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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

1862 - 64

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

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  • Intro

    Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is of the best loved children’s books of all time. This is the original manuscript of the book, titled Alice's Adventures Under Ground, and handwritten and illustrated by Lewis Carroll.

     

    The story tells of a young girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a hallucinogenic world populated by talking packs of cards, and animals who look at pocket watches, smoke pipes and have tea parties. The tale was first told by Carroll to three young girls on a river boat trip in Oxford in 1862. The children, especially Alice, adored the story and begged Carroll to write it down. Between 1862 and 1864, he wrote out the whole text, using neat handwriting so that the young Alice was able to read it. The book was first published in 1865, edited and enlarged from the original manuscript.

     

    The reading in the audio tab is from the published version of the book rather than the manuscript.

     

    Shelfmark: Add. MS 46700, f.19v.

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  • Transcript

    Alice's Adventures Under Ground

    Original text:

     

    are ferrets! Where can I have dropped them, I wonder?" Alice guessed in a moment that it was looking for the nosegay and the pair of white kid gloves, and she began hunting for them, but they were now nowhere to be seen— everything seemed to be have changed since her swim in the pool, and her walk along the river-bank with its fringe of rushes and forget-me-nots, and the glass table and the little door had vanished.

        Soon the rabbit noticed Alice, as she stood looking curiously about her; and at once said in a quick angry tone, "why, Mary Ann! what are you doing out here? Go home this moment, and look on my dressing table for my gloves and nosegay, and fetch them here, as quick as you can run, do you hear?" and Alice was so much frightened that she ran off at once, without

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