Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
By Lewis Carroll
First edition, 2008. Illustrations by John Tenniel. Cathair na Mart: Evertype. ISBN 978-1-904808-16-9 (paperback), price: €11.95, £8.95, $14.95. OUT OF PRINTClick on the book cover on the right to order the second edition of this book from Amazon.co.uk!
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| “In that direction,” the Cat said, waving its right paw around, “lives a Hatter: and in that direction,” waving the other paw, “lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.” | ||
| “But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked. | ||
| “Oh, you ca’n’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” | ||
| “How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice. | ||
| “You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn't have come here.” | ||
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Lewis Carroll is a pen-name: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was the author’s real name and he was lecturer in Mathematics in Christ Church, Oxford. Dodgson began the
story on 4 July 1862, when he took a journey in a rowing boat on the river Thames in Oxford together with the Reverend Robinson Duckworth, with Alice Liddell (ten years of age) the daughter of the Dean of Christ Church, and with
her two sisters, Lorina (thirteen years of age), and Edith (eight years of age). As is clear from the poem at the beginning of the book, the three girls asked Dodgson for a story and reluctantly at first he began to tell the first version
of the story to them. There are many half-hidden references are made to the five of them throughout the text of the book itself, which was published finally in 1865. It was in 2003 when I published Eachtraí Eilíse i dTír na nIontas, the splendid Irish translation by my friend Nicholas Williams of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, that I really became enamoured of Alice and her world. We decided to use Sir John Tenniel’s original drawings, but realized that for a true translation would also need to gaelicize the text which appears in many of them. For instance, the text on the paper label tied round the neck of the bottle at the bottom of the rabbit-hole reads “DRINK ME”—but the text should read “ÓLTAR MÉ”, and does, now, in Eachtraí Eilíse. This interest in detail was in part inspired by the fine work of Martin Gardiner in his Annotated Alice, essential reading for anyone interested in Alice. I was also inspired by the book design Gardiner used, which was echoed in the design of the Irish edition, as it is here. Why another English-language edition? While I was preparing the second edition of Eachtraí Eilíse in 2007, I decided that it would be worth making Alice available in other editions as well. In 2008, I also plan to publish Cornish and Esperanto editions. And after that… who knows? In the meantime, perhaps this English-language edition will find its place alongside the many others which have been published since 1865. Michael Everson |
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