The English mathematician and pioneer photographer Charles Dodgson presented a unique early Christmas gift to Alice Liddell, the twelve year old child of a family friend. The beautifully hand-written and illustrated story was called Alice's Adventures Underground. Dodgson, using the pen-name Lewis Carroll, later published this story of a seven year old girl encountering fantastical creatures down a rabbit-hole as Alice in Wonderland. The first printing, in 1866, sold out in hours and "Alice" has been famous since. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
U. C. Knoepflmache, Ventures Into Childland: Victorians, Fairy Tales, and Femininity (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 22.