One ‘golden afternoon’ in Oxford, in July 1862, the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson accompanied three young sisters – Lorina, Alice and Edith – on a boating trip. To keep the children amused, Dodgson began to tell a tale about an inquisitive youngster called Alice and her escapades in an underground world. Two years later, on the urgings of the heroine, Alice Liddell, he wrote the tale down and gave it to her as an early Christmas gift.

Dodgson’s story would go on to become one of the most famous children’s books of all time – published as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland . However, the original tale remains less well-known. In this facsimile edition of Dodgson’s original manuscript, including accompanying commentary by former British Library curator Sally Brown, modern readers can enjoy the expressive script of Alice’s story as it was first told.