Lewis Carroll / Millicent Sowerby (illustrator) - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - 1907

Publisher's blue cloth with circular pictorial onlay plus gilt lettering and gilt and blue decorations to upper board, gilt lettering to spine, top edges gilt, gilt endpaper illustrations, 12 colour plates, 13 line drawings, illustrated title page, 166 pages plus advertisements, 21.3 x 13.9 cm.

First Sowerby edition, 1907.
Published by Chatto and Windus, London.
Lovett 218.

As noted by Lovett, this 1907 edition of 'Alice in Wonderland' was the very first to appear in England after the original copyright in Lewis Carroll’s book had expired, and the first of many new sets of Alice illustrations published that year – including versions by Arthur Rackham, Charles Robinson, W. H. Walker and Thomas Maybank.

Millicent Sowerby’s version is among the most collected of the post-Tenniel editions, with its beautiful gilt-decorated binding, gold endpaper illustrations and delightful colour plates.

Condition:
Usual age-toning to paper, expected foxing, finger-marking, smudging and staining, a little light creasing, one corner with tiny hole, two or three pairs of gatherings stretched, one short closed tear. One plate neatly re-glued, with short closed tear to inside edge plus slight wear to upper edge. Endpapers with usual offsetting/foxing, a little soiling; front free endpaper with previous owner's name, first (blank) page with small piece of stuck paper (featuring remains of gift inscription). Top of page block with a little scratching/dulling to gilt, other edges with a little foxing/shelf-soiling. Binding a little loose, with lean. Boards and spine with soiling, scuffing, discoloration and marks as shown, bumping, rubbing and wear to extremities; cloth worn through slightly to lower corners, and with nick to one edge plus tears to foot of spine (with small glue repairs); circular onlay with a little wear to upper edge.