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."