Lewis Carroll and his 'Alice' books

This guide helps you find information about Lewis Carroll's famous children's books, how they inspired later authors and artists, and how the original works have been transformed.

John Tenniel, the original illustrator of Carroll's Alice books

John Tenniel was an accomplished illustrator and political commentator in the Victorian press before he attained iconic status as the first illustrator of Carroll's Alice books. A selection of Tenniel's images for both Alice books illustrate this guide's Getting Started and Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell pages. Tenniel's life work is explored in Artist of wonderland: The life, political cartoons, and illustrations of Tenniel 2005 and Sir John Tenniel: Alice's white night 1991

Artists inspired by Carroll's text and Tenniel's illustrations

In the first decade of the 20th century the British copyright expired on Alice's adventures in Wonderland providing an opportunity for other artists, inspired by Carroll's text and Tenniel's illustrations, to produce their own interpretations. Arthur Rackham was one of the first artists to illustrate Alice. His distinctive artwork is shown in the accompanying gallery of images on the right hand side. See also this biography of Rackham.

Other twentieth and twenty first century illustrated versions published overseas include

Tove Jansson, best known for her Moomintroll series, illustrated Carroll's text in this edition Alice's adventures in Wonderland  (below at left)

Willy Pogany depicted a wonderful bobby sox Alice's adventures in Wonderland (below at right)

Tove Jansson Alice's adventures in Wonderland Willy Pogany  Alice's adventures in Wonderland

 

Barry Moser published both Alice volumes (at right below) illustrated with the strong lines of wood block prints  Moser provides annotations and details of his own interpretation of the effect these books have had on his creative output.

Helen Oxenbury's Alice's adventures in Wonderland, Through the looking-glass and what Alice found there (at left below) and an interview recorded with her about her illustrations for 'Alice'

Helen Oxenbury's AliceBarry Moser's Alice

 

Margaret Tarrant's cover for Alice in Wonderland and her illustration of the 'Drink me' episode. Click here for Tarrant's biography

          

 

Alitji in DreamlandAustralian illustrated versions include

Donna Leslie's Alitji in Dreamland written in Pitjantatjara and English.

Robert Ingpen's Alice's adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-glass and what Alice found there.

Charles Blackman's Alice's adventures in Wonderland.

George Collingridge's parody Alice in one dear land.

Christian Waller's (nee Yandell) illustrated Alice in Wonderland.

 

How to find other books by these artists

To search for other works by illustrators of Carroll's Alice books, enter the artist's name in the search box and choose Author/Creator from the drop-down menu below the box. Then refine your search by the options shown on the left hand side of your results list.

Or you can do a keyword search with Alice and the illustrators name, for example Alice and Manuela Adreani.

Biographies of other illustrators of Alice

To find biographical books, enter the name of the artist and 'biography' in the large Search box.

To find entries in online or print based biographical dictionaries and encyclopedia, search under the artist's name. Try any of the following resources:

Arthur Rackham's 'Alice'

William Henry Walker's 'Alice'

Alice takes advice from the Caterpillar in Alice's adventures in Wonderland, p. 47

while the Mad Hatter puts the Doormouse into the teapot, p. 83

Gwynedd Hudson's 'Alice'

The lobster quadrille from Hudson's Alice's adventures in Wonderland, opposite p. 148