Alice in Wonderland is undoubtedly one of the most appreciated children’s books in the world, and it looks like it might actually become the most expensive too, at least if everything goes as expected at an upcoming Christie’s auction. The very first edition of Alice in Wonderland could end up fetching $2.9 million, as it was printed for the first time in 1865 by the Oxford University Press. Lewis Carroll actually rejected this copy at first because “the pictures were not perfect,” but he did distribute it and other similar copies to a few friends and family members.
Only 10 copies bound in red cloth are left in existence, and the one that we’re talking about belonged to a bibliographer named Jon Lindseth, who agreed to donate his collection to the British Library.
