| The
Real Alice
 Alice
Pleasance Liddell, for whom the famous Wonderland
story was first told told and then written as a personal
book.
Alice
was the daughter of Dean Henry and Mrs Lorina Liddell at
the college of Christ Church, Oxford England. Charles
Dodgson taught at the college, and became close friends
with all of the Liddell children. Alice was 4 when
she and Dodgson first met at the Deanery.
During the period
of about 1861 to 1863, Dodgson was especially close to all
the Liddlell children, evidently becoming like a member of
the family.
In this special
time the basic wonderland story came into being. Dodgson and
the three oldest Liddell gilrs ( Lucidia, Alice, Edith in
that age order) took rowboat trips on the local river during
the warm spring and summer months. There could be a
picnic. There was often some finestorytelling by Dodgson.
One favorite story plot was to make up something featuring
the children listening. A personalized story.
On July 4, 1862,
the story telling was especially good. Alice begged Dodgson
to write it out for them, please. That day, the story featured
Alice. Dodgson stated later that out of desperation
for some new way to begin the story, he imagined the White
Rabbit walking by and jumping into his hole. He sent
Alice following him with no clue at all of what was to happen
next. The afternoon was filled with improvisation.
Dodgson made
a good start on the writing task, but completion took over
two years. He handwrote and decorated a manuscript book
of about 18,000 words illustrated by his own sketches. It
was presented to Alice Liddell for Christmas for 1864. That
book bore the title of "Alice's Adventures Underground".
Copies can be purchased, in facimile, today. You can see and
almost feel the loving detail in the writing, decorating and
drawing. It is an astounding work.
The work we
know today as "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is the
result of rewriting the "Underground" version for the book
trade. The story nearly doubled in size, and the illustrations
were done by Sir John Tenniel, a famous cartoonist and illustrator
of the period.
It is sad to
add that by Christmas of 1864, there had been a split of some
unknown kind between the Liddell's and Dodgson. There
was very little visiting or playing and no more rowboat
trips upon the river. The magical time of the interaction
between the Liddell children and the mathematician turned
storyteller was over in 1863. But the books
live on.
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