The Annotated Alice
The Annotated Alice is a work by Martin Gardner incorporating the text of Lewis Carroll's major tales: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass as well as the original illustrations by John Tenniel. It has extensive annotations explaining the contemporary references (including the Victorian poems that Carroll parodies), mathematical concepts, word play, and Victorian traditions (such as the snap-dragons) featured in the two books.
The original book was first published in 1960. It has been reprinted several times and translated into French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, German and Hebrew.
In 1990, a sequel, More Annotated Alice, was published. This sequel does not contain the original side notes, and Tenniel's illustrations are replaced by those of Peter Newell. It also contains the "suppressed" chapter "The Wasp in a Wig", which Carroll omitted from the text of Through the Looking-Glass on Tenniel's recommendation.
In 1999, The Definitive Edition was published. It combines the notes from both works and features Tenniel's illustrations in improved quality.
Gardner also compiled a companion volume, The Annotated Snark, dedicated to Carroll's classic nonsense poem The Hunting of the Snark.
Editions
- The Annotated Alice by Martin Gardner (1960) ASIN B000H0KB0M
- More Annotated Alice by Martin Gardner (1990) 0394585712
- The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition by Martin Gardner (1998/1999) ISBN 0-393-04847-0
See also
- Martin Gardner bibliography
- Michael Grosvenor Myer: Some omissions from Martin Gardner's "The Annotated Alice"; Notes and Queries (OUP), August 1983
External links
- Description on the publisher's website
- Review in The New Statesman, 25 December 2000, by Will Self
