Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) was originally called Alice’s Adventures Underground. Written by hand and with Carroll’s own illustrations, it was a personal Christmas gift to young Alice Liddell.
The sequel, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1871), added more stories, including the poem ‘Jabberwocky’. Written purely for enjoyment, the combination of fantasy, logic, whimsy, and word play makes this one of the greatest nonsense poems in English. The book has inspired numerous adaptations in popular culture, such as the 1951 Walt Disney animated feature film, Alice in Wonderland, and Tim Burton’s 2010 Hollywood film by the same name, starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen.
