The Annotated Alice (1960)

 

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, wordplay, 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 Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Hebrew.

In 1990, a sequel, More Annotated Alice, was published. This sequel doesn't contain the original side notes and Tenniel's illustration were 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 illustration 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 (1999/1998) ISBN 0393048470