The Annotated Alice

Richly illustrated and expanded, this collector's edition of Martin Gardner's The Annotated Alice includes Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, celebrating the 150th anniversary of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In a summer afternoon in 1862, Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson took a rowboat out on the Thames. With him were three young friends from the Liddell family―the sisters Lorina, Edith, and Alice. Dodgson often spun fairy tales on these boating trips to pass the time, and on this particular afternoon, the story was particularly well received by Alice, who afterward entreated him to write it down for her. Dodgson recalled the pivotal moment thusly: In a desperate attempt to strike out some new line of fairy lore, I had sent my heroine straight down a rabbit hole, to begin with, without the least idea what was to happen afterward. The tale, initially titled Alice's Adventures Underground, became Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.