Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, 1866, Unique Trevor Lloyd Binding

Binding Details:  Elegantly bound by Trevor Lloyd in full red morocco leather with a spine treatment of five raised bands, gold gilted floral decorations and ruling, and gold gilt titling. The front cover features an exquisite tooled rabbit design with colored leather onlys. There are double ruled inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, and all page edges are gold gilted. The original cloth covers were preserved and are bound into the rear of the book. Trevor Lloyd’s binders stamp appears at the top of the last free endpaper. The book is housed in a custom made clamshell box by Jamie Kamph of the Stonehouse Bindery that is covered in red silk with a leather spine label with titling in gold gilt.

Book Details:  This is the first published edition (also known as the first British edition) of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland published by Macmillan & Co., London in 1866 that features 42 illustrations by John Tenniel. The publishing history of Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece is well documented. The book was originally printed in Oxford at the Clarendon Press in June 1865. After receiving copies of the book, Lewis Carroll and John Tenniel were dissatisfied with the quality of the printing and decided to suppress the whole edition of 2,000 copies. The pre-publication copies were recalled and it is believed that no more than 25 of these exist. A new printer, Richard Clay, was commissioned to upgrade the printing for the Macmillan edition which is dated 1866 but was ready by November, 1865 in time for the Christmas market. A total of 4,000 copies were published. References: Printing and the Mind of Man 354 (note); Williams–Madan–Green–Crutch 46.

The book measures 7.5” x 5.25” with 192 pages and a table of contents.

Condition Report:  The binding is in FINE condition with no flaws. Internally, the book is very clean with some occasional stray marks. A few leaves with some expert paper conservation that includes a repair to a tear to page 30. The clamshell box is also in FINE condition. Overall, this is a beautiful Trevor Lloyd binding that houses the first published edition of one of the most iconic books ever written.

Photographs of the binding, clamshell box, endpapers, and some stock illustrations from the book appear in the photo section of the listing.