Lewis Carroll’s wonderlands

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Veronica Davies reviews two new illustrated versions of the classic children’s books, from Tate Publishing

Alice in Wonderland, as many readers will recall, starts with the bored Alice asking herself ‘what is the use of a book ... without pictures or conversations?’  In the edition that has just been published by Tate Publishing, the classic conversations are provided by Lewis Carroll, between Alice and, among others, cats, mice, rabbits, dodos, caterpillars, kings, queens and duchesses.  In this version, however, the pictures are the work of the renowned Finnish writer and illustrator, Tove Jansson (1914–2001) best known in the UK for her Moomin books.  Her Alice illustrations were originally produced in 1966 for a Swedish version, but have been out of print for many years.  At the same time, Tate has published a facsimile edition of Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark as illustrated by Jansson in 1959. This is the first time her illustrations have been united with the original English language text, which has been out of print even longer than her version of Alice. 

In her Moomin stories, Jansson created her own fictional world in both words and illustrations.  She brought the same imaginative sensibility to Lewis Carroll’s tales in illustrating these two books, and it works perfectly.  She has constructed visual worlds with their own internal logic, however odd, to match those of Carroll himself. The children who have read these books loved the pictures, and for many adults they will stand on their own merits, without being overshadowed by earlier Victorian or Gothic interpretations, let alone Disney’s.  Her black and white line drawing of the Hatter’s ‘Mad Tea Party’, for example, seem to suggest a reading of the Hatter’s ‘madness’ as a particular kind of melancholy.  The chapter is decorated with a frieze of tea things across two pages, and this is typical of the inventive use of imagery to complement the text throughout both books. There are also a number of delightful colour illustrations in Alice, such as those of the caterpillar or the Duchess, which are very distinctive interpretations that help evoke the curious logic of Wonderland.

Tate Publishing should be commended for bringing such lovely books – books as lovely objects – to the attention of a Kindle generation.  Where the children’s books we reviewed in the July edition of Cassone were aimed at activity as well as reading, these are sophisticated books which might not give instant gratification, but which could be given as gifts or prizes to be kept, treasured and enjoyed into adulthood.  Both books in fact proved as popular with the adults who looked at them while I was reviewing them as with the younger readers.  Indeed, ‘The Banker’s Fate’ after he is attacked by the Bandersnatch in The Hunting of the Snark seemed particularly popular with older readers:

Down he sank in a chair – ran his hands through his hair –

And chanted in mimsiest tones

Words whose utter inanity proved his insanity,

While he rattled a couple of bones.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll,  illustrated by Tove Jansson is published by Tate Publishing, 2011.  112 pp., 12 colour & 50 mono illus, £12.99. ISBN 978 1 85437 957 3

The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Tove Jansson is published by Tate Publishing, 2011. 64 pp., 18 mono illus, £7.99. ISBN 978 1 85437 956 6