From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2000 18:25:38 +0100

I've enjoyed hearing a bit more about how children today respond to Alice as well as their different responses to the different illustrators. I'm also delighted that this discussion has caused some of you to revisit (or visit for the first time) this book.

First up was Sheila and some comments as she peruses the book with her grandchild, Jazmyn.

I liked Jazmyn's fresh look at the different illustrators. Many Carrollians tend to be very insistent that no illustrator other than Tenniel will do. I love it when my kids respond to different illustrators without any preconceived sense that one has more authority (say, because he worked with the author) than another.

Interesting that Sheila so liked Rackham's Alice. He was one of the first major illustrators to take on Tenniel after the copyright expired. I have an amusing cartoon that ran in Punch showing many different Alices, but insisting Tenniel was supreme (hardly surprising given that Tenniel was a Punch cartoonist.) My kids tend to pretty much pass over Rackham. They don't find him nearly as interesting as other illustrators. (I judge this largely on which books they fight over each day before I begin reading aloud. They follow along in my different illustrated editions.)

I believe there is information on Moser's wood engraving somewhere. I agree he is not for children although occasionally I will get a child who quite likes him.

My students, like Jazmyn, like Browne's illustrations a lot. As I wrote before, I think his visual puns make him closest to Carroll's text. I liked his Alice quite a lot. I agree, though, about his Cheshire Cat. However, I think almost no one has done right by that animal yet.

Interesting that Jazmyn and Steve Engelfried's children both like Oxenbury. My students didn't. However, that may be due to all the other fascinating editions I have for them. I will be interested in hearing more about Steve's children's response to the text itself. I always read aloud from the annotated version so I can provide some context for it. So much of the humor is based on circumstances of Carroll's day. My kids are fascinated by all of this. So I will be very interested to hear how two kids who read it straight, without any contextualization, responded.

Back to Sheila and The Nursery Alice. This text is a hoot, incredibly saccharin. Sheila, are you sure, though, that the cover has an illustration by Carroll? He did illustrations for Alice's Adventures Underground which had no pig baby in it. I suspect someone else did that illustration. I do like Carroll's original illustrations, but he clearly felt he needed a professional when he decided to do it properly (not as a single handmade book for Alice Liddell.) Tenniel was Carroll's choice. Carroll made all the decisions and was, in fact, extremely picky. The famous story of the first edition is that Tenniel felt the print run was poor so the books that had gone out were returned (with a few exceptions which are now worth millions) and it was printed again. The earlier edition was then sent to the States since Carroll and Tenniel didn't care what we on this side of the pond thought.

Maia, I am envious that you have that Tove Jansson edition. I love her version of Alice! Isn't that Alice above the trees wonderful?! That is an image that challenges many an illustrator! As for finding an illustrator of the sort you wish, just keep looking. Hmm, how about Salvador Dali? He did a very limited edition version. Quite wonderful actually! Alice shows up in every scene jumping rope. They are on display at the Salvador Dali Museum in Paris I'm told, but some rare book libraries also have editions if you want to try to track it down. I've never seen the illustrations reproduced though.

Anyone else with some thoughts about Alice?




Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Tue 17 Oct 2000 12:25:38 PM CDT