Two Alices Dated 1866: Comparing the Appleton and Macmillan Editions

Two copies of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland can carry the date 1866 and occupy different places in the book's publishing history. The publisher, printer and wording of the edition description matter more than that shared year alone.

Two Morgan Library records make the distinction concrete. One describes the New York Appleton issue of the original edition; the other describes the London Macmillan edition printed by Richard Clay's firm. Comparing them gives a collector a better question than “Does it say 1866?”

The New York record: earlier sheets, an American issue

The Morgan's PML 75239 records New York, D. Appleton and Co., 1866. Its notes identify the book as the first edition's second, American issue and name the Clarendon Press in Oxford as printer. The entry also records 192 numbered pages and an original red cloth binding.

That combination can initially sound contradictory: why is a New York book associated with an Oxford printer? Publisher and printer are different roles. The imprint tells you how the book was issued; the printer information addresses the production of its sheets.

The Appleton issue used sheets from the suppressed 1865 printing with a replacement title page. The publishing history is documented in August A. Imholtz Jr.'s 2020 presentation for the Lewis Carroll Society of North America. Its reproduced Clarendon ledger includes an entry dated May 26, 1866 for American title pages. That is evidence about making title pages, not a reason to date every sheet of the book to the same moment.

The London record: a different printing

The Morgan's PML 352031 also carries 1866, but names London and Macmillan. The catalog describes it as the second edition and the first published edition. It records the printer's name on page 192 as R. Clay, Son, and Taylor.

The catalog also transcribes an author's presentation inscription dated December 1865. Here, an 1866 imprint and an 1865 inscription coexist in the same institutional record. A reader who assumes the printed year is the earliest possible date of circulation would miss that detail.

Christ Church, Oxford's collection account supplies the context: the replacement edition was set by Richard Clay and published by Macmillan for the 1865 Christmas market after the earlier printing was recalled. The date on the title page does not, by itself, put these two editions in publication order.

Read “first” with its qualifying words

In these records, “first edition, second issue” and “second, first published edition” describe different bibliographical circumstances. Dropping the words after “first” erases the useful information.

For a side-by-side comparison, keep the evidence in this order:

1. Appleton, New York, 1866: the American issue associated with the earlier Clarendon sheets, as identified in the Morgan record.
2. Macmillan, London, 1866: the replacement printing associated with Clay, described by the Morgan as the second and first published edition.
3. The shared date: a feature of the imprints, insufficient on its own to make the two copies bibliographically equivalent.

This comparison concerns the named institutional copies and the documented publishing history. It is not a shortcut for authenticating an unfamiliar book offered for sale.

What to request from an incomplete listing

If a description says only “Alice, 1866, first edition,” ask which publisher and issue the seller means. Request clear images of the title page and any printer statement, plus the bibliography supporting the edition description. Ask that replaced leaves, rebinding or other alterations be identified separately.

A library stamp or a later binding would raise additional questions about the particular copy. Neither supplies the missing publisher-and-printing identification. Keep those observations alongside the bibliographical description rather than using them to replace it.

The same caution applies to a catalog match. A matching title page is one piece of evidence; the condition and composition of the physical book still need assessment. The two Morgan records do not certify a third copy, and a photographed date cannot establish that every leaf belongs with it.

A more useful collection note

For the institutional comparison, a concise note could read: “Both records give an 1866 imprint. PML 75239 identifies the Appleton American issue and Clarendon printing; PML 352031 identifies the Macmillan replacement edition and Clay printer statement. Their edition descriptions should not be merged.”

For your own unresolved copy, retain the uncertainty: “1866 is visible on the title page; publisher, printer evidence and issue identification still need to be checked.” This records what you actually know without making the year do more work than it can.

If a book is offered with a replacement jacket, our guide to first editions in facsimile dust jackets explains the separate questions to ask about the book and its accompanying jacket.