The Alice Years: July 1862 to June 1868


Alice's adventures began on a boating trip on the Thames going to Godstow in the summer of 1862. On this occasion he and the Liddell children were accompanied by Robinson Duckworth, a friend of Dodgson's. Dodgson wrote in his diary:

'Duckworth and I made an expedition up the river to Godstow with the three Liddells: we had tea on the bank there, and did not reach Christ Church again till quarter past eight, when we took them on to my rooms to see my collection of micro-photographs, and restore them to the Deanery just before nine.'

Dodgson, years later recalling the afternoon of the 4th of July 1862 when the Alice stories were born, wrote:

'Full many a year has slipped away, since that "golden afternoon" that gave thee birth, but I can call it up almost as clearly as if it were yesterday - the cloudless blue above, the watery mirror below, the boat drifting idly on its way, the tinkle of the drops that fell from the oars, as they waved so sleepily to and fro, and (the one bright gleam of life in all the slumberous scene) the three eager faces, hungry for news of fairy-land...'

In August he made two more river trips with the Liddell children and continued the Alice stories. It wasn't until some months later that he began to write them down. By the following February he had written a first draft of 18,000 words, called "Alice's Adventures Under Ground". In June, Dodgson began negotiations with the Clarendon Press for its printing and during the following twelve months continued to work on the manuscript, increasing it to 35,000 words, and changing its title to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". In addition, Dodgson added his own drawings (example on right) to his original manuscript. By the early part of 1864 he had decided on John Tenniel (below), a "Punch" cartoonist, as the illustrator. Dodgson was given a note of introduction to Tenniel by his friend Tom Taylor, a comic playwright. Tenniel agreed to do the work and began in May 1864.

Dodgson personally paid Tenniel and provided him with detailed instructions for the illustrations. He hoped to have the book published by the Christmas of 1864, but Tenniel didn't finish the illustrations until June 1865. By the end of that month the Clarendon Press had printed 2000 copies and Dodgson was able to present Alice Liddell with her own white vellum bound copy.

Within a month, however, Tenniel had expressed dissatisfaction with the printing of the illustrations and Dodgson ordered a new edition printed by a new printer. The new edition had sold 5000 copies by the end of 1866 and the first edition was offered to an American publisher.

The illustrations created by Tenniel show remarkable similarities to those of Dodgson and it is not known if Tenniel saw Dodgson's pictures before drawing his own or if the correspondance was soley the product of the detailed instructions (which at times annoyed the illustrator) given by the author.

It was during the period of writing and publishing the book that Dodgson's relationship with Alice Liddell began to tail off. Mrs Liddell had become concerned about Dodgson's friendship with her daughters and began to limit his access to them. Dodgson's diaries make no mention of the Liddells from July until December 1863, and he saw them rarely after this time. He wrote in his diary after visiting the Liddells with the intention of playing croquet:

'Mrs Liddell was with us part of the time. It is nearly six months (June 25th) since I have seen anything of them, to speak of. I mark this day with a white stone.'

In 1867 Dodgson and his friend Henry Liddon went on a tour of Russia. This was to be Dodgson's only travel abroad in his life.

In June 1868 Dodgson's father died and by December he had moved the family from Croft to a house, 'The Chestnuts', in Guildford (right). It was during this time that he began to plan the follow-up to 'Alice'; 'Behind the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Saw There' (later changed slightly to 'Through the Looking-Glass...').


This page is Copyright 1996, Cameron Newham