Drawing of Alice by Lewis Carroll in the handwritten manuscript Alice’s Adventures Under Ground he gave to Alice Liddell in 1864 © The British Library Board

Alice with the Red Queen by Charles Robinson, 1907 © The British Library Board

Alice at the Hatter’s tea party by W.H. Walker, 1907 © The British Library Board

Alice with the White Rabbit by Leonard Weisgard, 1949 © The Estate of Leonard Weisgard

The Cheshire Cat by Helen Oxenbury, 1999 © Helen Oxenbury, reproduced by permission of Walker Books Ltd

Alice in the Pool of Tears by Arthur Rackham, 1907 © The British Library Board

Cover of ‘The Wonderland Quadrilles… for Pianoforte’ composed by Charles Marriott, 1872 © British Library

Sir John Tenniel’s illustration of Alice and the Cheshire Cat from the 1866 edition © The British Library Board

Wonderland postage stamp case designed by Lewis Carroll, 1889–90 © The British Library Board

Frontispiece from the 1910 edition by Mabel Lucie Attwell © Lucie Attwell Ltd

Celebrating the enduring power of Lewis Carroll’s original story and the first illustrations by John Tenniel, this exhibition explores how the story of the girl who went down the rabbit hole continues to inspire and entertain 150 years after it was first published.

One of the British Library’s most loved treasures, Lewis Carroll’s iconic handwritten manuscript of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, and an entry from Carroll’s diary detailing the ‘golden afternoon’ on 4 July 1862 when he first told the story to Alice Liddell and her sisters, provide the starting point for the exhibition, which goes on to explore the different ways in which generations of illustrators, artists, musicians, filmmakers and designers have interpreted the story and its characters.

Turn the pages of a virtual edition of Carroll’s handwritten manuscript at bl.uk

New illustrated editions often mirror the period in which they were created, from Mabel Lucie Attwell’s rosy-cheeked Alice of 1910 and Charles Robinson’s art nouveau style, to Salvador Dalí’s surrealist lithographs and Mervyn Pearke’s darker vision of Wonderland born out of his experiences during the Second World War.

The exhibition is accompanied by an Alice in Wonderland pop-up shop and a series of Alice-inspired events including a family workshop, live comedy and music, talks and discussions.

 

Alice in Wonderland at the British Library
 to Sunday 17 April 2016
Monday to Thursday 9:30 am to 8 pm
Friday 9:30 am to 6 pm
Saturday 9:30 am to 5 pm
Sunday and Bank Holidays 11 am to 5 pm
Free entry
More info

 

Click on any image to enlarge and view in slideshow.

 

Helen Melody is co-curator of the Alice in Wonderland exhibition and Lead Curator of Contemporary Literary and Creative archives at the British Library.  She has worked with a number of literary and theatrical archives and manuscripts including the archives of W.H. Auden, the Brontës, Angela Carter, Laurie Lee, Wilfred Owen and Edward Upward.
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