Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; Through the Looking-Glass

West Hatfield: Pennyroyal Press, 1982. Moser, Barry. Two folio volumes. 150pp.; xxv, 160pp. Each one of 350 copies signed by Barry Moser. Alice is illustrated with 75 wood engravings by Moser, and Through the Looking-Glass contains 95 engravings by Moser. Some of the engravings are full-page plates, while others are beautifully integrated into the layout. Alice bears a presentation inscription on the colophon to a patron, and Moser has added a characteristically detailed pencil drawing of a key. Every illustration in Looking Glass is pencil signed by Moser. Both volumes also come with an additional suite of the wood engravings, each print signed by Moser, in a linen-covered chemise. Both volumes are printed in five colors on a paper specially made for the Press by Strathmore Mills, with calligraphy by G. G. Laurens. The type is Bembo, in blue, black, and red. Bound by Gray Parrot in quarter purple morocco and crimson morocco and marbled boards, respectively. Each is housed in its own morocco-backed linen clamshell box. This was the first in a series of folio editions of classic texts printed at the Pennyroyal Press. It sold out almost immediately and has remained the most popular of Moser's oeuvre ever since. The edition was based on Carroll's corrections to his original text, and the additional commentary was written by one of America's leading Victorianists, James Kincaid. The University of California Press issued a trade edition of this publication which is considered a classic in its own right.