The
Background & History of
Alice In Wonderland
There have been any number of illustrators for this delightfully nonsensical tale over the years. The appearance of the characters has also tended to change, according to each artists' style. Each set of illustrations was richly evocative of the tale, however, and each has contributed to our continued enjoyment of this story.

The work of several of the earliest illustrators has been chosen for inclusion here, along with two more contemporary artists. Sound a wee bit surreal? Perhaps. But then, so is the story itself.

To the best of our knowledge, this BEDTIME-STORY CLASSIC is the only rendering of Alice In Wonderland which successfully melds the nearly complete works of multiple artists with the tale itself. The result is a marvelously entertaining tapestry, embroidered with nonsensical whimsy and displayed at its illustrative best..

 THE MAKING OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND
About the Author: Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, third of eleven children of an Anglican priest, was a mathematician and a logician who was a lecturer at Oxford for some 26 years. He was also an accomplished photographer, and a Church Deacon. Dodgson's pen name, (and the name by which you will undoubtedly know him best), was Lewis Carroll. He is best known for his whimsical tales, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
 In Carroll's original (1862-1864) manuscript for the story, Alice's Adventures Underground, which he personally illustrated, Alice was not the little blonde girl in a pinafore we have come to know from subsequent illustrations.

Alice
Pleasance
Liddell
 Instead, she was originally a winsome, dark haired child, whose likeness had been patterned after ten year old Alice Liddell, the child of a church colleague, for whom the Alice stories had been originally created.
 

Lewis Carroll - 1832-1898
Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson

Dodgson wrote four versions of "Alice".

Dodgson first told the story during a pleasant summer outing with friends. Reverend Dodgson, along with a Christ Church colleague, Robinson Duckworth, and the three young daughters of the Dean of Christ Church at Oxford, (Alice, Lorina, and Edith Liddell), in a rowing boat hired from Salter's boatyard, near Folly Bridgehad all set out on a lazy, 2½ hour rowing trip down the river Isis to Godstow, that July 4th in 1862.

Dodgson entertained his fellow passengers with a story he created on the spur of the moment for 10 year old Alice. Alice and her sisters were enchanted with the tale, and Alice later pleaded with Carroll to commit the story to paper, which he did, but he did not complete it until until the following February.

In an article in the New York Times of April 4th 1928 Alice Liddell recalled that

"The beginning of Alice was told to me one summer afternoon when the sun was so hot we landed in the meadows down the river, deserting the boat to take refuge in the only bit of shade to be found, which was under a newly made hayrick. Here from all three of us, my sisters and myself, came the old petition, 'Tell us a story' and Mr. Dodgson began it.

Sometimes to tease us, Mr. Dodgson would stop and say suddenly, 'That's all till next time.' 'Oh,' we would cry, 'it's not bedtime already!' and he would go on. Another time the story would begin in the boat and Mr. Dodgson would pretend to fall asleep in the middle, to our great dismay."

Robinson Duckworth also described this trip:

"I rowed stroke and he rowed bow (the three little girls sat in the stern) ... and the story was actually composed over my shoulder for the benefit of Alice Liddell, who was acting as 'cox' of our gig ... I remember turning round and saying, 'Dodgson, is this an extempore romance of yours?' And he replied, 'Yes, I'm inventing it as we go along.' "

Charles Dodgson himself also recalled that day and others that followed:

"Many a day we rowed together on that quiet stream - the three little maidens and I - and many a fairy tale had been extemporised for their benefit- .. -yet none of these tales got written down: they lived and died, like summer midges, each in its own golden afternoon until there came a day when, as it chanced, one of the listeners petitioned that the tale might be written down for her."
Quotes Courtesy Christ Church

This first manuscript, which was called Alice's Adventures under Ground is thought to have probably been destroyed in 1864 when, on November 26th 1864, Dodgson presented Alice Liddell with a more elaborate hand-printed second version (shown at right) which included 37 of his own illustrations as a Christmas present.

The manuscript, entitled "Alice's Adventures Underground" was presented to Alice Liddell, inscribed as "A Christmas Gift to a Dear Child, in Memory of a Summer Day".

Reverend Dodgson later showed the tale to his family and his friend George Macdonald, who urged him to publish it. He subsequently revised and expanded the tale to almost twice its length and this third version was published by Macmillan and Co. in London, on July 4th, 1865. Sir John Tenniel was the artist who agreed to illustrate the revised and expanded text which was now called Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

The edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland which was published in July was subsequently withdrawn. The illustrator was displeased at the poor quality of printing, which did not do justice to his illustrations. All but about 15 copies were successfully recalled and presumed destroyed. A new edition was published in November (but dated 1866).

Preferring anonymity for this whimsical work, since he had a professional reputation for producing more serious tomes, Dodgson chose to use the nom de plume or "pen name" of Lewis Carroll on his work.
 

COURTESY OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD, ENGLAND

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Version four was a complete rewriting of the tale for very young children "from nought to five" which was brought out by Macmillan in 1889 with 20 of Tenniel's pictures enlarged and coloured.

In March 1885 Dodgson obtained the now married Alice Liddell Hargreaves' permission to allow Macmillan to publish a facsimile of the manuscript of Alice's Adventures under Ground; and this appeared on December 22nd 1886 in an edition of 5,000 copies.

1884 Edition - Courtesy USC Rare Book Collection
 
1893 - Y. Crowell & Co.

The story originally created to amuse young Alice enjoyed wide-spread popularity, even sparking a stage production and related toys. Carroll wrote a total of ten books, some for children, others on math and logic. In 1871 Carroll published Alice's further adventures in "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There". The tales "Hunting the Snark" and "Sylvie and Bruno" were amongst his later works.

In addition to laudatory fame, Carroll and his work also drew the predictible cadre of jealous attackers. Detractors began searching for hidden meanings in his writings, (sparking debates that still rage today), to the point that Carroll sought to distance himself from the books.

In an 1876 letter to readers Carroll implored them to read "Wonderland" in the "spirit in which I have written it."

Dodgson never had the opportunity to create stories for children of his own. Although he lectured in mathematics at Oxford, Dodgson was a profound stutterer, as were six of his seven sisters, and neither he nor his sisters ever married.

In the company of the children of his friends, however, Dodgson found emotional respite as well as an appreciative audience for his literary whimsey, and his stutter would lessen appreciably.

The man who was described by one of his illustrators as "an interesting but erratic genius", and by another as "impossible!", died in 1898 at the age of 66.

A detailed look at Dodgson is offered by the web site of Christ Church at Oxford.
Another biography may be found on the Brown University's web site.
 

Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
by Sir H. von Herkomer
(posthumous portrait based on photographs)
Poems:

You Are Old, Father William - parodies Robert Southey's "The Old Man's Complaints and How he Gained Them."
How Doth The Little Crocodile - parodies Isaac Watt's "Against Idleness and Mischief" (1715)
Speak Roughly To Your Little Boy - parodies David Bates' "Speak Gently."

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat - parodies Ann and Jane Taylor's "The Star" (1806).

Illustrations:

Lewis Carroll's
OSTRICH
1862/ 1864
The chief difficulty which Alice found at first was to manage her ostrich: she got its body tucked away, comfortably enough, under her arm, with its legs hanging down, but generally, just as she had got its neck straightened out nicely, and was going to give a blow with its head, it would twist itself round, and look up into her face, with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out laughing:  

Sir John Tenniel's FLAMINGO - 1865
 

When Alice's Adventures Underground gave way to the revised, extended version, which had been renamed Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the artist chosen to illustrate it was Sir John Tenniel (b. Feb. 28, 1820, London, Eng.--d. Feb. 25, 1914, London). The first edition of that book was published in 1865.

There were a number of changes along the way.

For example; In the original croquet game sequence, "Alice's Adventures Underground" had Alice using an Ostrich for a mallet.

In subsequent versions however, the mallet of choice became the Flamingo, whose beak more closely resembled a mallet.

An English illustrator and satirical artist, Sir John Tenniel was especially known for political cartoons appearing in the British magazine, Punch. Today he is perhaps best remembered for his illustrations of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1872).

Tenniel's black and white illustrations (which to this day remain the most famous) were for the reproductive process known as wood-engraving.
In 1889 Macmillan published The Nursery Alice, a shortened and simplified version for very small children lacking the puns and irony in the original tale..
 

Sir John Tenniel
1820-1914
The book's cover described it as "Containing Twenty Coloured Enargements From Tenniel's Illustrations to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" With Text Adapted To Nursery Readers by Lewis Carroll" .

In 1907, when the British copyright on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland expired, and any publisher was free to create a new edition, several did, and to differentiate themselves from the original, many chose to produce new illustrated editions. A glance at the dates on many of these illustrations however, indicates that many publishers quite simply jumped the gun.

There have been any number of illustrators whose work has graced this popular tale over the years. The characters appearance tended to vary, according to each artists' style. In some cases, it's thought that more than one artist may have drawn Alice to resemble his own daughter. Regardless of artistic liberties taken, each set of illustrations was richly evocative of the tale, and each has contributed to our continued enjoyment of this story.

The works of several different illustrators have been selected for inclusion on the Alice In Wonderland story page. The varying styles offer a fascinating window into artistic creativity, allowing us to enjoy the historical as well as the contemporary illustrative renderings of this whimsical tale.

Of interest is the radical variation of certain scenes portrayed by each successve illustrator. Also of interest will be variations in Alice's clothing and hair. Details in some of the earlier illustrations are particularly extraordinary. Tea Party scenes, by both Rackham and Jackson, (Rackham to a greater degree of detail) show even the folds in the tablecloth, caused by it having been stored in a cupboard prior to the table being set.

Gutmann's rendering of the Frog footman is exquisite, and Rackham's Alice holding the pig-baby is remarkably poignant. The works of nine historical artists are currently displayed. The works of another two artists were chosen to represent more contemporary styles.

As additional resources for historical illustrations become available, more illustrations will be evaluated for addition to this tale. In addition to illustrations by the author and by Sir John Tennile, the following artists (listed adjacent to a representative sample of their work) have extensive works which appear on the story page. The listing is in chronological order.
 Kirk, Maria L. New York: Stokes, 1904.
This time there could be no mistake about it; it was neither more nor less than a pig.
Courtesy Collection of Dave Neal
  
Rackham, Arthur. London:
William Heinemann, 1907.

(L) It grunted again so violently that she looked down into its face in some alarm.

(R)The Mock Turtle drew a long breath and said: "That's very curious"
Courtesy Collection of Dave Neal  

Arthur Rackham
1837-1939

  Gutmann, Bessie Pease. New York: Dodge, 1907.
(L) It was opened by another footman.
(R) The Rabbit actually took a watch out of its pocket.
Courtesy Collection of Dave Neal
 Attwell, Mabel Lucie. London: Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., 1910.
Alice in the pool of tears.
Courtesy Collection of Dave Neal
  Jackson, A.E. New York: Henry Frowde, 1914; London: Frowde, 1915.
(L) "Please would you tell me," said Alice, a little timidly, "why your cat grins like that?"
(R) She was exactly the right height to rest her chin on Alice's shoulder.
Courtesy Collection of Dave Neal
 Hudson, Gwynedd M. London: Hodder, 1922; New York: Dodd, 1922.
Alice and Dinah
Courtesy Collection of Dave Neal
 Jessie Willcox Smith - Collage from Boys and Girls of Bookland. Smith, Nora Archibald, 1923
Courtesy of Athens Antique Labels & Prints : oldlabel@sover.net
   Other early Illustrators whose works are not yet pictured:
Newell, Peter. New York and London: Harper and Brothers, 1901.
Soper, George. London: Headley, 1911; New York: Baker, 1911.
Sowerby, Millicent. London:Chatto and Windus, 1907.
Tarrant, Margaret W. London: Ward, Lock and Co. Ltd., 1916.
Walker, W.H. London: John Lane, 1907. Woodward, Alice B. London: G. Bell, 1913.
Please tell us if you have additional resources.
 CONTEMPORARY ARTWORK: Outside of the Disney characters, which have become so much a part of the childhood memory of the last several generations, the only other contemporary artist whose illustrations were chosen to be featured on this tale is Marshall Vandruff, who has himself produced all new artwork for Alice In Wonderland. Marshall's delightfully surreal, hookah-smoking Caterpillar was singularly ideal, and met the tone set by Carroll for the dialogue.
Marshall Vandruff's client list includes MAD Magazine, Hanna Barbera, Warner Brothers, and many others.

Down the Rabbit Hole.
This spectacular vertical image from Disney's movie, "Alice in Wonderland" is a framed, Limited Edition print, which measures 18" x 38".
Appears Courtesy of American Royal Arts .
 

From Disney's Animated Version, all animation images are Copyright Disney.

Disney Video Version is available from the Disney web site.

Alice, the Cheshire cat, and the rest of Carroll's marvelous characters were popularized again in the 20th century by the masters of animation at the Disney studios. The 1951 Disney movie version of Alice In Wonderland (now available on video) borrowed elements from more than one of Carroll's tales, however.

Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland is based on both Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and the subsequent book, Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There.

Because Sir John Tenniel's illustrations for the Carroll books were so well known, Walt Disney acquired the rights to them as the basis for the visual style of Alice in Wonderland. When the illustrative style proved a hindrance to animation, the character designs were freely adopted for the animation form, though still making reference to the well-known Tenniel drawings. The visual development of the characters required an unusual amount of preliminary evolution. Months of rough sketches preceded the final definition on the model sheets which would guide the animators.

Disney's animated versions of Carrolls characters have been popular for over four decades, but Carroll's original tale has continued to enchant and amuse us for well over one hundred thirty years.

Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole

Alice is sitting by her sister lazily and became a bit tired, and she sees a White Rabbit in a waistcoat carrying a watch. She follows it down a rabbit hole, and falls down a very long chamber full of strange things on shelves. After landing safely on the ground, she goes into a long hallway with a glass table with a gold key. Alice opens up a curtain and finds a small door, which the key fits in perfectly, and behind it is a beautiful garden, but she can't fit in. Alice then finds a small bottle labeled "DRINK ME," and drinks it. The drink causes her to shrink. Alice accidentally leaves the key on the table, and with her diminished stature can no longer reach it. Then she was scared. She then sees a cake that says "EAT ME," and proceeds to eat it.

[edit] Chapter 2: The Pool of Tears

The consumption of the cake makes Alice grow to be 9 feet tall. She cries, creating a pool of tears. The White Rabbit comes into the hallway, and is so frightened he drops his fan and kid-gloves. Alice then fans herself with his fan and kid-gloves, causing her to shrink to become very small again, but she stops before she goes out altogether. She swims through the pool of tears she had cried when she was larger, and finds a mouse who is awfully scared of cats. They wash up onto a bank, where they meet many birds and animals, who are also soaking wet.

[edit] Chapter 3: A Caucus Race and a Long Tale

A Dodo decides that the birds and animals should dry off with a Caucus Race, which has no rules except to run in a circle. After half an hour or so, the race ends and everyone wins, which means they all get prizes. Alice gives out her comfits as the prizes, and the Mouse tells Alice his long and sad tale of why he hates cats, which Alice misinterprets as "tail." The chapter ends with Alice alienating the participants of the race, resulting in her being left alone once again.

[edit] Chapter 4: The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill

The White Rabbit mistakes Alice for his house maid, Mary Ann. He asks her to fetch a pair of gloves and a fan. Alice goes in to his house, and she finds a bottle. Though not labeled DRINK ME she drinks it anyway. The drink now makes her grow so big that she blocks the entrance and the White Rabbit is no longer able to get into the house. The White Rabbit asks a lizard named Bill to get her out. Bill climbs in through the chimney, but is kicked out by Alice's giant leg that is stuck there. The White Rabbit then decides out loud that house should be burned down, where Alice then responds fervently "If you do I'll set Dinah at you!", Dinah being a young kitten that Alice owns. Silence follows and then chatter about 'A barrowful will do, to begin with' folowed by a shower of little pebbles being thrown through the window. The pebbles quickly turn into small cakes and Alice swallows one, suddenly causing her to shrink again to her earlier size. Back down to size Alice makes her way out of the house to find a small crowd of assorted animals, who in turn make a rush toward Alice when they see her. Quickly retreating into the nearby thick wood she finds herself confronted by an enormous puppy (note that Alice is merely a few inches tall at this time) and plays fetch with the puppy, tiring him into sleep. She rests for a moment herself, looking around and spotting a mushroom growing near her, she examines all angles of the mushroom and decides to have a peek at what might be on top of it. As she stands tiptoe and looks, her eyes meet with the ones of a blue Caterpillar, who is sitting arms folded quietly smoking a hookah.

[edit] Chapter 5: Advice from a Caterpillar

Alice asks how she can get bigger, but the Caterpillar asks her to recite "Old Father William" instead. After doing so (with a few errors), the Caterpillar tells her that one side of the mushroom will make her bigger and the other side will make her smaller. The Caterpillar disappears leaving Alice all alone. Alice first tries the right side, which makes her chin get stuck to her foot. Then she tries the left side, which makes her neck grow very long. A pigeon flies into her face, believing she is a serpent, but Alice tells her that she is a little girl. She then eats different sides of the mushroom and gets back to her usual height.

[edit] Chapter 6: Pig and Pepper

Now at her right size, Alice comes upon a house with a Frog-Footman and a Fish-Footman in front. The Fish-Footman has an invitation for the Duchess, which he delivers to the Frog-Footman. Alice observes this transaction and, after a perplexing conversation with the frog, goes into the house and meets The Duchess, The Cook, The Baby, and The Duchess's Cheshire-Cat. The Cook is throwing dishes and making a soup which has too much pepper, which causes Alice, the Duchess and the baby, but not the cook or the Cheshire-Cat, to sneeze. The Duchess tosses her baby up and down while reciting the poem "Speak roughly to your little boy." When the poem is over, The Duchess gives Alice the baby while she leaves to go play croquet with the Queen. To Alice's surprise, the baby later turns into a pig, so she lets it go off into the woods. The Cheshire-Cat then appears in a tree, telling her about the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. He then disappears, his grin remaining behind to float on its own in the air.

[edit] Chapter 7: A Mad Tea Party

Alice becomes a guest at a mad tea party, along with the Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse. In the course of the party, Alice reveals that the date is May 4 (which happens to be the birthday of her presumed real-life counterpart, Alice Pleasance Liddell). The other characters give Alice many riddles and stories, until she becomes so insulted that she leaves, claiming that it was the stupidest tea party that she had ever been to. Alice comes upon a door in a tree, and enters it, and finds herself back into the long hallway. She opens the door, eats part of her mushroom, and shrinks so she can get into the beautiful garden.

[edit] Chapter 8: The Queen's Croquet Ground

Now in the beautiful garden, she comes upon 3 cards painting the roses on a rose tree red, for they accidentally planted a white-rose tree which the Queen of Hearts hates. A procession of more cards, kings and queens and even the White Rabbit comes into the garden. She meets the violent Queen of Hearts and the less violent King of Hearts. The Queen tells the executioner to chop off the three card gardeners' heads.

A game of croquet begins, with flamingos as the mallets and hedgehogs as the balls. The Queen condemns more people to death, and Alice once again meets the Cheshire Cat, who asks her how the queen is. The Queen of Hearts then tries to find out how they can chop off the Cheshire Cat's head, even though he is only a floating head. Alice asks her about the Duchess, so the Queen asks the executioner to get the Duchess out of prison.

[edit] Chapter 9: The Mock Turtle's story

The Duchess is brought to the croquet ground. She is now less angry and is always trying to find morals in things (she claims the pepper made her angry.) The Queen of Hearts then shows Alice the Gryphon, who takes her to the Mock Turtle. The Mock Turtle is very sad, even though he has no sorrow. He tries to tell his story about how he used to be a turtle, which The Gryphon interrupts so they can play a game.

[edit] Chapter 10: The Lobster Quadrille

The Mock Turtle and the Gryphon start dancing to the Lobster Quadrille, singing "Tis the Voice of the Lobster." The Mock Turtle then sings "Beautiful Soup" during which Alice and The Gryphon have to leave for a trial while The Mock Turtle continues singing.

[edit] Chapter 11: Who Stole the Tarts?

At the trial, the Knave of Hearts is accused of stealing the tarts. The jury box is made up of twelve animals, including Bill the Lizard, and the judge is the King of Hearts. The first witness is the Mad Hatter, who doesn't help the case at all. The next witness though, is Alice.

[edit] Chapter 12: Alice's Evidence

Alice eats part of the mushroom, causing her to grow and accidentally knocks over the Jury Box. The Queen of Hearts is about to sentence them to death, but Alice calls them all just a pack of cards, causing them to swirl around her and turn into dead leaves. Alice's sister wakes her up, since it was all a dream. Alice tells her sister all about the strange dream she had just awoken from.