Sir John Tenniel illustrated the  original Alice in Wonderland book (1865) under precise instructions from author Lewis Carroll.

“It is said that Dodgson had driven Tenniel almost crazy by providing him with so much details and instructions, and therefore he almost turned down the request when he was asked to illustrate the sequel.”

The complexity of the final drawings was such, that it was hard to engrave them in the wooden blocks used at time. The quality of the illustration did not satisfy neither Tenniel or Carroll, this edition was suppressed and a second printing was achieved (1866). A fine copy of such edition can now cost around £7,500.

This original drawings were kept black and white until 1911, when eight prints in each book were hand colored.(read more at…)