ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book considers the publishing history of Lewis Carroll's Alice in a broad sense that accords with ideas of the 'sociology of the text', a phrase usefully coined by D. F. McKenzie. McKenzie outlines a scope for texts that include verbal, visual, oral, and numeric data, in the form of maps, prints, and music, of archives of recorded sound, of films, videos, and any computer-stored information. The book is concerned not just with the material and immaterial cultural objects that can be called 'Alices', but with the stories surrounding their creation and use. It discusses the movement from authorial control towards new narratives and art forms that are increasingly distant from the originals. Alice scholarship, especially textual and publishing scholarship, has been invigorated by what might be called the tradition of 'gentlemen scholars' and private collectors.
