Product Description

Lewis Carroll's two Alice stories are renowned for their fantastic plots and use of nonsense. The edition, containing both stories, features John Tenniel's original illustrations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27642 in Books
• Published on: 1992-09-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Excerpted from Alice in Wonderland (Everyman's Library Children's Classics) by Lewis Carroll, John Tenniel. Copyright © 1992. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do; once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice, ‘without pictures of conversation?’

So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, ‘Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!’ (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

In another moment Alice went down after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her, and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupbards and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled ‘orange marmalade’, but to her great disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.

‘Well!’ thought Alice to herself, ‘after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling downstairs! How brave they’ll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn’t say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!’ (Which was very likely true.)

Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end! ‘I wonder how many miles I’ve fallen by this time?’ she said aloud. ‘I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think -’ (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the school-room, and though this was not a very good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to it, still it was good practice to say it over) ‘ – yes, that’s about the right distance – but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I’ve got to?’ (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.)

Presently she began again. ‘I wonder if I shall fall right through the earth! How funny it’ll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downwards! The Antipathies, I think – (she was rather glad there was no one listening, this time, as it didn’t sound at all the right word) ‘– but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma’am, is this New Zealand or Australia? (and she tried to curtsey as she spoke – fancy curtseying as you’re falling through the air! Do you think you could manage it!) And what an ignorant little girl she’ll think me for asking! No, it’ll never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.’

Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. ‘Dinah’ll miss me very much to-night, I should think!’ (Dinah was the cat.) ‘I hope they’ll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah, my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no mice in the air, I’m afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that’s very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?’ And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort of way, ‘Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?’ and sometimes, ‘Do bats eat cats?’ for, you see, as she couldn’t answer either question, it didn’t much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, ‘Now Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?’ when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.

Customer Reviews

A delightful reading, appeals to all ages
I read the original text of Carroll's masterpiece when I was 18 years old (I'm 22 now). I knew only interpretations made by Russian writers before. They were funny but not comparable to the original. So I enjoyed myself from the first page of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland to the last of Through The Looking Glass. The book is so brilliant, full of clever humor, paradoxes and parodies. The so-called "nonsense" is very amusing and by no means without sense. Of course I sometimes missed meanings of Carroll's parodies and allusions. Later I read different references and explanations. The searching of meaning made the book even more interesting in my eyes. There is no need in mentioning characters of both books for they are widely known, but I can't stand the temptation. First of all - Alice herself. She is such a charming and sensible young lady. I laughed a lot at her thoughts and commentaries to the events. And then White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, March Hare, Caterpillar, Cheshire Cat, Mock Turtle, strange birds, the intelligent Mouse, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, Humpty Dumpty, Duchess, King and Queen of Hearts, etc - they are creations of true genius. I also liked immensely Carroll's poems included in the books. I often notice that I am repeating lines from them. As for my favourite The Walrus And The Carpenter, I know it by heart. Wit, fantasy and magic make Alice's Adventures a superb children's book as well as a source of great pleasure for adults. Classical illustrations add more charm to this addition. I prefer them to more modern images (by Disney for example).

Beautiful
This is a VERY beautiful book.
I am guilty of often buying more than one copy of a book, one to read and one to keep.
This is one I would try to keep in good condition.
It has the original illustrations in it, looks like an 'old' book, one that would grace any library in a gothic type mansion.
As a book lover, I don;t just enjoy reading them, I enjoy collecting beautiful books too, and this is one of them.
I won;t comment on the story as, I suspect anyone looking at this knows the story very well but, if you want a beautiful book that you'll want to keep safe forever, this is certainly one.

Alicetastic!!!
A wonderful romp through the imagination! I love these stories for the clever word play, double meaning and always suprising twists of fantasy. people of all ages cannot fail to be intrigued by the wonderful nature and exploration of these stories.