Alice (Lewis Carroll)

Alice
	;
Real Name	Alice
First Appearance	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865)
Original Publisher	Macmillan
Created by	Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (as "Lewis Carroll")

Origin[]

Alice is a fictional character who is a Victorian English girl in the books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, which were written by Charles Dodgson under the pen name Lewis Carroll.

The character has been said to be based on Alice Liddell, a child friend of Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll). Dodgson said several times that his "little heroine" was not based on any real child, but was entirely fictional. Alice is portrayed as a quaintly logical girl, sometimes even pedantic, especially with Humpty Dumpty in the second book. According to the sequel, she is seven and a half years old, but seems to conduct herself like a somewhat older child. The first book takes place on 4 May, Alice Liddell's birthday. The second takes place on 4 November, her half-birthday (and Alice states that she is "seven and a half exactly"). In April 1887, Carroll wrote in "Alice on the Stage:"

"What wert thou, dream-Alice in thy foster-father's eyes? How shall he picture thee? Loving first, loving and gentle: loving as a dog (forgive the prosaic simile, but I know no earthly love so pure and perfect) and gentle as a fawn: then courteous—courteous to all, high or low, grand or grotesque, King or Caterpillar, even as though she were herself a King's daughter, and her clothing wrought of gold: then trustful, ready to accept the wildest impossibilities with all that utter trust that only dreamers know; and lastly, curious—wildly curious, and with the eager enjoyment of Life that comes only in the happy hours of childhood, when all is new and fair, and when Sin and Sorrow are but names — empty words signifying nothing!

Alice-ArthurRackham — Alice illustrated by Arthur Rackham

Alice is popularly depicted wearing a pale blue knee-length dress with a white pinafore overtop, although the dress originally was yellow in The Nursery Alice, the first coloured version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In the illustrations for Through the Looking-Glass her hair is held back with a wide ribbon. As Alice was first drawn in black and white her colors would vary from artist to artist; it was Disney who made blue the most popular color for her dress and blonde for her hair. However, Alice has been coloured by Tenniel in a blue dress, with white stripes at the bottom, her pinafore is outlined in red and this look has, perhaps, become the classic and most widely recognized Alice in Wonderland dress in later works. Tenniel drew Alice in two variants: for Through the Looking-Glass her pinafore is more ruffled and she is shown in striped stockings, an image which has remained in much of the later art.

Public Domain Appearances[]

All appearances of Alice in Wonderland from before Janurary 1, 1929 are public domain in the US.

Some notable appearances are listed below:

Public Domain Literary Appearances[]

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865)
Through the Looking-Glass (1871)
“The Dodo Demolished” (poem) (10 Jan. 1874)
The Nursery "Alice" (1889/90)
Miss Muffet’s Christmas Party, by Samuel McChord Crothers (1902)
The Westminster Alice (1902)
Alice in Blunderland: An Iridescent Dream (1907)
“The Procession of the Blest” (poem), by J. W. Foley (14 Dec. 1907)
A Christmas Party for Santa Claus, by Ida M Huntington (1912)
New Adventures of Alice (1917)
Adventures of Uncle Wiggily (newspaper column), by Howard R. Garis (June–July 1917) – compiled in Uncle Wiggily and Alice in Wonderland (1918)
“Grandmother’s Dream” (poem), by L. A. Lefevre (1921)
Alice in Grammarland (1923)

Public Domain Literary Appearances Inspired by Alice[]

Davy and the Goblin, or, What Followed Reading "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (1885)
A New Alice in the Old Wonderland (1895)
Gladys in Grammarland (1897)
Clara in Blunderland (1902)
Lost in Blunderland (1903)
John Bull's Adventures in the Fiscal Wonderland (1904)
Alice in Beeland, by Lillian Elizabeth Roy (1919)
Alice in Orchestralia (1925)

Public Domain Film Appearances[]

Alice in Wonderland (1903)
Alice in Wonderland (1910)
Alice in Wonderland (1915)
Alice Through a Looking Glass (1928)

Public Domain Film Appearances Inspired by Alice[]

Alice Comedies (1913-1927)

Public Domain Theatrical and Musical Appearances[]

Alice in Wonderland (musical), libretto by Henry Savile Clarke and Aubrey Hopwood, music by Walter Slaughter (1886)
Alice in Wonderland (play), by Alice Gerstenberg (1915)
“Alice in Wonderland” (song), by Irving Berlin (1916)

Public Domain Comic Appearances[]

Worlds Greatest Stories #1
Treasure Chest vol. 3 #2-4
The Adventures of Alice #1-3
Santa Claus Funnies #2
Jingle Jangle Comics #16
Pep Comics #29-30, 33
Christmas Carnival (1952 Series) #nn
Christmas Carnival (1955 Series) #2
Tip Top Comics #6,9
Comics on Parade vol. 1 #12
- vol.2 #9,12
Single Series #24
Four Color #220
Funny Book #1
Fairy Tales #11

Notes[]

In the books, Alice's full name is never given, but later sources often assume the character to be based on a friend of the author (either Alice Liddell or Alice Raikes).