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G_j

(40,367 posts)
Mon Jul 14, 2014, 12:03 AM Jul 2014

The Best Illustrations from 150 Years of Alice in Wonderland

Last edited Mon Jul 14, 2014, 09:43 AM - Edit history (1)

by Maria Popova
Down the rabbit hole in enchanting reimaginings.

On July 4, 1862, English mathematician and logician Charles Dodgson boarded a small boat with a few friends. Among them was a little girl named Alice Liddell. To entertain her and her sisters as they floated down the river between Oxford and Godstow, Dodgson fancied a whimsical story, which he’d come to publish three years later under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. Alice in Wonderland went on to become one of the most beloved children’s books of all time, and my all-time favorite.

In the century and a half since Sir John Tenniel’s original illustrations, the Carroll classic has sprouted everything from a pop-up book adaptation to a witty cookbook to a quantum physics allegory, and hundreds of artists around the world have reimagined it with remarkable creative vision. After my recent highlights of the best illustrations for Tolkien’s The Hobbit, here come the loveliest visual interpretations of the timeless book.


http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/07/07/best-illustrations-alice-in-wonderland/


RALPH STEADMAN (1973)


LEONARD WEISGARD (1949)


JOHN VERNON LORD (2011)


pop-up book artist and paper engineer Robert Sabuda

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The Best Illustrations from 150 Years of Alice in Wonderland (Original Post) G_j Jul 2014 OP
Thank you! n/t mia Jul 2014 #1
I love the ASMR version of the popup book Skittles Jul 2014 #2
My kids have the popup book, it is really amazing cemaphonic Jul 2014 #6
Brings back fond memories to me dem in texas Jul 2014 #3
Pop-up one looks like it might have been based off these TlalocW Jul 2014 #4
very nice G_j Jul 2014 #5
Yes, that is the original (nt) muriel_volestrangler Jul 2014 #13
I'll say this much: If the Mad Hatter doesn't look like Tom Petty Warren DeMontague Jul 2014 #7
Just so. BrotherIvan Jul 2014 #11
I realize your source may not have provided credits, but snot Jul 2014 #8
they are at the link G_j Jul 2014 #14
Thanks! snot Jul 2014 #15
Great illustrations! NV Whino Jul 2014 #9
And the best version of the book... longship Jul 2014 #10
The most surrealistic and creepy movie version is STILL the one from 1933... Spitfire of ATJ Jul 2014 #12
No Arthur Rackham? Impossibly huge fail! Adrahil Jul 2014 #16

cemaphonic

(4,138 posts)
6. My kids have the popup book, it is really amazing
Mon Jul 14, 2014, 12:54 AM
Jul 2014

The card flurry page in particular.

There's also a Wizard of Oz one.

dem in texas

(2,674 posts)
3. Brings back fond memories to me
Mon Jul 14, 2014, 12:19 AM
Jul 2014

When I was very young, maybe 6 or 7, my mother would read to us when we got home from school. She read all the classics, most were old books, many from her childhood. She read the "Alice" books, Hans Christian Anderson, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Heidi and so many more. She would read a few chapters each day. I will never forget the John Tenniel illustrations, what a wonder they were to me.

Another thing she did was make us go to library as soon as summer vacation started. We had to check out the maximum number of books allowed (6) and we kept them for 2 weeks and we were expected to read them all. She raised six kids who all loved to read.

I am re-reading an old J. Frank Dobie book right, The Longhorns. Never tire of his stories. Tom Lea did the illustrations. You will remember "Murder" if you read this book.

TlalocW

(15,384 posts)
4. Pop-up one looks like it might have been based off these
Mon Jul 14, 2014, 12:20 AM
Jul 2014

Not sure who did them:





And was inspiration for a Batman Halloween Graphic Novel special...



TlalocW

snot

(10,530 posts)
8. I realize your source may not have provided credits, but
Mon Jul 14, 2014, 01:12 AM
Jul 2014

it'd have been nice for them to be included.

longship

(40,416 posts)
10. And the best version of the book...
Mon Jul 14, 2014, 01:16 AM
Jul 2014

...is The Annotated Alice which contains Lewis Carroll's original text along with Martin Gardner's annotations and commentary. The premium copy also has a similar treatment of "Alice Through the Looking Glass" in the same volume.

Gardner is, as always, on target and provocative.

And yes, if one obtains an early enough copy, the graphics are wonderful.

 

Spitfire of ATJ

(32,723 posts)
12. The most surrealistic and creepy movie version is STILL the one from 1933...
Mon Jul 14, 2014, 02:48 AM
Jul 2014

W. C. Fields as Humpty Dumpty


Cary Grant as the Mock Turtle.


And Gary Cooper as the White Knight.


The costumes were just plain WEIRD and so was the animation.

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