Alice in Wonderland

The Queen turned crimson with fury, and, after glaring at her for a moment like a wild beast, began ‘Off with her head!’

Lewis Carroll is the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who was born in the village of Daresbury, England, on 27 January 1832. The third of eleven children, he was raised in his clergyman father’s rectory for much of his youth. A talented mathematician and voracious reader, Dodgson attended Richmond Grammar School and Rugby School before studying and later lecturing at Christ Church College, Oxford. His early writing included essays, poetry and pamphlets, but it was his children’s books that would earn him fame. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland began life as a story for Alice Liddell, daughter of the Dean of Christ Church, Henry George Liddell. After regaling Alice and her friends with the tale on a boating trip, he was persuaded to write it down as a keepsake. Family friends eventually persuaded Dodgson to seek publication, and the book was published by Macmillan in 1865 under his pen name. It quickly became hugely popular and was followed by the sequel, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, in 1871. Alice went on to become one of the best-selling children’s books in the world.

Charles van Sandwyk was born in South Africa and raised in Canada; he taught himself calligraphy and intaglio printing as a teenager. His first self-published book appeared when he was just 20, and won a national award. Since then his work has been archived by the National Library of Canada and treasured by private collectors across the world. Van Sandwyk has produced illustrations for the Folio editions of The Blue Fairy Book, The Wind in the Willows and How to See Fairies (which he both wrote and illustrated). A limited edition of Alice in Wonderland, illustrated by Charles van Sandwyk, was published by The Folio Society to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first edition. It sold out rapidly.