Real Alice in Wonderland book sells for $115,000 in USA

One of the books belonged to the real life Alice In Pictures: Real life Alice book for sale

A rare edition of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, given to the real Alice, has sold for $115,000 (£70,896) at an auction in the USA.

The copy belonged to 10-year-old Alice Liddell, the Oxford don's inspiration for Alice.

Another first edition sold for $40,000 (£24,659). The books were being sold by the American football star and children's book collector Pat McInally.

They went under the hammer at Profiles In History auction house in California.

A signed letter from Lewis Carroll, dated 10 July 1890, went for $2,000 (£1,222) at the same sale.

Alice Liddell was the daughter of the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, while Lewis Carroll was there as the Professor of Maths.

'Really exciting'

He used many of his experiences there as inspiration for Alice in Wonderland.

Mr McInally, who played for the Cincinnati Bengals in the 70s and 80s, said: "I think it is the most important children's book ever written... so finding a book given to Alice by Lewis Carroll was really exciting."

He wanted to sell the books to allow him add to other parts of his collection.

"My main collection has been the Winnie-the-Pooh books," he said.

"I'm hoping to use some of the money I get from this sale on more books by AA Milne at a sale coming up soon in London."