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On November 26, 2015, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll will be 150 years old. The first of his Alice stores, the original edition was published in a red cloth-board cover with a little gold-leaf medallion of Alice cradling a rabbit on the cover. Queen Victoria and a young Oscar Wilde were among the first readers, back in its first run of 2000 copies. Now, it’s available in 174 languages, scores of adaptations in print, art, music, and film.
And New York City plans to celebrate all of it, if a little bit in advance.
Bobst Library, at New York University, is hosting an exhibit called “Alice: Alice, Wonderland, and Popular Culture.” The exhibit will feature more than 1000 articles of Alice ephemera, from china figurines to playing cards, puzzle games to sewing patterns.
The author of Two Alice Statues in Central Park will conduct walking tour’s of the park’s (you guessed it) two statues of Alice on October 9th. They each have a story, after all, and only one is listed on the Central Park’s website’s list of sculptures.
On October 10th, Sony Wonder Technology Lab on Madison Avenue will be set up to allow visitors to make their own short animated works using the original Alice illustrations by Carroll’s friend John Tinniel.
From October 11th through November 8th, the off-Broadway Players Theater will be performing an Alice in Wonderland musical.
All of these events, and dozens more worldwide, are being coordinated by Alice150, the Lewis Carroll Society’s celebration, which also includes readings and conferences. More info can be found at Alice150.