A Christmas gift to a dear child

The Folio Society is offering a limited edition (only 3,750 copies!) of Alice's Adventures under Ground, the original manuscript version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with Lewis Carroll's own illustrations. While offered before by other publishers, this leather-bound edition seems to be reproduced from the original owned by the British Library, and is accompanied by "an illuminating companion booklet, in which Sally Brown, Curator of Modern Manuscripts at the British Library, traces the manuscript’s development, and explores Carroll’s friendship with Alice Liddell and her family. This 32-page companion booklet contains 17 illustrations, including photographs taken by Lewis Carroll."

(By the way, I believe this is the same booklet...)

Baltimore's Lantern Parade

See the spectacle of over a thousand candle-lit, paper, and bamboo lanterns, carried through Baltimore's Patterson Park this Saturday (October 25). The Great Halloween Lantern Parade has a Lewis Carroll theme this year, so it is titled "Beware the Jabberwock!" "The ghostly procession ends with a shadow puppet drama set to eerie, live music. The show, projected on a 40-foot tall screen, tells a different spooky story every year." (Baltimore.about.com, Baltimore Sun) I'm guessing we know what story will be told this year!
UPDATE 10/27: Photos from this year's event are linked to from the main website.

A Walk Through Wonderland

Oooh, I can't wait! Duirwaigh Gallery's online exhibition "A Walk Through Wonderland" will be held October 27-November 30th 2008 on www.DuirwaighGallery.com. Sculptors, painters and multi-media artists from around the world will present their Alice-inspired works. See the website for the entire list of amazing artists, including Mary Blair!, and the blog for some sneak peaks of the works. (Also be sure to check out the Gallery's short film "A Knock at the Door", which includes several Alice images.)

Indigo Moon Alice

Yorkshire's Indigo Moon Theatre is currently touring the U.K. with a shadow puppet performance of "Alice and the White Rabbit": "Join Alice on her magical adventure as she chases the White rabbit back in time on a fantastic spiralling journey into Wonderland. Watch her change in size in this dream-like shadow adaption... On her journey she meets the Cheshire Cat, a two-legged dragon and the March Hare at the mediaeval Mad Hatter's Tea party...'Alice and The White Rabbit' celebrates different shadow techniques and is inspired by the gothic architecture and medieval times of the original white rabbit statue found in St. Mary's Church, Beverley, East Yorkshire."

Dodgson photos in Italy

The exhibit "I Rossetti tra Vasto e Londra" ("The Rossettis between Vasto and London") includes photographs of the Rossetti family (the Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, poet Christina Rossetti, and their siblings, the critic William Michael Rossetti and author Maria Francesca Rossetti) taken by their close friend Charles Dodgson. The exhibit is at the Musei Civici di Palazzo d’Avalos, Vasto, Italy, from August 14 until November 16. For further information in English, see the Times article, "Italian homecoming for Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti."

The ultimate "off with their heads"!

Artist Judith G. Klausner has recreated the "painting the roses red" scene from Alice in Wonderland... with the Queen of Hearts and Card Gardeners made from preying mantises!

Alice icons

Icon creator website IconShock.com has added a set of Alice in Wonderland-inspired icons for Windows Vista operating system software developers. Alice, the Cheshire Cat with a wonderful grin, the Mad Hatter, and King and Queen of Hearts are presented in the "Lumina" style, and look a bit like Weebles to my eye. (Do people know what Weebles are anymore?)

Asylum in Wonderland

On select nights in September, October, and November of every year, Universal Studios Florida theme park is transformed into Halloween Horror Nights. This year the event includes "Asylum in Wonderland": "Stepping through the Looking Glass, you find yourself in the depths of Wonderland, journeying through the nightmare that Alice couldn't escape. The wonderful figures you once believed to inhabit this fantastical place have been peering into the Looking Glass themselves, and have come face to face with Bloody Mary!"

Forever Afternoon

(c) Mio Shirai, from "Forever Afternoon," 2008

The Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Sunderland (U.K.) has a new exhibit, "A Gift to Those who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling," that includes an Alice-related film: "[Mio] Shirai's new short film, 'Forever Afternoon', re-creates a section of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. ...Shirai allows us to re-read Alice in a new way, as a parable of how we experience and assimilate alien cultures and places. Here, Alice - played by Shirai - has to learn the rules of engagement of a strange yet familiar place, rules which are logical, and yet different to our own. The film was shot entirely in locations which Carroll knew and visited in the North East."

Banned Books Week

Just a reminder that this is Banned Books Week. After all, even our Alice has been banned: In 1931, the book was banned in China because "animals should not use human language" and it "put animals and human beings on the same level."

Rackham Alice miniatures

LCSNA member Joel Birenbaum sends the following message:

"Minnie Maria, an English company, is producing a set of Alice miniatures based on the superb illustrations of Arthur Rackham. To my knowledge this is the first time this has been done. The figures are hand-painted pewter and are of a very high quality. The first figures have been produced and are of two scenes: Alice encounters the White Rabbit, and Alice and the Caterpillar. The Caterpillar and the mushroom are separate pieces that fit together quite well and are priced at GB£31 for the pair. They stand approximately 3" tall [A very good height indeed!]. The Caterpillar is a great representation of Rackham's drawing. The Alice (when she is small) that goes with this scene is 1.5" tall and costs GB£17. The White Rabbit is 2" tall and is magnificent, with his coat flared out as if he was speeding on his frenetic way. Don't be late, he is GB£20. The compatible Alice for this scene is about 1.75" tall. They all come in a variety of color combinations. The next scene to come is the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. I can hardly wait!

Now for the good news, if we purchase a sufficient quantity, we will get a 25% discount. Understand that these items are heavy and shipping is expensive. For now, figure that the total price to you will be a 10% discount, but will include all shipping. If our order is large, the savings will be a little more, as shipping from the U.K. to the U.S. will be fixed price. Note that this is a limited time offer."

To see the figures, for further details, to order, and to contact Joel, please go to http://collectalice.home.comcast.net/~collectalice/maria.html.

Tea Party Vase

If you want to add a bit of madness to your next tea party, you can't go far wrong with this stackable tea cup vase. The cups can be taken apart and stacked in different ways - I'll let those who purchase it figure out how the trick is done. To my mind, the white cups call out for some china-painting personalization...

Sweet Smell of Wonderland

Fans of the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's perfume, particularly the Mad Tea Party collection, will be pleased with sister company Black Phoenix Trading Post's hand-cast sterling silver perfume pendants. In addition to the Cheshire Cat pictured above, there are lockets based on Tenniel's illustrations of the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, and the White Rabbit.

No pig baby?!

Charles Stephan and Elf Doll will be releasing a new set of "Cherry Blossom" figures. Alice, Billie, Edward, Victoria, Ian and Julia are all dressed up as various characters from Alice in Wonderland.

New book of Carroll's photographs

(c) Phaidon Press

Lewis Carroll by Anne Higonnet will be published by Phaidon Press on October 1st: "Lewis Carroll also pursued a photographic career, demonstrated by this beautiful collection of 55 vintage photographs. We enter Carroll’s wonderfully strange world with studies of anatomical skeletons taken during his years spent at Christ Church College, Oxford. This is followed by compelling portraits of children including Alice Liddell, the inspiration for the protagonist of his popular novel, alongside those of his family members and eminent Victorians such as Alfred Lord Tennyson and John Everett Millais. A dedicated and prolific photographer, Carroll created approximately 3,000 images during his twenty-five years of photographic activity. This monograph will be irresistibly essential to Carroll enthusiasts and novices alike, as well as anyone interested in Victorian England or the history of photography." (ISBN 9780714842820, £19.95/$US39.95/€29.95/$CA39.95/$AUS49.95)

Fall meeting

The Fall Meeting of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America will be held on October 25th at the Fales Library, New York University, to begin at 11:00 A.M. Everyone is welcome to attend. Jon Scieszka, the Library of Congress's first National Ambassador of Young People's Literature, will be discussing his new witty and creative retelling of Alice with Mary Blair's illustrations. Also speaking at the meeting will be Mahendra Singh, Snark illustrator; Peter Westergaard, composer; and Nancy Willard, Newberry award-winning author. The complete program is available online. See you there!

Stuck in Wonderland

(c) Jett Jackson

Note the pending release of a new Alice-themed seriagraph by artist Jett Jackson, entitled "Stuck in Wonderland," published by the Salvador Dali Society. There will be a limited edition of 250 prints in the United States, to be released on November 1, 2008.

Nursery Alice prints

White Rabbit Press has just launched a new signed and numbered limited edition of prints from The Nursery Alice. The prints are signed by Caroline Luke (great-great- grandniece of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), Mary Jean St Clair (granddaughter of Alice Hargreaves, née Liddell), Walter Tenniel Evans (great-nephew of Sir John Tenniel), Lesley (Dalrymple) O'Neil (great-grandniece of Emily Gertrude Thomson), and Edward Wakeling (former Chairman of the Lewis Carroll Society and noted Carroll scholar and author) See www.alice-in- wonderland.biz for more information.

Seattle International Film Festival

The Seattle International Film Festival's Bumbershoot short-film program this weekend includes two Alice-related offerings:
Jab, "A mixture of live action and 3D photo animation illustrate the weird and beautiful world of Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky."
Alice in Not So Wonderland, "From legendary stop-motion animators the Brothers Quay comes a dark and surreal variation on Alice in Wonderland, in which our puppet heroine suddenly finds herself on the other side of the looking glass, witnessing nightmarish scenes."

Philly Fringe

Philadelphia's Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe this weekend includes the Nicole Canuso Dance Company's [update: sold out] Wandering Alice: "Alice [is] a curious wanderer who leads audiences through trials, delights, and a sea of unruly memories that color her identity. Inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by surrealist novelist Haruki Murakami, Wandering Alice will transform Christ Church Neighborhood House into a dreamlike landscape where audiences will be free to watch, wander, get lost, and be found."

Maggie Taylor Update

(c) Maggy Taylor

So by pure happenstance (forgot to schedule an appointment at the Apple store to fix the laptop's optical drive and therefore could not get an audience with a "genius"), I wandered into Modernbook Gallery in Palo Alto yesterday. Two seconds through the door, I noticed an Alice with Maggie Taylor's white rabbit on the cover. The one, in fact, listed as "upcoming" on the Harn Museum's website where Ms. Taylor's photos are on exhibit (see my Almost Alice post)! It turns out that the book has been out for several weeks and not only is Modernbook the publisher of the book, but the photographs themselves will be on exhibit there from September 5 to November 4, with Ms. Taylor present at the opening reception (contact Modernbook directly for further information about the event). Of course, the book is also available on their website.

Hedgehog Overload

Someone over at Cute Overload knows their Alice!

Amazing Chess Set

Check out Yasmin Sethi's Alice-inspired chess set! "Inspired by [Through the Looking Glass], the chess pieces have an opaque mirror finish, when they touch the surface of the board they magically turn transparent and reveal the identity of the piece contained inside them. When removed from the board they revert to being opaque, hiding the identity of the piece. This is a comment on how a chess piece has no value unless it is in play on the board. ...the White Knight only works when placed upside down, a reference to the book where the White Knight talks about how he thinks better when he is upside down." Designed in response to a brief set by Schott UK Ltd. for final year students of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, one hopes that it will soon be on the market!

Alice, the bar

A new bar has opened in Wellington, New Zealand: Alice is located at the back of (where else?) the Boogie Wonderland nightclub.

Almost Alice

(Image copyright (c) Maggie Taylor.)

The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida has a new exhibit, Almost Alice: New Illustrations of Wonderland by Maggie Taylor, running from July 15 to October 19. "Taylor’s composite images usually start with an original photographic portrait—often a daguerreotype or tintype from the mid-19th century setting of Alice and its author Carroll. Her digital transformations bring out the disconcerting fantasy that is at the heart of Carroll’s playfully ironic writing." In addition, an upcoming edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland will feature Taylor’s illustrations.

Liverpool Alice Art

The Liverpool (U.K.) Academy of Arts has an open exhibition on the theme of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, open from July 22 to August 7, which has over a hundred wonderfully varied paintings and sculptures by Merseyside artists. In addition, there is a full series of Alice paintings created by June Lornie, plus photographs and details from the lives of Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson and Alice Liddell supplied by members of the Daresbury Lewis Carroll society.

Card Soldier Wars

Frank Beddor has added yet another aspect (see Bits & Bobs) to his Looking Glass Wars "empire": a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game called Card Soldier Wars. "Strategize to become the most powerful general in Wonderland and place your queen upon the throne!"

One or Two Hits?

Following last year's popular Alice in One-Hit Wonderland, Burbank's Falcon Theatre and Troubadour Theatre Company are presenting Alice in One-Hit Wonderland 2: Through the Looking Glass from July 25 to October 12: "No need to Walk 500 Miles for summer fun! Just jump on the Double Dutch Bus to the Falcon and join Alice, (who in Troubie-land is the wise-cracking housekeeper from The Brady Bunch), Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledum, Tweedledee, Red Queen and the rest of the wacky Carroll characters as they bebop along to one-time chart toppers of yesteryear."

Behind the Looking Glass

Cambridge Scholars Publishing has just released Behind the Looking Glass (ISBN 9781847184863) by Sherry Ackerman. The book "demonstrates how nineteenth century currents of spiritualism, theosophy and occult philosophy comingled with Carroll’s interest in revived Platonism and Neoplatonism, showcasing the Alice and Sylvie and Bruno books as unique points of conjunction between Carroll’s intellect and spirituality." View the table of contents, sample chapter, and ordering information.

Theater down the rabbit hole

Foolsgold Theatre's Alice in Wonderland is touring the U.K. this summer: "Is the rabbit hole a black hole? Is Wonderland a parallel universe? We're all mad here! Join Alice on a magical mystery tour of wacky characters, weird science, and impossible sports as Foolsgold presents a pulsating adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic tale for all the family."
Billed as "outdoor walkabout theatre," Foolsgold is currently playing at the Williamson Tunnels in Liverpool, so the audience actually travels underground along with Alice! See the Foolsgold website for other engagements.

Lewis Carroll's chess problem

In response to Christophe Leroy's Alice and the chess master (see http://lcsna.blogspot.com/2008/06/alice-and-chess-master.html), Arne Moll has written a very interesting article, "Lewis Carroll's chess problem" on the ChessVibes website.

E.L.A(lice) and Ela (Queen of Roses)

Mentioned in the New York Times article, "Lisbon Comes Alive" (July 13, 2008), clothing store "Storytailors isn’t so much a retail outlet as a cabinet of wonders where the ghosts of Lewis Carroll and the Brothers Grimm haunt the racks. The 18th-century warehouse brims with hoopskirts, corsets and elaborate lace getups adorned with richly patterned fabrics and kaleidoscopic colors. ...each year’s line of clothes began with a classic fairy tale, myth or legend, either Portuguese or international. The [designers] then hire writers to transform it into 'twisted stories,' whose characters and experiences form the basis of various collections. These literary-sartorial mash-ups, [include]... 'E.L.A(lice) and Ela (Queen of Roses)' (the tale of a schizophrenic girl that mixes elements of Alice in Wonderland and a Portuguese myth about a queen that transforms roses into bread for the poor)."

Yum

Literary Feasts: Inspired Eating From Classic Fiction (Atria, 2006, ISBN 1932338292) by Sean Brand has a section on the Mad Tea Party, and most important for the thrifty collector, is currently available in fine bookstores and online retailers' bargain bins.

Jim Dale's Alice

Jim Dale, actor and reader of the Harry Potter audiobooks, has just come out with an Alice in Wonderland audiobook, available at all fine bookstores and booksites.

Tania's Alice

A new colored edition of Alice in Wonderland is printed and available from illustrator Tatiana Ianovskaia! The price is $40 for the book (plus postage). Perfect binding, paper cover, 63 original colored illustrations. 50 copies only are printed.

There is a discounted option of the same publication due to some printing flaws, e.g., change of the font, duplicated pages that had to be removed. Pictures at the beginning of "The Mad Tea Party," on page 8, and on page 38 look different in the two runs. The price for these flawed copies is $25 each book (plus postage). Perfect binding, paper cover, 63 original coloured illustrations. Artist can sign the book if requested. Again, 50 copies are printed.

If interested, write to Tatiana at "tianovskaia at yahoo dot ca".

Dreamchild

On the front cover of the July issue of Art Monthly Australia is artist Polixeni Papapetrou's photo "Lewis Carroll's Beatrice Hatch before White Cliffs" (taken in 2002), which features her then-five-year-old daughter Olympia in the nude. The work has generated a great deal of controversy in Australia over whether child nudity equals child pornography. (Papapetrou's "Dreamchild" series was featured in Knight Letters 71 and 72.)

Snark citation

Yes, I know I'm behind the times a bit, but in case you somehow missed it, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit cited "The Hunting of the Snark"'s "what I tell you three times is true" in a recent ruling on a Guantanamo Bay detainee: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080630/ap_on_go_ot/guantanamo_chinese_detainee.

Clothes for young & old, rich & not poor

The Portugese clothing website dressing fairytales/historias para vestir has several dresses for little girls made with Alice in Wonderland fabric, very colorful, while designer Charles Anastase has a dress for grown-up girls with a black and white Tenniel design (on sale for *only* £240).

Hee!

According to Slate's "Dictionary of Obamaisms":
Jabaracky (jah-bah-ROK-ee) n. A fictional creature spawned from political fairy tales, characterized by nonsensical phrases and policies.
Example: In certain Republican circles, the phrase "Beware the Jabarack, my son!" is a shorthand for apprehension about Barack Obama's compelling personal story.

Happy Alice's Day!

Wishing you a a very happy Alice's Day filled with much croquet, rowing, and tea parties! As I'm sure you all know, this auspicious day celebrates the first time the Rev. Charles L. Dodgson (AKA Lewis Carroll) told the story of "Alice in Wonderland" to Alice Liddell and her sisters.

What, you thought you had today off because of some other holiday?!

Happy Independence Day, or however you choose to celebrate the 4th...

Auction Muchness

Tomorrow's (June 24, 2008) auction at Bonhams in London includes five items from the Blakemore family: an "original [purple] ink drawing of Edith Blakemore in a beach costume, holding a bucket and spade, leaning against a wheel" by Lewis Carroll (Lot 119); and inscribed presentation copies of "An Easter Greeting to Every Child Who Loves 'Alice'" (Lot 115), Symbolic Logic, Part I (Lot 116), Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter-Writing (Lot 117), and Alice's Adventures Under Ground (Lot 118).

In addition, the International Poster Gallery of Boston will be having their “Summer of Love” poster show July 4 to September 1, 2008. Two items of note are “Dartmouth Winter Carnival – Through a Frosted Looking Glass" poster (#USL16197), which has the Jabberwock on skis, and
"Through the Looking Glass" on blotter (#USL15956). (If you don't know what the blotter is for, probably better you don't ask...)

"Alice and the Chess Master"

Christophe Leroy, president of the Rhone [France] Chess Society, invites us to the deciphering of the mysterious chess game in Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There in his Alice et le maître d’échecs (Alice and the Chess Master). More information about M. Leroy's chess adventures can be seen at www.echecs-histoire-litterature.com/index_english.html.

Alice in Shropshire

Blists Hill Victorian Town, in Ironbridge, Shropshire, U.K., will be hosting a fun-themed weekend on July 26 and 27, 2008, based on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Visitors will be able to meet costumed characters from the book as they act out various well known scenes around the town. They can join the Hatter at the Mad Tea Party, play croquet with the Queen of Hearts, and attend the trial of the Knave of Hearts who is accused of stealing the jam tarts. Everyone is encouraged to come dressed as their favorite character from the book and all youngsters arriving in costume will receive a small prize. Families can also have a go at painting white plaster roses red, playing with Victorian toys, or following a trail in search of the Cheshire Cat. Further details at www.ironbridge.org.uk.

More Toy Theatre

The Music Center of Los Angeles County presents the admission-free (but tickets still required) 2008 Toy Theatre Festival on June 14 and 15, 2008 at Walt Disney Concert Hall, with Alison Heimstead and Sibyl O'Malley's Alice in Wonderland being performed eight times over the two days.

Do you play croquet?

At the Alice in Wonderland Croquet Tournament and Trunk Show on Sunday, June 8th, in San Francisco's Stern Grove, you can attend in costume, play croquet with the Queen of Hearts and the Cheshire Cat, view the Mad Tea Party performance (with the XOX Burlesque Girls!?), enjoy the summer breeze and the beautiful creations of the best local designers and artists: www.eternalspringproductions.com.

Wonderland = Mars?

Who knew Alice and Humpty Dumpty were on Mars!? They are some of the recently named targets within view of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander stationed in the Martian arctic. (Click on the picture for a better view.)
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Tea Party in Philadelphia

An installation in the dining room at the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia pays homage to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. "In honor of the 80th anniversary of Dr. Rosenbach's famous purchase of the Alice manuscript, we'll set a place for Alice herself. The installation will feature selections from the Rosenbach's collection of ceramic and silver tea equipage, but hopefully no real dormice."
The installation has been extended through Summer 2008:
www.rosenbach.org/exhibitions/otherexhibits.html.

Pig and Pepper

In Kate Brehm’s Pig and Pepper, Alice is followed down a toy theater video rabbit hole, using classical AIW illustrations as puppets, and a camera as an overhead projector. Included in the Toy Theater Caberet on Saturday 5/31 at 10:00pm, this piece is part of the 8th International Toy Theater Festival, at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, NY. See the Great Small Works website for more information on the show and festival.

No more Penmorfa

Sadly, it appears that despite attempts to declare it a historical building, Penmorfa, the Liddell's former summer home in Wales, has been slated for demolition: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_west/7424400.stm

A new take on singing flowers

90% of "Alice," an electronic musical piece, is composed of sounds from Disney's Alice In Wonderland. Created by 19-year old Australian Nick Bertke, the music video (using bits from the film, of course) can seen here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAwR6w2TgxY.

"Alice in the Shadows"

(c) Bali & Beyond

Come see "Alice in the Shadows," a psychedelic rock'n'roll shadow play by Maria Bodmann, Cliff DeArment, and the Eggmen! Bring a blanket and enjoy the night under the stars! The performance is part of a "Celebrate Puppetry" Festival on Saturday, June 7, 4-10 PM at McGroarty Arts Center in Tujunga, California. Presented in the round on a backlit screen, this filmic theater experience colorfully depicts the literature of Lewis Carroll. Featuring translucent carved color characters and live rock music from the '60s, dramatic lighting, and special effects contribute to the overall dreamscape. Copies of Lewis Carroll's book will be scattered throughout the audience for those wanting to read along with the performance.

For additional information: Call 818/352-5285 or 818/837-9485, email maria@balibeyond.com, or visit www.balibeyond.com/cp.html and www.balibeyond.com/alice/alice.html.

Photo montage

I am reminded by the LCSNA's illustrious webmaster that you can see the meeting photos along with amusing commentary at www.lewiscarroll.org/meeting/2008spring/montage.html.

Stationary Show Collectible

At this weekend’s National Stationary Show in New York, a collaboration of several small design and print studios will have a limited-edition book and series of prints based on Lewis Carroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter." The accordion-fold pocket book neatly holds each card alongside the stanzas it illustrates. In order to complete the full set, attendees at the show must visit each of the booths to collect the book and all of the illustration plates:
Two Trick Pony: Booth #1554
Spruce Avenue: Booth #1751
Linda & Harriet: Booth #2059
Albertine Press: Booth #1934 (Photos of the booklet can be seen at this site)

Peter Westergaard' s "Alice in Wonderland"

The world premiere of Peter Westergaard' s "Alice in Wonderland" is set for 8 p.m. Thursday, May 22, in Richardson Auditorium of Alexander Hall at Princeton University. At 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, June 3-4, the opera will be performed at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater in Symphony Space, Broadway at 95th Street in New York.
Tickets for the Princeton performance are $45 for general admission or $10 for students. They are available for the Princeton performance online at www.princeto n.edu/utickets/ or by calling (609) 258-5000.
They are available for the New York performance online at www.symphonyspace. org or by calling (212) 864-5400. Prices for the New York performance range from $30-$50.
Read more here: www.princeto n.edu/main/ news/archive/ S21/01/70M06/ index.xml? section=announce ments.

If you missed the meeting...

Or even if you didn't, view a short film of the LCSNA's Washington DC meeting and general goings-on last month at Oleg Lipchenko's blog http://alice-dodo.blogspot.com/. (And check out his Alice, while you're at it!)

Other photos of the event can be viewed
http://picasaweb.google.com/StudioTreasure/LCSNASpring2008Meeting?authkey=IEgdPaLEx5E
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AcuWzlkzZM2LwY
http://picasaweb.google.com/scuffymary/LCSNASpring0802

Remember, all meetings are open to members and non-members alike. If you are interested in attending a meeting or are curious about the society, take a look at the website at www.lewiscarroll.org.

Alice in Greenwich Village

"Imagine Alice, 7 years old, born and raised in today’s Greenwich Village, New York City. From the moment she wakes up until she rests her weary head, her parents over schedule and manage her day. With Architecture, Piano, Book Club, French and Ballet classes overwhelming her, Alice has forgotten what it is like to be a child and simply play. Will her journey through Wonderland help her reclaim her childhood or is Alice destined to become an adult way before her time?" The New Acting Company presents Alice in Wonderland from April 25 to May 25: www.childrensaidsociety.org/pcc/nac/productions/aliceinwonderland

I'm there!

Estate Sale: Alice in Wonderland collection for sale, including books, tea sets, dolls, collectibles, jewelry, and ephemera. Saturday, April 19, 9am - 4pm; 5806 Ruddy Duck Ct., in Stockton, California. More than 2,000 non-Alice books, plus furniture, framed artwork, china, clothes, and some antiques. This is the collection of the late Carolyn Buck, a long time Carroll/Alice collector. Most of the Alice books are from the last 30 years, but there are some older books as well. There are many Carroll biographies, including Life and Letters by Collingwood. Translations in German, French, Spanish, Greek ,and Slovenian, including a Slovenian translation of the Nursery Alice are up for sale. Halcyon and Kingsley enamel boxes plus ornaments, hand painted tee shirts, stamps, and much more. Address questions to Claudia Buck at buckpage@sbcglobal. net.

S&B Bib

Also known as, "AN ANNOTATED INTERNATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF LEWIS CARROLL'S SYLVIE AND BRUNO BOOKS" by Byron Sewell and Clare Imholtz. New Castle and London: Oak Knoll Press and the British Library, 2008. 4to, cloth. 274 pages.

Now available is this comprehensive bibliography of over 1,000 entries listing all known editions of Lewis Carroll's Sylvie & Bruno books, their translations into foreign languages, excerpts from them, the appearance of their poems in anthologies, critical articles and studies, parodies, and much more. This book establishes for the first time the full bibliographic record of these long-neglected works by Carroll, including several little-known bibliographic rarities.

This descriptive bibliography will introduce many of its readers to the important techniques of the novels, with their multiple and shifting levels of reality, and the delightful nonsense of the Mad Gardener's Song and other poems in the books. The bibliography includes a 30-page scholarly essay by Anne Clark Amor, one of Britain's foremost Carroll scholars, as well as a complete list of the recipients of Lewis Carroll's presentations of the two books, compiled by Carroll scholar Edward Wakeling.

In identifying the riches to be found in the bibliographic outlands of Carroll's Sylvie & Bruno books, Sewell and Imholtz have demonstrated that there has been far greater interest in them than has generally been recognized. The bibliography reveals the many literary and cultural figures who have commented on, disparaged, imitated, parodied, quoted or in some other way drawn upon the Sylvie books, including: T.S. Eliot, Harold Bloom, Jorge Luis Borges, G.K. Chesterton, James Joyce, Ogden Nash, Elizabeth Sewell and Evelyn Waugh, among others. The extent and thoroughness of the bibliography is in no small part due to the wonderful cooperation the bibliographers received from collectors and scholars in Great Britain, Japan, Russia, Finland, France, the United States and elsewhere.

"The range and extent of the work is indeed impressive, and the volume is bound to become a cornerstone of Lewis Carroll scholarship. " —Professor Morton Cohen

Available from Oak Knoll Press. 20% off to LCSNA members. www.oakknoll.com/detail.php?d_booknr=94203

Opera Alice

Unsuk Chin's opera, Alice in Wonderland, first performed at the Bayerischen Staatoper (Bavarian State Opera) in Munich last year, is now available on DVD. Even if you are not a fan of opera, the costumes and sets are very intriguing and unusual. www.euroarts.com/artikel/dvd/?id=007241_chin_alice_in_wonderland_nicht

Life imitates art, or something like that...

Portland Digital collage artist Kenneth Rougeau has an exhibit of his Wonderland-inspired works at the Quirks of Art Gallery (www.quirks-of-art.com) in Portland, Oregon, through April. His works can also be viewed and purchased at www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5177790.

(c) Kenneth Rougeau

The "Hugo Strikes Back!" website has an exhaustive, if not completely comprehensive listing of Alice illustrators at http://hugo-sb.wetpaint.com/page/Alice+Illustrations+other+than+Tenniel.

And people ask if Carroll was on drugs!

Never let it be said that you can't make Alice mean whatever you want it to say (or is it say what you mean?)

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the first commercial oil well in North America in 1858 at Oil Springs, Ontario, Canada, Victoria Playhouse Petrolia (VPP) is presenting "Alice in Oil Town," April 7 to 13. "Alice in Oil Town" is a delightful romp that incorporates many of the well-known Alice characters with historical figures and events associated with the oil heritage of Lambton County. The Mad Hatter becomes a crazy oil driller, The Queen of Hearts is now the Queen of Derricks, the flowers in a lovely garden play a dangerous game of "Toss the Nitro," and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum can set you up with everything you need to start pumping oil. www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=954151
www.victoriaplayhousepetrolia.com

Triple Shadow's ALICE: END OF DAZE follows nine-year-old Alice, portrayed by an actress in her sixties, as she escapes into a fantastic, surreal wonderland where she meets some familiar -- and occasionally sinister -- humans and puppet characters such as Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledumb, and Tweedledee. ALICE: END OF DAZE explores the nature of time, visual perception and consciousness. Alice finds herself in a fast-paced world, venturing into places where past, present and future seemingly coexist. She encounters ancient Mayan beliefs under attack by Spanish missionaries, modern-day creationism, global warming theories, end-of-days scenarios, and a 19th-century photo shoot that turns into a harrowing wild-west firing squad taking aim directly at her head. At La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, the show runs from
April 24 to May 11: www.lamama.org.

What's happening in Holland?

Ending this weekend is an exhibit at Kunstkerk Dordrecht (Dordrecht, the Netherlands), which includes Alice-inspired paintings by Sarah Yu Zeebroek, and a reading/performance of Manifestation Alice in Wonderland by Foundation de LuiaardVrouwe, followed by high tea. Tickets are still available. Visit http://www.meursam.nl/ (in Dutch or here in English) for more information, as well as to see a watercolor of Dordrecht by Dean Liddell.

Updates

If you were unable to attend the Gwinnett Ballet Theatre's Alice (http://lcsna.blogspot.com/2008/03/upcoming-events.html), you can view a stunning selection of photos from the production and from "behind-the-scenes" taken by Richard Calmes: www.pbase.com/rcalmes/alice_performances.

And if you would like more information on the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum's Alice exhibit (opening April 25), there is now a direct link: www.lywam.org/exhibitions/index.cfm?room=upcomingexhibitions.

More controversy

Disney's "It's a Small World" ride is undergoing renovations, with every rumor and aspect seemingly designed to generate controversy: larger boats and deeper water to accommodate today's larger Americans, the rainforest scene replaced by an American patriotic scene, Disney movie characters added into "culturally appropriate" scenes (Mulan into "China," for example). Here at last is an addition that does seem somewhat appropriate, Alice and the White Rabbit added to "England" - but using Mary Blair's designs. Since "Small World" was originally designed by Blair, these new figures will at least blend in. http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/?p=1552.

Save Alice's House!

I've neglected to mention that the Liddell family vacation home, Penmorfa, in Llandudno, Wales, is slated for demolition and redevelopment. Fortunately, the various Lewis Carroll societies and local historical societies have generated a lot of publicity in hopes of gaining historical status for the building, and a petition will be presented to the council and to the Welsh Assembly (www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/Petition-to-save-39Alice39house.3934904.jp). If you are interested in adding your pleas, you may send an email addressed to cynllun.plan@conwy.gov.uk with ref to applications for demolition of Penmorfa, no's, 0/34325 and 0/34236, or a letter to The Chief Planning Officer, Civic Offices, Colwyn Bay, Conwy, LL29 8AR (U.K.).

Not certain who took this photo, but all (c) to him or her, and my thanks.

In the news

In response to Thursday's (March 27) speech by President Bush, Senator Chuck Hagel had this to say on CNN: "I think this is another episode of Alice in Wonderland. What's up is down, and what's down is up." The whole interview can be viewed here: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/03/27/blitzer.hagel.interview.cnn?iref=videosearch

Pittsburgh and Colorado Springs, but not Sunderland

As mentioned in the last issue of the Knight Letter, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre will be performing the ballet of Alice in Wonderland April 17 to 20. Originally created for the English National Ballet, the performance is danced to pieces by Tchaikovsky and includes illusions such as roses that change color and the Duchess's "flying house" (!?). www.pbt.org/performances/alice.php
www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-27-2008/0004781489&EDATE=

Alice in a hookah lounge... with the Caterpillar performed by a male belly dancer... in Colorado Springs? Okay, sure, why not? The Moody Touring Mystery Theatre (http://moodytouringmysteries.com) performs at 40 Thieves Hookah Lounge (http://40thievesonline.com/)on Friday, March 28, and Saturday, March 29: www.csindy.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A24182.

The yet-to-be-filmed Mischa Barton movie, Malice in Sunderland, is now Malice in Wonderland, due to lack of funds: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7316174.stm.

Only in SF, and London, and...

Apparently there is an Alice for everyone... Next month, "Cocktailgate," a drag troupe in San Francisco, will present Alison Wonderbra, featuring excerpts of dialog and song from the 1976 Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Comedy: http://music.sfweekly.com/search/events.php?oid=944935

Starting March 28 and continuing for a year, the Alice-inspired "Seasons Through the Looking Glass" installation will decorate the tunnel entrance of the the Victoria and Albert Museum:
www.vam.ac.uk/collections/contemporary/looking_glass/index.html.

Subscribers of Nature (or those who wish to pay $32 for the privilege) can read "From Alice to everywhere, with love," a short SF story by Chaz Brenchley: www.nature.com/nature/journal/v452/n7183/full/452126a.html.

Arty Alice

Sue Johnson's "Alice Redux" panorama will be on display at New York City's Schroeder Romero/Winkleman Gallery Project Space through April 26. "The 20-foot-long panorama imagines Alice grown up and finding her way through a dream world cluttered by the flotsam and jetsam of modern consumer culture. Advertising images of everyday products appear alongside allusions to the Lewis Carroll tale, making the work a contemporary fantasia of incongruous imagery." http://somd.com/news/headlines/2008/7363.shtml

A belated congratulations to Bryan Talbot: His Alice in Sunderland was placed on the shortlist for the British Science Fiction Association's Best Novel award back in January. Winners will be announced at Eastercon this coming week: www.bsfa.co.uk/bsfa/website/awards.aspx.

Some of you may have read the review in the most recent Knight Letter about the Theatre Gajes (www.gajestheater.nl) "stilted" open air performance in Germany. The group recently toured in Toronto, where LCSNA member Tania Ianovskaia attended and took photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/bianovski/AliceNathanPhillipsSquare?authkey=PMdOt4f-P4o.

Last but not least, the one of the winners of the New York Times "Pi Day" (3/14) Poetry Contest (http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/contest-winners/) is Mike Keith's Cadaeic Cadenza, in which each succeeding word of the poem has the same number of letters as the corresponding digit of pi... to the 3,835th digit! Section 3 of the poem is a strange, but clever parody of "Jabberwocky." http://users.aol.com/s6sj7gt/cadtext.htm

Fun stuff

According to The Muppet Newsflash blog, "The Sesame Street characters are set to appear in a retelling of a classic story in the all-new film "Abby in Wonderland". Giving Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" a Muppety twist, the new DVD will star everyone's favorite Fairy-in-training, Abby Cadabby in her very own film. The musical film is currently in post-production and aimed to reach audiences in just a few months. While Abby takes on the role of Alice, the rest of the Sesame gang joins in (such as Elmo in the role of the Rabbit, Grover as the Mad Hatter, Cookie Monster as the Cheshire Cat, and Bert and Ernie as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum). While the exact release date of this title has not been confirmed yet, I've been told that fans should expect to see Abby's first direct-to-DVD feature hitting stores in September 2008." www.muppetnewsflash.com/2008/03/sesame-street-dvds-coming-your-way.html

Among other new shows, the SciFi Channel announced on Tuesday that it has "commissioned a six-hour miniseries dubbed Alice, a modern day-retelling of Alice In Wonderland..." from the team that created last December's The Wizard of Oz tale Tin Man. www.multichannel.com/article/CA6542335.html

And on the "what were his parents' thinking" front: Lewis Carroll, age 16, made his field hockey debut in Dinnington, U.K., last week: www.dinningtontoday.co.uk/sport/Relegated-side-ready-for-break.3895510.jp

Bits & Bobs

Is it me or is it just sad that the "Jabbawockeez," winners of "America's Best Dance Crew" discuss how much they like Mexican food but fail to acknowledge the source of their name? www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/dance_crew/crews.jhtml?crew=jabbawockeez

Xanthic Eye's Wonderlost series of paintings gives the Wonderland characters the look of pale white porcelain dolls, with white clothing and black and blood-red details... some of which are actually blood. These "black, and white, and red all over" pictures can be viewed at http://wonderlost.xanthic.net/.

The U.K. publisher of Frank Beddor's Looking Glass Wars series has announced a mash-up competition to promote the series. "A mash-up is a remix of images, movies clips and sounds created by using simple editing technology... A series of mixable clips based on scenes, characters and events from the books have been created and are available to 'mash' at http://eyespot.com/mixables/TheLookingGlassWars."

Marvel Comics continues its fairy tale/superhero crossovers with Avengers Fairy Tales #1-4. #1 (released March 12) was based on Peter Pan, #2 (April 9) will be based on Pinnochio, and #3 (May 14) will be based on Alice: "No one's telling any "tall" tales this month as Cassie "Stature" Lang's size-shifting abilities accidentally send her spiraling "down the rabbit hole" and into Wonderland! Stature finds herself on an Alice-like adventure through this warped world where nothing is quite what it seems. And when she finally runs into the other Young Avengers, will she be able to bring her twisted teammates to their senses in time, before Queen of Hearts has off with their heads?!" The lovely cover can be seen at www.marvel.com/catalog/?id=8727. (No word yet what #4 will be, but if they are going with the usual classic four, it will be Dorothy/Wizard of Oz.)

Upcoming Events

This weekend, March 8 and 9, the Gwinnett Ballet Theatre of Snellville, Georgia, performs a ballet of Alice with what look like wonderful costumes: www.gwinnettballet.org.


On Saturday, March 15, the Leeds [U.K.] Centre for Victorian Studies, is holding the 19th Northern Victorian Studies Colloquium, on Victorian Ethics. In the section titled: Children and Literature: Zoe Jaques (Anglia Ruskin University) will be giving the following talk at 3:45 pm: “Alice’s Moral Wonderland: Lewis Carroll and Animal Ethics.” Further details from their website: www.leedstrinity.ac.uk/lcvs/Colloquia/Ethics.html.

On Thursday, March 20, PBA Galleries of San Francisco will be holding an auction including illustrated and children's books (www.pbagalleries.com/live/sale_details.php?s=376&). Of particular note are an Appleton Alice (lot 16) of 1865/6, an 1870 Alice (lot 17), and a first edition of Looking Glass (lot 18)

On Friday, March 28, and Saturday, March 29, Arizona's Gravity Jazz Dance Theatre will be performing Alice in Wonderland: www.gravityjazzdance.org. (Are those marathon runners?!)


On Thursday, April 3, PBA Galleries' "fine literature" auction (www.pbagalleries.com/live/sale_details.php?s=377&) will include an 1876 Snark (Lot 18) and a first edition set of S&B/S&BC (Lot 19).


On Saturday, April 26, Storybook Weekend Events of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in conjunction with its performance of Alice In Wonderland, will include a “Mad Hatters Tea Party” in the Great Hall adjacent to the Grand Theater (www.grandoperahouse.org/events/tas/0708/12alice.html), “Queens Croquet” events on the City Square,” and most importantly, a corresponding exhibit at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum (www.lywam.org) of a small selection of art and items from LCSNA member Joel Birenbaum's collection. The exhibit opens on Friday, April 25.

A (pen)grin, possibly with a cat

Blog stuff and film stuff, today.

It remains to be seen if it is actually Alice-related, but the Penguin books blog (http://thepenguinblog.typepad.com/the_penguin_blog/2008/02/non-linear.html) hints that that they will "soon be embarking on a experiment in storytelling." The question as yet unanswered is "What has a grin and six tales?" To see a lovely picture of a six-tailed Cheshire Cat and to be notified when more information is released in March (though isn't it March already?), visit http://pengrin.co.uk/.

According to science fiction author Rudy Rucker's blog entry of February 6 (www.rudyrucker.com/blog/2008/02/06/carrollian-syllogisms/) [Yes, I know it's a month old, I'm still catching up], he is contributing an interview for an upcoming volume of articles entitled The Spaces of Wonderland. He also includes some silly syllogisms inspired by Carroll, a nice link to the LCSNA website, photos of Moffett Field (Sunnyvale, CA), and a sketch of a "beanstalk bridge to infinity" featured in his upcoming novel.

Here is a short but pointed animation of a Lewis Carroll's poem "The Owl and the Panther," by animator and video artist Nick Fox-Gieg:
www.videosift.com/video/Peace-Through-Strength-Nick-Fox-Gieg.

From LCS member George Wallace is another short film made with his students: "We read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and then did the filming out in the countryside of Nagano last September. It is hardly Orson Welles but I thought perhaps you might be interested to see some Japanese university students' interpretation of the Carroll story." www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfq6Q7LianI

An exhibit for everyman

The Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill has an exhibit, "The ABC of Collecting Everyman's Library," which includes an Alice originally owned by Alice (Liddell) Hargreaves. The exhibit is free and runs from January 17 through March 31: www.lib.unc.edu/spotlight/2008/everymans.html.

From our Australian correspondent: "The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's "Sunday Arts" program of 17 February had in its section "Australian Artists of Tomorrow" an item on Adelaide photographer Harmony Nicholas, "a rising star in photography", "exhibiting at Adelaide's "Citadel Exhibition Space" from 6-11 April 2008". Much of her work plays with images from Alice inWonderland. From what I could make out, it involves a grown adult dressed in the part; her blue frock and blondness seems (ironically or otherwise) derived from Disney rather than Tenniel directly." Images can be viewed at http://dalaiharma.deviantart.com/gallery/.

The Design Toscano website has a resin Humpty Dumpty statue for your garden or a very strong bookshelf (it weighs 11 pounds). It's not quite Tenniel, but...

www.designtoscano.com/product/code/NG32097.do.

Little, Big

Well, let's have the big news first instead: The next LCSNA meeting will be in Washington, D.C. at the end of April, and all are welcome. More info here: www.lewiscarroll.org/meeting/2008spring/Spring08.pdf.

As for little, here's a few more bits and pieces of catch-up.

A survey of 400,000 people (though not specifically children) by Britain's Booktrust (www.booktrust.org.uk) finds that Alice in Wonderland is the tenth "best" children's book "of all time." www.booktrust.org.uk/show/feature/Home/Booktrust-news

At the recent toy fair in NYC, Tonner Dolls showed off the latest from the Alice collection, including, strangely enough, the Queens of Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades:
www.cooltoyreview.com/story/front/TF2008_Tonner_Alice_In_Wonderland_112558.asp
www.tonnerdoll.com/alice.htm. There is also an Alice-lookalike in Tonner's "Kickits" collection, titled "Hunting Rabbit": www.tonnerdoll.com/2007Images/TONNER%202007/Kickits/KI3.jpg.

And slightly late for those of you in the U.K. crowd, child heroes including Alice and Peter Pan make an appearance in "The Worlds of Fantasy," a three-part series starting on Wednesday 27th February (tonight), BBC4, at 9 p.m. with probable repeats.

Catching up

In case you were wondering, the best way to deal with a death on one side of the family and a blow-out 90th birthday bash on the other is NOT to get the flu. Just saying...

Here's a few random Alician tidbits to catch us up a bit:

What does skiing have to do with Alice in Wonderland? Well, nothing, but that didn't stop Winter Park Ski Resort in Colorado from naming some of their ski trails after the Wonderland characters: www.skiwinterpark.com/mountain/trails/index.htm.

Speaking of tenuous connections, when in Rome you can stay at the Alice in Wonderland B&B. Looks like a nice place, but no explanation of the name is given on the website: www.romeby.com/aliceinwonderland.

Information on and photographs of Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson's grave can be found at www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2213.

From our British correspondant: "The University of Kent is offering a 'day school' at its Tonbridge campus on Saturday 17 May 2008, 9.45am to 4.30pm. It is titled "Two Eccentrics: Lewis Carroll and Oscar Wilde" and promises 'to look at the backgrounds and associates of these two writers including reference to the style of their houses and the influences of the period ... and studying passages from their work, especially the controversial Alice in Wonderland and Wilde's decadent The Picture of Dorian Gray. We will see how their lives impacted on the society of the times and assess the lasting legacy of their literary work.' The fee is £32 and the course code ADT014. You can enroll by telephone, with a credit card, on 0800 975 3777, or else search their University website www.kent.ac.uk for information. They warn that their day schools get booked up very quickly, so prompt action would be advisable for those who wish to attend."

Tenniel exhibit

If you are in Halifax, U.K. between now and March 9, visit an exhibit of John Tenniel's original illustrations for Alice in Wonderland at the Piece Hall Art Gallery and Visitor Centre: http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/features/Alice-in-Wonderland-art-exhibition.3671097.jp.

'Twas brillig...

View an eloquent American Sign Language-version of "Jabberwocky", signed/performed by Carl Schroeder, on his blog Ka'lalau's Korner.

Let "universe" be "books"

Let's start this all off with an explanation of the blog's name itself: Let "universe" be "books". From an auction listing of several years ago, this “original ink Manuscript lesson for teaching Logic, conceived in diagram format and dated by [Charles] Dodgson [aka Lewis Carroll] in the upper right corner ‘5/3/94’” is speculated to have been left in one of his books as a "page marker" - which seems only appropriate.In other words, this is a sketch or doodle of a diagram for a logic lesson he gave or was planning (more info at A Blog of Bosh). But what a fascinating idea: a universe of books. What bibliophile doesn't instantly understand the concept? (And then add the modern idea of the constantly expanding universe!) Anyway, while this blog will by no means focus exclusively on books, Lewis Carroll's books are the main jumping-off point.

Hello World

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