First edition of "Alice in Wonderland" to go to auction, still considered sort of ugly.

When Alice in Wonderland was ready to be first published in 1865, the book's contented author, Lewis Carroll, was fairly pleased with its outcome. But the illustrator of Alice, Sir John Tenniel, didn't quite feel the same way though.

Tenniel wasn't just unhappy--he hated how his illustrations looked when they were printed by the machines.

A wonky looking Cheshire Cat meets Alice.

In June of 1865, 2,000 copies of Alice were printed, but the release was held. Fifty copies were sent to Carroll to own and distribute as he wished to friends and loved ones. Once Tenniel saw the drawings though, he turned to Carroll and begged a second chance.

On August 2, 1865, Carroll wrote in his diary, "Finally decided on the reprint of Alice, and that the first 2,000 shall be sold as waste paper." Somewhere, a town dump unknowingly became the richest library in England, if only for a day.

Carroll even bit the financial bullet for his collaborator, taking a £600 hit to do a second printing. In 2016 money, that's the equivalent of Carroll giving his friend nearly a £69,000 do-over.

In the end, the book was reprinted with different drawings and became an international treasure. Carroll's original fifty copies were handed out to various people, and over time the majority were lost. Twenty-three still exist, but only six belong in private hands. One of those six copies goes to auction this month through Christie's for an estimated purchase price of $2-to-$3 million.

With no regrets and no do-overs, hopefully.




photo: Christie's Images Ltd.