A very merry unbirthday!: Original Alice In Wonderland manuscript to travel to US museums in celebration of its 150th anniversary

  • Lewis Carroll's original handwritten, illustrated manuscript for 'Alice in Wonderland' will travel to the U.S. to mark its 150th anniversary
  • The British Library said Thursday it will loan the book to New York's Morgan Library 
  • The work was bought by an American dealer in 1928 and returned to Britain in 1948

By ASSOCIATED PRESS and ALEXANDRA KLAUSNER FOR MAILONLINE

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Lewis Carroll's original handwritten, illustrated manuscript for 'Alice in Wonderland' will travel to the U.S. to mark its 150th anniversary.

The British Library said Thursday it will loan the book — presented by the author to Alice Liddell, who inspired it — to New York's Morgan Library and Museum and the Rosenbach Museum of the Free Library of Philadelphia next year.

The work, which bears its original title of 'Alice's Adventures Under Ground,' was bought by an American dealer in 1928 and returned to Britain in 1948.

Original manuscript: This is a rendering of Alice, as she grows larger in the original manuscript of Alice in Wonderland written and illustrated by Lewis Carroll  

Original manuscript: This is a rendering of Alice, as she grows larger in the original manuscript of Alice in Wonderland written and illustrated by Lewis Carroll  

Tea time: This is an original illustration by Lewis Carroll in the Alice in Wonderland manuscript going on display in American museums 

Tea time: This is an original illustration by Lewis Carroll in the Alice in Wonderland manuscript going on display in American museums 

'The enchanting tale of Wonderland was first told “one golden afternoon” to Alice Liddell and her two sisters. Delighted by the fantastic world of logic and nonsense inhabited by rabbits in waistcoats and playing card gardeners, Alice begged for a written copy of her namesake's adventures under ground,' says the Morgan Library Museum's website description of the exhibition.

'Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll) painstakingly wrote out the story, illustrating the original manuscript with his own pen and ink drawings,'it continues.

The British Library also will display the book in late 2015 as part of an exhibition marking 150 years since its 1865 publication.

The library also plans a major exhibition next year marking the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta. 

Later version: A shower of cards in Alice in Wonderland from the color illustrated Nursery Alice published in 1890 with illustrations by John Tenniel

Later version: A shower of cards in Alice in Wonderland from the color illustrated Nursery Alice published in 1890 with illustrations by John Tenniel

The writer: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll) wrote out the story, illustrating the original manuscript with his own pen and ink drawings

The writer: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll) wrote out the story, illustrating the original manuscript with his own pen and ink drawings

 

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