Carroll first told the story that became *Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland* on 4 July 1862.
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, writing under the name Lewis Carroll, took a rowing trip on the Isis with the Reverend Robinson Duckworth and the three daughters of Christ Church’s dean, including ten-year-old Alice Liddell. During the journey toward Godstow, he invented and narrated the first form of Alice’s underground adventure.
The date became famous as the “golden afternoon,” a phrase echoed in the prefatory poem to the published novel. Dodgson’s diary records the expedition, while later recollections by Alice and others connect the outing with the storytelling. Alice’s request that he write the tale down eventually produced the handwritten manuscript *Alice’s Adventures Under Ground*, completed in 1864.
The published book appeared in 1865 under Carroll’s pen name, with illustrations by John Tenniel. The date is sometimes confused with publication dates: 1865 marks the book’s first publication, not the original storytelling expedition. The alternate dates in the choices refer to Carroll’s birth, death, or the book’s later history rather than its creation.