Emerging in several different versions during the author's lifetime, Lewis Carroll's Alice novels have a publishing history almost as magical and mysterious as the stories themselves. Zoe Jaques and Eugene Giddens offer a detailed and nuanced account of the initial publication of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and investigate how their subsequent transformations through print, illustration, film, song, music videos, and even stamp-cases and biscuit tins affected the reception of these childhood favourites. The authors consider issues related to the orality of the original tale and its impact on subsequent transmission, the differences between the manuscripts and printed editions, and the politics of writing and publishing for children in the 1860s. In addition, they take account of Carroll's own responses to the books' popularity, including his writing of major adaptations and a significant body of meta-textual commentary, and his reactions to the staging of Alice in Wonderland. Attentive to the child reader, how changing notions of childhood identity and needs affected shifting narratives of the story, and the representation of the child's body by various illustrators, the authors also make a significant contribution to childhood studies.

About the Author
Zoe Jaques is a Research Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University, UK, and Eugene Giddens is the Director of Research in Arts, Law, and Social Sciences at Anglia Ruskin University, UK.

Reviews

'Jaques and Giddens ... offer a thorough and engaging textual history of Lewis Carroll's Alice books ... Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty; general readers.' - Choice

'This will surely become the definitive work on the publishing history of the Alice books for some time to come. A must for every serious scholar of the ultimate crossover texts. Eminently readable as well as erudite.' - Morag Styles, University of Cambridge, UK

'...an excellent book, full of information and ideas, very well-managed, and also, true to the origin of its topic, entertaining.' - Publishing Research Quarterly

'In summary, this book is well written, carefully researched, and well documented, and the authors have synthesized earlier studies to form a rich context for their sociological study.' - New Books on Literature

'The authors have written a compelling and richly detailed publishing history of the Alice books that both unravels the complicated prepublication history of Wonderland and Looking-Glass and discusses the curious ways Alice has been transformed by Carroll and others.' - Children's Literature Association Quarterly

'Throughout, the alertness to changing audiences (in terms of gender and, especially, age) and the capacious approach to publishing history mean that this is an important contribution to Carrollian reception history.' - SHARP News

'This really is the first book to cover all aspects of the publishing history of Alice and to attempt to unite the scattered results of decades of research ... The authors have clearly chosen to tell a story here and it makes for pleasurable reading.' - Publishing History

"This book is a real treat: a well-written publishing history, it is meticulously researched, full of new details about the books we know, and follows a lively narrative." - Gillian Fenwick, University of Toronto, Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada

Book Information
ISBN 9781138246799
Author Zoe Jaques
Format Paperback
Page Count 262
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g