This limited edition Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland portfolio is housed in the Rare Books and Special Collections’s “Alice 100” collection. As the name suggests, it was produced as a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece.

The collection was gathered over a seven-year period by R.D. Hilton Smith – a rare book dealer in Victoria, BC. In 1965, the UBC graduating class of 1925 purchased the collection from Hilton Smith and donated it to the university as a 40th anniversary commemorative gift.

“Alice 100” is quite a large collection; it houses roughly 500 books, with 200 editions of Alice and many editions of Carroll’s sequel Through the Looking Glass. Furthermore, these editions include illustrations by over 80 different illustrators – a truly wide range of artists have contributed to the legacy of Carroll’s masterpiece. There are also editions in a number of languages, including Latin – Alicia in Terra Mirabili – Italian, French, and Spanish.

Notable editions in the “Alice 100” collection:

•  1866 official first edition in a calf-bound set that bears Alice Hargreaves’ (née Liddell) signature
  • illustrated by Sir John Tenniel, who produced the iconic images that will forever be associated with Alice in Wonderland. 
• 1969 Dali Alice – the subject of this blog
• A published facsimile of the original Alice’s Adventures Under Ground manuscript, with Carroll’s own illustrations

Works Cited