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How a tall tale became an English classic...
ALICE'S Adventures In Wonderland, written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, is now considered a classic example of English literature.
The story is based on allusions to Dodgson's friends and enemies and lessons that British schoolchildren were expected to memorise.
It was first published in July 1865, three years after Dodgson and fellow cleric Robinson Duckworth rowed in a boat up the Thames with three young girls –Alice, Lorina and Edith Liddell.
To while away the time, Dodgson told the girls a story and Alice loved it so much she asked him to write it down for her.
The book has never been out of print and has been translated into 125 languages, including Esperanto and Faroese.
There have now been more than 100 editions of the book as well as countless adaptations, including theatre and film.
London-born John Tenniel drew many cartoons and caricatures for Punch in the late 19th century but it is his illustrations for the Alice books for which he is best remembered.
He was also commissioned to paint a fresco in the House of Lords. In 1840, 26 years before the first Alice book was published, he was blinded in one eye while fencing with his father.
The first print run of Alice was shelved in 1865 after Tenniel objected to the print quality and the book was delayed.
Once it was printed it became an instant best-seller, securing liter- ary immortality for both Tenniel and Carroll.
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