Alices Abenteur im Wunderland (translated by Antonie Zimmermann) was the first translation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland to appear after the book's initial publication and success in 1865. Carroll himself supervised the production and printing of the German edition. His correspondence with Macmillan (his English publisher who conducted the negotiations with Leipzig) reveals how exacting he was over such matters as format, margins, picture placement, paper, binding, price, and even certain textual details. When the translation finally appeared in 1869, Carroll was immensely pleased with it and presented a specially bound copy to Princess Beatrix, the daughter of Queen Victoria.
The translation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has always presented a special problem. The humor, popular children's verses, songs, and especially the puns were thought at first to make it untranslatable. The problem was solved by Antonie Zimmermann with the hearty approval of Carroll by substituting popular German children's verses and puns for the English originals. How Doth the Little Crocodile? for instance, is turned into a parody of a German Romantic ballad. All in all, this is still the best of the 15 or more German translations.
The translation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has always presented a special problem. The humor, popular children's verses, songs, and especially the puns were thought at first to make it untranslatable. The problem was solved by Antonie Zimmermann with the hearty approval of Carroll by substituting popular German children's verses and puns for the English originals. How Doth the Little Crocodile? for instance, is turned into a parody of a German Romantic ballad. All in all, this is still the best of the 15 or more German translations.
