Alice in Wonderland usually conjures up the Disney version, of a blond girl in a blue dress getting into all sorts of trouble, but the real story of Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell, who Carroll based the story on is a bit different.
Lewis Carroll, born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, was a mathematician at the University of Oxford when he became a close family friend of the Liddell family.
On July 4th, 1862 Carroll was out boating with the three Liddell sisters when he began to weave a fanciful tale about a precocious and curious girl named Alice.
With the encouragement of Alice, Lewis Carroll produced the first manuscript to Alice in Wonderland which he illustrated himself in 1964.
That manuscript would eventually go on to become Alice's Adventures in Wonderland whose classic illustrations by Sir John Tenniel still live in our memories today.
There are currently over 100 editions of the Alice books, and they have been translated into 97 languages, making them one of the most prolific classics of all time.
But what became of Alice Liddell? While Lewis Carroll became a literary icon, Liddell shied away from the spotlight, but still went on to live quite the adventurous life. She traveled the world with her sisters, fell into the bohemian circle with Julia Margaret Cameron and Alfred Tennyson, and eventually married and became a mother.
Due to financial hardship, in 1928 she sold off the original manuscript, which boosted her back into the public eye. Passing in 1934, Alice Liddell left a legacy in the literary world that will never be forgotten.
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