865" — the suppressed printing
title page cancel leaf, Appleton, 1866 — the sheets are the 1865
contents inverted "S" on the last line — earliest 1866 Macmillan
p. 30 numbered "3", the 0 failing to print — earliest 1866 Macmillan
endpapers pale blue, not dark green — earliest 1866 binding

The trap is the American issue. The recalled sheets were shipped to D. Appleton in New York and sold there in 1866 under a cancel title page. So the Appleton carries the earlier sheets — while the Macmillan of 1866, wholly reset by Richard Clay, was published first. Those are two different claims, and the trade confuses them constantly, in both directions. This sheet says so plainly, which is the whole point of it.

Underneath, the census runs on. Through the Looking-Glass in 1871, dated 1872. A facsimile of Carroll's own handwritten manuscript in 1886, published to benefit the children's hospitals. The People's Edition of 1887, and with it his textual corrections. The Nursery "Alice" of 1890 — whose 1889 printing of ten thousand Carroll rejected outright as "far too bright and gaudy."

In 1907 the British copyright expired, and at least seven newly illustrated editions appeared by Christmas. Rackham's was one of them.

WHAT YOU GET
Five files, ready to print:
• 4:5 ratio — 8×10, 16×20, 24×30
• 3:4 ratio — 9×12, 18×24
• 2:3 ratio — 12×18, 24×36
• ISO A-series — A4, A3, A2
• A short printing guide — paper, sizing and framing

High-resolution JPGs, each ratio drawn at its own proportions rather than cropped from one file, so nothing is cut off whichever frame you use.

MADE FOR
• Rare book collectors and dealers
• Librarians and special collections staff
• English teachers and classrooms
• Anyone who has ever checked a copyright page in a charity shop
• Studies, reading nooks, shop walls

HOW IT WORKS
1. Buy the listing
2. Files are available immediately — download from your Etsy account under Purchases, or from the emailed link
3. Print at home, at a local shop, or through an online printer

PRINTING TIPS
• Matte or lightly textured paper suits this palette better than gloss
• Ask for "fit to page, do not crop" and choose the file matching your frame ratio
• Heavyweight stock (200 gsm+) hangs flatter and looks far more expensive

Also available as a printed poster, shipped to you: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4561440556/alice-in-wonderland-lewis-carroll-first

PLEASE NOTE
• This is a digital file — no physical print will be shipped
• Frames are not included
• Screens vary, so colors may sit slightly differently in print
• For personal use only; not for resale or commercial reproduction
• Because files are delivered instantly, digital purchases can't be returned — but message me with any trouble and I'll sort it out

Census after Goodacre, in Schiller, The Suppressed 1865 Alice. A census, not an appraisal.

From Revival Creek Books — rare books, and art for people who love them.