Macmillan marks anniversary date with Alice relaunch

Macmillan is marking the 150th anniversary of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll by re-releasing a number of fiction and non-fiction titles in 2015.

Starting its new publication run in October this year, Macmillan is releasing new versions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (first published 1865) and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1871).

Both titles will contain colour prints from illustrator John Macfarlane, who was commissioned to create images for the first officially titled children’s editions in 1927, based on the original engravings by John Tenniel.

The books will be printed with forewords by authors Hilary McKay (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) and Philip Ardagh (Through the Looking-Glass).

The highlights of Macmillan’s publishing programme for the anniversary also include a March 2015 reprint of the abbreviated The Little Folks’ Edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, first published in 1903, with the original Tenniel illustrations.

In July 2015, the publisher will release The Complete Alice, containing both Alice books, with 1911 colour plates by Harry Theaker and additional material from the Macmillan archive, as well as a foreword by Philip Pullman.

Macmillan also plans to re-release Morton N Cohen’s biography of Lewis Carroll, first published in 1995, and a collection of Carroll’s letters, edited by Cohen, entitled Selected Letters. Both books are set to come out next year.

Macmillan is also building a new website to mark the occasion—www.aliceinwonderland150.com—with information about anniversary activities, while bookshops will be able to access special  event packs and promotional material, including a White Rabbit character costume.