Alice's Adventure in Wonderland (Folio Society Limited Edition 2015)

BY Lewis Carroll
Book Information1Thus/1/2*/UK/FS/2015/1,000  •  book:334x263x40  case:359x275x55  •  book:1,858  case:931 

This is the Folio Society's sesquicentenary edition of Alice's Adventure in Wonderland, with illustrations by Charles van Sandwyk. Lewis Carroll's classic was first published in 1865 by Macmillan of London. Apparently, the quality of the first printing was unsatisfactory by the standards of Carroll and/or Tenniel, the illustrator, and was recalled. The first edition available in the market now is the second printing, usually rebound, and sells for $10,000 and above. There are at least two other collectible editions of this title. The first is Limited Edition Club's 1932 publication, of 1,500 copies, signed by the Alice Hargreaves (nee Lindell) who inspired Carroll's creation of Alice. The second is Maecenas Press' 1969 elephant folio, with Salvador Dali's 12 woodcuts and one frontispiece etching, that was signed by Dali. This edition is limited to 2,500 copies, with an additional 200 copies of deluxe edition that comes with a separate portfolio of Dali's art pieces.

This Folio Society's edition, limited to 1,000 copies, is illustrated by Charles van Sandwyk, the famed Canadian artist who collaborated with the same publisher on an earlier limited edition of "The Wind in the Willows", now sold out. This book has an etching that is signed and numbered by Sandwyk, eleven tipped in color plates and nine color "scraps". The book is bound in vellum with vellum tips, blocked on the spine in 24-carat gold, and has a gilded top edge. It comes with a solander case that weighs nearly 1kg while the book tip close to 2kg. Below are the pictures of this quite beautiful book, from when it first arrived in a box.

PS 28 April 2018: Beautiful as the book is, I decided that Folio Society's limited editions, in general, deviates from my collection program. And considering that I was moving house, this book was sold to a book lover in Australia. Like Alice, the book has gone down under, and should be having a great adventure of its own. 

The beautiful book arrived in a quite undistinguished box. I wish Folio Society had sent it in a nicer box, if only to complete the full consumer experience

A sponge sat at the top, above the book. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a beautifully printed brochure of something like that on top of the sponge? Adds to the experience, which, till now, is a humdrum

Beneath the sponge is a wrapped book

There, the nice, if somewhat modest, even Spartan solander box revealed itself. Wouldn't it be nice to have some decoration, nothing ostentatious or gaudy, but simple classy ornament on the box?


There, the book, wrap in a very filmsy piece of tissue that was already torn at the spine edges. I kept this tissue very carefully, for it will add to the resale value in the future: I don't imagine a lot of this original tissue will survive in years to come















































That's how I stored the book, by removing and separately storing the original tissue and replacing it with an archival dust jacket to protect the board. The slip in card is stored within the dust jacket so it'll always be part of the book and will not be
misplaced

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