Public domain in the US, the EU and the UK

Alice's Adventures in WonderlandLewis Carroll, 1865

Carroll's book and John Tenniel's illustrations are free. Disney's Alice is not: design from Tenniel.

First published
1865
Author died
1898
Original language
English
Start my adaptationOriginal texts

Copyright status

Copyright ends at different dates in different countries. Here is where this work stands in the three places most readers release in.
WhereStatus
United StatesPublic domain. First published in 1865, before 1931: the 95-year US term for works of that age has run out.
European Union and United KingdomPublic domain since 1 January 1969. Lewis Carroll died in 1898, and the term is 70 years after the end of the year of death.
Other countriesMost countries protect a work for 50 to 100 years after its author's death, and some have transition rules. If you release or sell in a specific country, check its law.

Status checked on October 26, 2026 against the sources listed in our legal guide.

Bored on a riverbank, Alice follows a White Rabbit down a hole into a world where size, logic and manners keep changing. She meets the Caterpillar, the Duchess, the Cheshire Cat, the Hatter and the March Hare, and finally the Queen of Hearts, whose trial ends when Alice grows back to full size and wakes up.

Free to use

  • The 1865 book, its twelve chapters, its characters and its songs and poems.
  • John Tenniel's illustrations of 1865 (Tenniel died in 1914), and the sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871).
  • Any reading of it: horror, satire, a modern city, a musical with your own songs.
  • Commercial use, including merchandise based on the book's own characters and Tenniel's drawings.

Watch out for

  • The character designs, colours and songs of Disney's 1951 animated film, and the designs of the 2010 film, are protected.
  • Studios hold trademarks around their Alice products. Do not copy their logos or present your work as theirs.
  • Recent translations are protected, and translating Carroll's wordplay is a creative work in itself. Use an old translation or your own.
  • AI models often default to the Disney look. Put Tenniel's line drawings and your own palette in the art direction.

The full rules, with the laws and court decisions behind them, are in our guide to adapting public domain works.

An adaptation idea

Twelve chapters, twelve shorts: each episode is one chapter of Wonderland in a different visual style.

Format: Twelve vertical episodes of one to three minutes, one per chapter.

Adapt it in ScreenWeaver

These are the steps as they run in ScreenWeaver today. You read and edit every step, and you start every generation yourself, in the app.

  1. 1Download the book below; the Standard Ebooks edition includes Tenniel's illustrations. Save it as a PDF with a text layer.
  2. 2Attach it to a series project and ask for the characters and places. Use Tenniel's drawings of each character as reference images.
  3. 3Write the art direction from Tenniel: crosshatched Victorian engraving, or a look of your own, never Disney's palette.
  4. 4Ask for one episode per chapter, then the shots of each.
  5. 5Generate the frames in Storyboard, then the clips in Production.

How a whole book becomes scenes and shots: novel to storyboard.

Original texts

Where to get Alice's Adventures in Wonderland from a legal source

Questions

Is Alice in Wonderland in the public domain?
Yes. The book was published in 1865 and Lewis Carroll died in 1898. It is free in the US, the EU and the UK, and so are Tenniel's illustrations.
Can Alice wear a blue dress with a white apron?
A blue dress alone is not anyone's property, but the more your Alice resembles Disney's design as a whole, the closer you get to copying it. Start from Tenniel and make your own choices.
Can I use Through the Looking-Glass characters too?
Yes. The sequel was published in 1871 and is just as free: Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Jabberwock, the Red Queen.

General information, not legal advice. Copyright, trademark and personality rights depend on the country and on the facts of each project. For a commercial release, have a lawyer check your chain of rights.

Other works to adapt

Start your adaptation.

Import Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, build the cast and the places, write the scenes and cut them into shots. The Screenwriter plan is free.
Start my adaptation