Due for publication 24th April 2025
The tales of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland are stories steeped in fantasy and make-believe. Yet, the roots of Lewis Carroll’s works are firmly in nineteenth century Oxford. From Oxford’s architecture to the more intricate connections; hatters on the high street & the dodo in the Museum of Natural History.
Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll, drew much inspiration for his work from his life as an academic at Christ Church, one of the largest and oldest of the Oxford colleges. It was here that Dodgson met Alice Liddell, the daughter of the Dean of Christ Church and an obvious muse for Alice in the books. The ‘Alice’ books began as stories told to Alice and her sisters, and Dodgson incorporated local people, places and events that they would recognise. But as the books developed, he included a much wider range of satire and caricature until Oxford itself became an eccentric Wonderland. This book, a guide and a history, explores the often curious and always entertaining glories of the city, the colleges and the river, that Alice and Lewis Carroll knew and shared.
Peter Hunt is Professor Emeritus in Children’s Literature at Cardiff University and Adjunct Professor at Dublin City University.
- Hardback
- 120 pages, 198 x 129 mm
- ISBN 9781851246298
- Publication April 2025
