The Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland books in Australia
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"Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand? Or Australia?"
The popularity of the works and Wonderland's
multi-faceted universe resulted in numerous reprints, translations
and releases in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, with the
definitive editions issued by Macmillan of London and New York and
subject to amendment and correction by the author up to 1897, just prior
to his death. Initial British print runs were of the octavo '6
shillings' (or 'half crown') edition in red cloth covers (green cloth in
the United States, blue in France, dark green in Germany) with gilt
trim and embossed Wonderland characters featured on the front and rear
covers. Carroll, in a letter to the real Alice, noted that by 1885 some
125,000 had been printed. A smaller duo decimo (12to) People's Edition
of both books, printed on glossy paper and with illustrated covers, was issued in 1887 to continue
the success of the series for Macmillan and the author. The 183,000th
copy of the People's Edition of Alice in Wonderland
appeared in 1928, by which time minature, pocket and children's versions
were also available, featuring the Tenniel drawings both coloured and
uncoloured. A similar mix of printings in the United States reflected
the continuing strong sales in that country, supplemented by
illustrated editions from amateur and run-of-the-mill graphic
designers through to highly skilled professional artists such as Arthur
Rackham, Ralph Steadman and Salvadore Dali. Nevertheless, Tenniel's
work remained definitive. As principal political cartoonist for Punch
of London, he was very much in his prime when undertaking the work on
Carroll's two books between 1864 and 1871. His drawings were
wonderfully expressive, of their time and hughly influential. They
added a descriptive and visual layer to the books characters beyond that
conveyed by the author's words alone.
Australian release
Notice of the late 1865 London publication of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland appeared in Australian newspapers during February 1866, with, for example, the Brisbane Courier on 27 February 1866 reproducing a London newspaper correspondent's December 1865 'New Books' notice thus: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", with 42 drawings by Tenniel, a beautiful and attractive book (Macmillan).
The three month delay between UK publication and the Australian notice
reflected the average time taken to ship copies of British newspapers
and journals to Australia. The book's arrival in the country did not
occur until two months later, with an advertisement in the Melbourne Argus
of 28 April 1866 announcing that copies of the original UK Macmillan
edition - the only one then in print - had "just landed" and were
available for purchase from George Robertson's bookshop, Collins Street,
for 8s 6d. This was a substantial sum of money at the time, with the
average wage less that £1 or 20 shillings per week. No Sydney newspaper
advertisements for Alice in Wonderland are known prior to a front page item in the Empire
on 13 September 1867, though the book was likely available in that city
around the same time as Melbourne. By the end of 1867 copies could be
purchased from W.R. Piddington - "importer of books and stationary" -
George Street, Sydney, for 7s 6d. Carroll's second Wonderland adventure - Through the looking glass, and what Alice found there - was, according to the Melbourne Argus
of 16 February 1872, available from local bookseller Samuel Mullen,
just three months after the British release. Two months later, the Sydney Morning Herald on 15 April advertised Piddington's sale of the edition for 7s 6d. Notice of its intended publication had appeared in the Launceston Examiner
on 8 November 1870, indicative of anticipation surrounding the release
both in Britain and Australia, and of delays in the final production.
By the end of the year the Sydney Morning Herald of 26 November
1872 was advertising Piddington's sale of the "33rd edition" (actually
part of the print run which included the 33,000th copy) of Alice in Wonderland for 7s 6d, with the recently released Through the looking glass also available and similarly priced.
Reviews and commentary
Reviews of the Alice books and commentaries referring
to them, often in the context of developments in the area of children's
literature, are known in Australian newspapers from 1868 onwards. They
derive from both local and overseas sources, and are in many instances
published anonymously. These items played an important role in promoting
the Carroll books, with newspapers - in the absence of established,
literary serial publications - a significant avenue of communication
and entertainment in the colony prior to the arrival of film (1900s),
radio (1920s) and television (1950s). The reviews as published often
included substantial extracts from the books. For example, 'Liliput
Literature' by 'Laureate' from the Sydney Morning Herald of 16 March 1868 - the earliest identified review to appear in Australia - makes reference to the popularity of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
just two years after the Australian release. It also includes
substantial extracts describing the Mad Hatter's tea party and an
encounter between a Mock Turtle and Gryphon. Whether this very English
piece was authored by a local or sourced from an overseas publication is
not known, though the former is possible due to the allocation of the
'Laureate' attribution as against a specific reference such as 'Cornish
Times' etc.:
Liliput Literature
It is the privilege of us elders to grumble, in some
cases perhaps without much cause, at the superior advantages enjoyed by
growing youth, and to contrast them with the hard times we had in our
own boyhood. But as regards the nursery epoch - the period that precedes
school-life, and into which no shadow of coming "competitive
examinations" can cast themselves - there is not a doubt that our young
folks are now catered for in a manner that was never dreamed of in our
day, nor, indeed, in any day before the present. Instead of dull,
starched "Moral Tales," with nothing but their morality to recommend
them, which was of old the staple literature of Liliput, the juveniles
have now a library of their own, almost as varied as that of their
seniors; while, instead of having a few hack scribblers, and one or two
respectable old ladies, of the Trimmer type, to provide their mental
pabulum, they now employ the pens of half our men of genius. Dickens has
written for them more than once (only we like his Liliput stories so
much ourselves that we contend that they are for us, just as when that
cream chocolate arrives from Paris, from dear Aunt Charlotte, we
maintain it is for the drawing-room, and not the nursery); Thackeray
wrote Dr. Birch and his Young Friends, to make them grin; Ruskin gave
them The King of the Golden River; nay, the land having been
sufficiently ransacked for their pleasure, Kingsley gave them The Water
Babies. The very best artithesis of modern times have worked for them;
one of the latest works of the most humourous of them all, poor Bennett,
was dedicated solely to them - The Stories that Little Breeches Told.
For droll drawing, perhaps there is no book in the world that excels
that; but, besides the drollery, such art, and sense, and grace! And of
still later years - indeed, quite recently there have appeared two other
children's books, which are, in their way, equally unrivalled. As they
lie before me, and I contrast them, in my mind, with the foolish little
books which were all that were provided for me in my childhood, in the
way of fun, I positively feel jealous of my own children. Why was there
no Lewis Carroll in my time to write Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,
and (even more especially) no John Tenniel to illustrate them?
I do not intend to make any ungracious comparison
here between author and artist, but it is marvellous to think that the
same pencil which has furnished so many years those cartoons in Punch,
some of which, in their grandeur of conception, have an almost epic
sublimity which stir the pulses while you look on them - should
illustrate a child's book with such marvellous humour. Mr. Carroll, in
whom there is so much to praise, is un-equal, whereas his illustrator is
uniformly excellent. In his portraiture of the beauty of Alice, the
helplessness of the Mad Hatter, or the bad temper of the Queen of
Hearts, one knows not which to admire most. Never, surely was author's
fantastic humour more faithfully interpreted by draughtsman. It may be
supposed, perhaps, that the fun is too grotesque and wild to be
appreciated by little folks in the nursery, but this I know, by
practical experience, is not the case. Children have far brighter wits
than they are given credit for, let them only be supplied with the
proper sort of metal to reflect them in; one ought not to be
disappointed with them (but rather the contrary) if they are not
interested in Sandford and Milton. On the other hand, I can easily
believe that there are many grown-up people who will see nothing to
laugh at in Alice in Wonderland at all. Even Tenniel and Carroll
combined cannot supply dull folks with the sense of humour. Chapter
seven (it does not matter where one begins in this book) is entitled,
and very justly, A Mad Tea Party.
There was a table set out under a tree in front of
the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a
Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were
using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its
head. `Very uncomfortable for the Dormouse,' thought Alice; `only, as
it's asleep, I suppose it doesn't mind.'
The table was a large one, but the three were all
crowded together at one corner of it: `No room! No room!' they cried
out when they saw Alice coming. `There's plenty of room!' said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.`Have some wine,' the March Hare said in an encouraging tone.
Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. `I don't see any wine,' she remarked.
`There isn't any,' said the March Hare.
`Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it,' said Alice angrily.
`It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited,' said the March Hare.
`I didn't know it was your table,' said Alice; `it's laid for a great many more than three.'
`Your hair wants cutting,' said the Hatter. He had
been looking at Alice for some time with great curiosity, and this was
his first speech.
`You should learn not to make personal remarks,' Alice said with some severity; `it's very rude.'
The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, `Why is a raven like a writing-desk?'
`Come, we shall have some fun now!' thought Alice.
`I'm glad they've begun asking riddles.--I believe I can guess that,'
she added aloud.
`Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?' said the March Hare.
`Exactly so,' said Alice.
`Then you should say what you mean,' the March Hare went on.
`I do,' Alice hastily replied; `at least--at least I mean what I say--that's the same thing, you know.'
`Not the same thing a bit!' said the Hatter. `You
might just as well say that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I
eat what I see"!'
`You might just as well say,' added the March Hare, `that "I like what I get" is the same thing as "I get what I like"!'
`You might just as well say,' added the Dormouse,
who seemed to be talking in his sleep, `that "I breathe when I sleep"
is the same thing as "I sleep when I breathe"!'
`It is the same thing with you,' said the
Hatter, and here the conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for
a minute, while Alice thought over all she could remember about ravens
and writing-desks, which wasn't much.
The Hatter was the first to break the silence. `What
day of the month is it?' he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his
watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it
every now and then, and holding it to his ear.
Alice considered a little, and then said `The fourth.'
`Two days wrong!' sighed the Hatter. `I told you butter wouldn't suit the works!' he added looking angrily at the March Hare.
`It was the best butter,' the March Hare meekly replied.
`Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,' the Hatter grumbled: `you shouldn't have put it in with the bread-knife.'
The March Hare took the watch and looked at it
gloomily: then he dipped it into his cup of tea, and looked at it
again: but he could think of nothing better to say than his first
remark, `It was the best butter, you know.'
Among other persons, not to be found in Mr.
Trollope's novels, that Alice (always delightfully at her ease) becomes
acquainted with in the course of her adventures are a Chinese Cat
(grinning); a Dodo, who makes her a present of her own thimble at a
public meeting of featheried fowl, and in suitable terms; a Mouse, who
will tell dull stories about the Heptarchy, and Stigand, the patriotic
Archbishop of Canterbury; a Gryphon, not to be described in words, but
who makes a sweet picture; and a Mock Turtle.
So they went up to the Mock Turtle, who looked at them with large eyes full of tears, but said nothing.
'This here young lady,' said the Gryphon, 'she wants
for to know your history, she do.'
'I'll tell it her,' said the Mock Turtle in a deep, hollow tone: 'sit
down, both of you, and don't speak a word till I've finished.'
So they sat down, and nobody spoke for some minutes. Alice thought to herself, 'I don't see how he can even finish, if he doesn't begin.' But she waited patiently.
'Once,' said the Mock Turtle at last, with a deep sigh, 'I was a real Turtle.'
These words were followed by a very long silence,
broken only by an occasional exclamation of 'Hjckrrh!' from the
Gryphon, and the constant heavy sobbing of the Mock Turtle. Alice was
very nearly getting up and saying, 'Thank you, sir, for your
interesting story,' but she could not help thinking there must be more to come, so she sat still and said nothing.
'When we were little,' the Mock Turtle went on at
last, more calmly, though still sobbing a little now and then, 'we went
to school in the sea. The master was an old Turtle - we used to call
him Tortoise - '
'Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?' Alice asked.
'We called him Tortoise because he taught us,' said the Mock Turtle angrily: 'really you are very dull!'
'You ought to be ashamed of yourself for asking such
a simple question,' added the Gryphon; and then they both sat silent
and looked at poor Alice, who felt ready to sink into the earth. At
last the Gryphon said to the Mock Turtle, 'Drive on, old fellow! Don't
be all day about it!' and he went on in these words:
'Yes, we went to school in the sea, though you mayn't believe it - '
'I never said I didn't!' interrupted Alice.
'You did,' said the Mock Turtle.
'Hold your tongue!' added the Gryphon, before Alice could speak again. The Mock Turtle went on.
'We had the best of educations - in fact, we went to school every day - '
'I've been to a day-school, too,' said Alice; 'you needn't be so proud as all that.'
'With extras?' asked the Mock Turtle a little anxiously.
'Yes,' said Alice, 'we learned French and music.'
'And washing?' said the Mock Turtle.
'Certainly not!' said Alice indignantly.
'Ah! then yours wasn't a really good school,' said the Mock Turtle in a tone of great relief. 'Now at ours they had at the end of the bill, "French, music, and washing - extra."'
'You couldn't have wanted it much,' said Alice; 'living at the bottom of the sea.'
'I couldn't afford to learn it.' said the Mock Turtle with a sigh. 'I only took the regular course.'
'What was that?' inquired Alice.
'Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,'
the Mock Turtle replied; 'and then the different branches of Arithmetic
- Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.'
'I never heard of "Uglification," Alice ventured to say. 'What is it?'
The Gryphon lifted up both its paws in surprise.
'What! Never heard of uglifying!' it exclaimed. 'You know what to
beautify is, I suppose?'
'Yes,' said Alice doubtfully: 'it means - to - make - anything - prettier.'
'Well, then,' the Gryphon went on, 'if you don't know what to uglify is, you are a simpleton.'
Alice did not feel encouraged to ask any more
questions about it, so she turned to the Mock Turtle, and said 'What
else had you to learn?'
'Well, there was Mystery,' the Mock Turtle replied,
counting off the subjects on his flappers, ' - Mystery, ancient and
modern, with Seaography: then Drawling - the Drawling-master was an old
conger-eel, that used to come once a week: he taught us Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils.'
'What was that like?' said Alice.
'Well, I can't show it you myself,' the Mock Turtle said: 'I'm too stiff. And the Gryphon never learnt it.'
'Hadn't time,' said the Gryphon: 'I went to the Classics master, though. He was an old crab, HE was.'
'I never went to him,' the Mock Turtle said with a sigh: 'he taught Laughing and Grief, they used to say.'
'So he did, so he did,' said the Gryphon, sighing in his turn; and both creatures hid their faces in their paws.
'And how many hours a day did you do lessons?' said Alice, in a hurry to change the subject.
'Ten hours the first day,' said the Mock Turtle: 'nine the next, and so on.'
'What a curious plan!' exclaimed Alice.
'That's the reason they're called lessons,' the Gryphon remarked: 'because they lessen from day to day.'
This was quite a new idea to Alice, and she thought
it over a little before she made her next remark. 'Then the eleventh
day must have been a holiday?'
'Of course it was,' said the Mock Turtle.
'And how did you manage on the twelfth?' Alice went on eagerly.
'That's enough about lessons,' the Gryphon interrupted in a very decided tone: 'tell her something about the games now.'
Laureate.
------------------------
The Hobart Mercury of 23 October 1868 reproduced a fulsome review of Alice in Wonderland copied from the Times of London's 13 August edition. It also included an extract from the Mad Hatter's tea party, discussed various dream elements of the book and noted it's attraction to both juvenile and adult audiences. It is not known why the Times waited 18 months to review the book, for a large number of similar pieces appeared in British serials and newspapers upon the intial release in December 1865. However one recent commentator has noted that it was 'slow to take off' and this perhaps explains their delayed notice:
ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND (* Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. By Lewis Carroll, London ; Macmillan and Co., 1866)
(From the Times.)
Some people are remarkably fond of telling their
dreams, and, indeed, can often become quite animated in the recital of
them. They like to relate at breakfast the odd adventures and escapes
and sights and marvellous experiences of all sorts which befell them in
the night, and the happy or painful unreality of which was only gently
or roughly broken to them by the tap at the door or the opening of the
shutters. And others like to listen to these heroes, and then become
heroes, too, in their turn. Dreams, indeed, will ever be held in
honour. They are our gratifying "stretches of imagination," which we
are forbidden to indulge in daily life. Often, certainly, do they
sorely try us, yet often, too, enchant. Perhaps this morning some
member of the House of Commons awoke from the last row in the House to
the sound of the horn on the summit of the Righi, and his ecstasy when
his eyes opened upon the glorious sunrise made him more than half doubt
whether he was not, after all, still dozing under Mr. Ayrton, and only
dreaming of the mountain tops he hoped to climb. Or did he one day go
off in the House, while thinking of his trip to Switzerland in store,
to gaze upon the Alps from Westminster Tower?
There are two books which have been sadly wanting to
the world - the one, a good selection of dreams, and the other, its
sister volume, of the dream-like reflections and sayings of children.
Such books could not fail to be attractive and popular; more so, a good
deal, than half the story-books and most of the novels in the world.
And especially would the latter be delightful, not only to mammas and
grandmammas and aunts, but to many a man, steeped head and ears in dull
realities who finds his best treat and beguilement in playing his
leasure hour away with children, and becoming himself a child again, as
he tells them a story, or answers their quaint guesses, or listens to
them soberly fraternizing with a bird, or a cat, or a fly.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is neither the one
nor the other of the books we speak of; but it is akin to both, and is a
very charming production. It is the picture of a child's simple and
unreasoning imaginations illustrated in a dream, and is extremely well
and pleasantly written. What more happy place than that chosen for the
scene of these adventures? What child does not wonder when it looks
down a rabbit-hole and fancy to itself all sorts of odd things going on
at the bottom? - all the uncongeniel creatures of the world in perfect
harmony together there. "Down, down, down." . . . " Curiouser and
curiouser." Who will say that it was not the supreme aspiration of his
childhood's ambition - perhaps it is his ambition still - to find some
fine day something - of course in the shape of a delicious eatable -
which would at once enable him to shoot up or expand like a telescope,
to pop through the keyhole, or stride over a house?
Down below, little Alice, naturally enough, forms a
wide acquaintance with all the animals and insects that be, whether of
the land or the sea - a Cheshire Puss, a March Hare, a Dodo, a Mock
Turtle, &c, - and the little disputatious conversations and
philosophic reflections of the dream-child among these strange
companions she meets are most droll. Now and then, perhaps, the
drollery is excessive, and somewhat mars the natural, simplicity of what
lies beneath; but the vein below is always attractive. The child
identifies itself with all things that breathe: human beings, animals,
and insects are all in companionship - this is the beautiful idea of
the childish mind. Alice may grow larger and smaller, so as not to be
able to "explain herself," "because I'm not myself, you see;" and may
find that "being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing."
But it is all proper enough. The caterpillar changes, too, and is
probably likewise confused at his transformation. "When you have to
turn into a chrysalis - you will some day, you know - and then after
that into a butterfly, I should think you feel a little queer, won't
you?"
A great merit of this book is the novelty of its
character, seen, perhaps, with best advantage at the Mad Tea Party. Here
is the opening of the Dormouse's story at that entertainment : -
"Once upon a time there were three little sisters," the Dormouse began in a great hurry; "and their names were
Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie; and they lived at the bottom of a well--"
"What did they live on?" said Alice, who always took a great interest in questions of eating and drinking.
"They lived on treacle," said the Dormouse, after thinking a minute or two.
"They couldn't have done that, you know," Alice gently remarked; "they'd have been ill."
"So they were," said the Dormouse; "VERY ill."
Alice tried to fancy to herself what such an
extraordinary ways of living would be like, but it puzzled her too much,
so she went on: "But why did they live at the bottom of a well?"
"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."
"You mean you can't take LESS," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take MORE than nothing."
"Nobody asked YOUR opinion," said Alice.
"Who's making personal remarks now?" the Hatter asked triumphantly.
Alice did not quite know what to say to this: so she helped herself to some tea and bread-and-butter, and then
turned to the Dormouse, and repeated her question. "Why did they live at the bottom of a well?"
Refraining from quoting further from these quaint
discussions, which were better read in the original, we think the
account of the Caucus race will serve as well as anything else to show
the interesting style of the writing:
"What I was going to say," said the Dodo in an offended tone, "was, that the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race."
"What IS a Caucus-race?" said Alice; not that she
wanted much to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that
SOMEBODY ought to speak, and no one else seemed inclined to say
anything.
"Why," said the Dodo, "the best way to explain it is
to do it." (And, as you might like to try the thing yourself, some
winter day, I will tell you how the Dodo managed it.)
First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of
circle, ("the exact shape doesn't matter," it said,) and then all the
party were placed along the course, here and there. There was no "One,
two, three, and away," but they began running when they liked, and left
off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was
over. However, when they had been running half an hour or so, and were
quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out "The race is over!" and
they all crowded round it, panting, and asking, "But who has won?"
Certainly we enjoy the walk with Alice through
Wonderland, though now and then, perhaps, something disturbing almost
causes us to wake from our dream. That it is a little bit too clever
every here and there seems to us to be the fault of a very pretty and
highly original book, sure to delight the little world of wondering
minds, and which may well please those who have, unfortunately, passed
the years of wondering.
------------------------
Whilst there was a two year delay in the appearance of reviews of Alice in Wonderland in Australian newspapers - perhaps brought about by the limited release and availability of copies until the beginning of 1868 - the same did not apply to Carroll's second book in the series. On 7 March 1872 the Pall Mall Gazette (London) review of Through the looking glass was published in the South Australian Register, barely four months after its English release. This review notably included the Jabberwocky verses and a conversation between Alice and the bumbling White Knight:
Looking-Glass Land.
[From the Pall Mall Gazette.]
Through the Looking-Glass, and what Alice Found there. By Lewis Carroll. With 50 illustrations, by Tenniel (London: Macmillan & Co. 1871.)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is known far and
wide as one of the most original and charming stories ever written for
children, and it had the good fortune of being illustrated with as much
humour and delicacy as distinguished the tale itself. The author of that
book has now written another called 'Through the Looking Glass.' It is
founded upon a very pretty and fanciful notion. Alice - never mind how -
passes through a looking-glass into Looking Glass Land beyond; a land
remarkable, as its chief characteristic, for having everything the
contrary way - thus, going toward a gate is the very way never to get
out at it; you have to walk in the other direction to pass through gates
in Looking Glass Land. And so books are printed with all the letters of
the words running from right to left, as anybody may see is perfectly
natural by holding a book to a looking-glass, and observing how it
appears therein. Alice becomes acquainted with at least one
looking-glass ballad written in this style, and in a perfectly new and
delightful dialect. It is entitled Jabberwocky, and runs as follows:
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood, Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths out grabe.
The vigour of this ballad in some places is as
remarkable as its tender gravity in others. We are reminded of
Campbell's 'Hohenlinden' as we read those terse and heart-stirring lines
:
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
But what pleases us most is the stanza with which the
ballad begins and ends. Anything more affecting than those lines we
rarely meet in the poetry of our day. Once admitted to memory, they will
forever maintain a place, to rise spontaneously to the lips whenever we
stand alone in the sad, grave presence of Autumn. Thus it is that the
poet, in his diviner moments, gives language to those deeper yearnings
which other wise would never find voice in many a dumbly worshipping
soul! There are some other poems in the book - one called 'The Walrus
and the Carpenter,' and another introduced by the following conversation
between Alice and the White Knight, who offers to sing the song :
"You are sad," the Knight said in an anxious tone: "let me sing you a song to comfort you."
"Is it very long?" Alice asked, for she had heard a good deal of poetry that day.
"It's long," said the Knight, "but it's very, very beautiful. Everybody that hears me sing it -- either it brings the tears into their eyes, or else -- -"
"Or else what?" said Alice, for the Knight had made a sudden pause.
"Or else it doesn't, you know. The name of the song is called 'Haddocks' Eyes.' "
"Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?" Alice said, trying to feel interested.
"No, you don't understand," the Knight said, looking a little vexed. "That's what the name is called. The name really is 'The Aged Aged Man.' "
"Then I ought to have said, 'That's what the song is called'?" Alice corrected herself.
"No, you oughtn't: that's another thing. The song is called 'Ways and Means': but that's only what it's called, you know!"
"Well, what is the song, then?" said Alice, who was by this time completely bewildered.
"I was coming to that," the Knight said. "The song really is 'A sitting on a Gate': and the tune's my own invention."
This is a very good specimen of the sort of fun with
which the book abounds. It is not, perhaps, quite so good, as a whole,
as, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' but there is not much to choose
between them. The artist who illustrated that charming story has added
much to the excellence of this. Those who remember his picture of the
grin of the Cheshire Cat (not the cat, but the grin) will find a similar
exercise of his skill in the woodcut representing Alice as she fades
through the looking-glass.
-----------
Another example of a review, though this time rather brief, is from the South Australian Register of 6 April 1872 and its 'New Books' columns:
New Books
.....Arthur Lear has another volume of 'Nonsense
Pictures and Rhymes,' which nearly keeps up the reputation of his last.
And in a far higher walk, both of writing and illustration, 'Through the
Looking-glass' is a worthy successor of that most enchanting of all
children's books, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.' Alice is a little
older now, and the incidents and conversations are more advanced, though
they are still as far removed from actual life as before. Dream-like as
the first book was throughout, this is more dream-like still. Who does
not recollect floating down stairs with a finger-tip on the banisters -
whose confused notions of identity and substantial existence when about
to wake have not a strong affinity to the dialogue between Alice and
Tweedledum and Tweedledee, as to whether, when the Red King, who is
dreaming about her, wakes, she will go out bang! like a candle, or
continue to exist independently of him? But if we were to mention half
the curious questions in Dreamland suggested by these two books we
should never come to an end, so must break off, only saying that the
sale of this last has been unprecedentedly large.
-----------------
On 24 June 1872 the South Australian Register published an article from the 16 March edition of London Punch which included a reproduction of the Jabberwocky verses and a variant entitled 'Waggawocky'. It commented upon the infamous Australian 'Tichborne Claimant' and his trial which had just ended in London after 102 sitting days. The Tichborne Claimant had been discovered by an attorney in Wagga Wagga, southern New South Wales, and lay claim to the substantial fortune of the late Lord Tichborne. The original article featured a magnificent cartoon by Punch artist and original Jabberwocky illustrator John Tenniel.
Pickings from London Punch
The Waggawock
Firstly, behold the cartoon opposite! As Quarles asks
- "Is not this type well cut, with Zeuxian art; Filled with rich
cunning?" Of course it is. "That goes without to say," as the French
elegantly put it. But there is something which Mr. Punch means to say.
He makes his best acknowledgements to Lewis Carroll, author of the
delightfullest fairy lore extant, for the idea of a mysterious monster.
Everybody worth thinking about has read the sequel to "Alice in
Wonderland," the new book called "Through the Looking-Glass." Everybody
can recite the marvellous poem therein, entitled "Jabberwocky." It is a
household hymn among the cultivated classes, and its new and
Chattertonian words are the delight of society. Mr Punch very nearly
cried out to the Prince of Wales, on meeting H.R.H. again, "Come to my
arms, my Beamish Boy!" But poets are also prophets, vide Mr. Carlyle,
passim. The author of "Jabberwocky," when long ago revolving that grand
idea in his scholarly seclusion, was preparing a type, the full merit
and value of which now bursts upon the world at a touch from Mr. Punch's
magic wand. The Jabberwock meant the Waggawock, over whose merited
overthrow all honest persons are rejoicing. The poem sets forth the
story of the slaying of the Australian Monster. Listen to a dream, and
to the interpretation thereof:-
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths out grabe.
Merely interpolating the note that the word "wabe" is
explained by the poet to mean "a grassplot round a sun-dial," but that
it also means a Court of Justice, being derived from the Saxon waube, a
wig-shop, Mr Punch proceeds to dress the prophetic ode in plain English
:-
WAGGAWOCKY.
'Twas Maytime, and the lawyer coves
Did gibe and jabber in the wabe,
All menaced were the Tichborne groves,
And their true lord, the Babe.
"Beware the Waggawock, my son.Did gibe and jabber in the wabe,
All menaced were the Tichborne groves,
And their true lord, the Babe.
The eyelid twitch, the knees incline,
Beware the Baigent network, spun
For gallant Ballantine."
He took his ton-weight brief in hand,
Long time the hidden clue he sought,
Then rested he by the Hawkins tree,
And sat awhile in thought.
And as in toughish thought he rocks,
The Waggawock, sans ruth or shame,
Came lumbering to the witness-box,
And perjured out his Claim.
"Untrue ! untrue !"
Then through and through
The weary weeks he worked the rack ;
But March had youth, ere with the Truth
He dealt the final whack.
"And hast thou slain the Waggawock?
Come to my arms, my Beamish Boy!
O Coleridge, J.! Hoorah! hooray!'"
Punch chortled in his joy.
---------------------------
Tenniel's drawing depicts the Tichborne Claiment's attorney as the dead monster Waggawock, slain by Truth and Justice. Though it is a variant of Carroll's original Jabberwocky the image is also similiar to the artist's depiction of the sleeping Gryphon from Alice in Wonderland. It is also interesting to note that Carroll's creation is actually referred to by the Punch writer as "the Australian monster" and use of the term 'Wagga' derives from the original Aboriginal phrase Wagga Wagga - a term whose musicality obviously resonated with Punch:. Tenniel's superb drawing reflects both his skill as a political cartoonist and the then current notoriety of Carroll's Through the looking glass, and what Alice found there. Not long after it published the Waggawock piece, on 9 August 1872 the South Australian Register printed a letter from 'Lexicographer' to the editor which featured a Carroll quote highlighting the variety of word-play available to readers in the Alice books for use as quote and lesson-giving:
Names and their meaning.
To the editor. Sir - I observe that Mr. Magarey, at a
meeting recently reported in your paper, complained that people would
not respect the modest desire of the Church to which he belongs to be
called simply Christians, and nothing else. May I ask Mr. Magarey
whether he is prepared to affirm that there is but one public place of
Christian worship in Adelaide? If so, I can understand his complaint ;
but if not, it is clear that the public are right in declining to use a
term which does not convey the meaning Mr. Magarey desires to impose
upon it. Words are used to describe things, and when new varieties of
old things arise, fresh terms have to be invented to describe them. I
commend to Mr. Magarey's consideration the following choice morsel of
dialogue from Lewis Carroll's delightful story-book, 'Through the
Looking-Glass :' - ''There's Glory for you," said Humpty Dumpty. "I
don't know what you mean by glory," Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled
contemptuously. "Of course you don't - till I tell you. I meant -
there's a nice knock-down argument for you." "But glory doesn't mean a
nice knock-down argument," Alice objected. "When I use a word," Humpty
Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it
to mean- neither more nor less." "The question is," said Alice, "whether
you can make words mean so many different things." I am, Sir, &c.,
Lexicographer.
-----------------
The slow but steady success of the Alice books, and the subtle but significant infiltration of Wonderland into the colonial consciousness through word, music and performance is also reflected in the notices of related adaptations which began appearing shortly after their initial publication. For example, the Sydney-based Town and Country Journal of 8 April 1871 included reference to a recently released Alice in Wonderland score. The Sydney Morning Herald of 11 August 1871 described and reviewed the item in the following terms:
The songs from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" are a collection of seven songs written by Lewis Carroll, and composed by William Boyd. The words of these are delightfully absurd, and they are fitted to elegant and simple little melodies that are adapted to children's voices. Some of them would become the lips of a grown-up sister, if she were inclined for fun with a baby-brother. The first number which consists of a dialogue between a whiting and a snail, has a chorus harmonised in four parts. The accompaniments in each case are simple, and so is the setting of the songs. An intelligent child could master them easily. We look upon them as a good contribution to the music of the nursery, written in kindliness and composed with good taste.
-----------------
By 21 August 1871 the Melbourne Argus was citing Alice in Wonderland as 'the chiefest and best' in regards to 'those elegant and beautifully illustrated children's storybooks' that were becoming more common. Correspondent 'Biron' in the Town and Country Journal of 4 June 1873 noted 'what a glorious pantomime could be made of "Alice in Wonderland"'. His comments were prophetic, for a number of plays and performance pieces based on the Alice novels were produced in Australia from the 1870s, and related publications and ephemera exist for these events. In 1880 the English publication Alice and other fairy plays for children, by playwright Kate Freiligrath-Kroeker, was released locally to support the performances which were to take place over coming decades, ranging from school and amateur productions through to full touring companies with long runs in capital city venues. On 20 November 1876 the Tasmanian Cornwell Chronicle reviewed a local art exhibiton which included an "aquagraph" reproduction of Samuel Sidley's famous work entitled 'Alice in Wonderland'. An item in the Brisbane Queenslander on 7 January 1882 noted that many people in the far flung corners of the state would not be aware of Lewis Carroll's work and encouraged their reading. From these examples and the numerous advertisements and reviews that appeared in newspapers and serial publications throughout Australia during the nineteenth century it is clear that Alice's Wonderland adventures were increasingly well known and popular with local audiences.
Australian editions
From 1866 through to the 1940s the Australian market
sourced copies of the Alice books primarily from UK and US publishers,
thus obviating the need for an Australian printing during a period when
quality book presses were not readily available. Local variants were
slow to appear, even after the expiration of UK copyright for Alice in Wonderland in 1907 which saw a plethora of newly illustrated volumes appear in markets such as the US. The first was the Adelaide Observer Christmas issue of December 1869 which included an edited version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
written 'expressly for this paper'. This very early adaptation is the
only known instance of a local printing, in any form, prior to 1889
when Melbourne bookseller E.W. Cole offered for sale a 94 page edition
of Alice in Wonderland bearing the note "Printed in England
for E.W. Cole" on the title page. It was published by Ward, Lock &
Co. and illustrated by American artist Blanche McManus. Another edition
from that year, printed by Macmillan & Co., London and containing
the Tenniel drawings, included the inscription E.W. Cole, Book Arcade, Melbourne on the front cover.
This latter work was specially prepared for the
Melbourne bookseller by Macmillan and printed in the UK prior to export.
As one of Macmillan's small (12mo) '6 penny' editions, it was issued on
inferior quality paper, as against the better quality 'half crown'
version. It is interesting that Cole you two different publishers to
source his local variants. Separate Ward, Lock & Co. editions from
the turn of the century and through to the 1920s are known with the
imprint 'London and Melbourne', though it is likely they were printed in
the UK for export. The appearance of these local variants marked both
the ongoing popularity of the Alice stories and their increasing
accessibility in a range of variably priced formats. Not an actual reprint of the Carroll books, but a
significant variant nevertheless, appeared in 1922 when local author and
artist George Collingridge published the first Australianised version
of Alice's adventures in Wonderland, entitled Alice in One Dear Land. This was followed by Through the Joke in Class in 1923, a parody of Through the looking glass.
These two smallish, limited edition works were
issued by the author in association with publisher W.C. Penfold &
Co. They included illustrations by Collingridge and made use of the
artificial language Esperanto. Alice is presented in a distinctly
Australian setting with kangaroos, emus and other local fauna
accompanying her on a journey from Alice Springs. Collingridge's
illustrations appeared as engraved plates, vignettes and a frontispiece
reproduction of one of his original watercolours. Both works are now
extremely rare. The Sydney Morning Herald of 14 April 1923 reviewed the second book in the following brief notice:
"Through the Joke in Class"
In ''Alice In One Dear Land," published not long
ago, Mr. George Collingridge told us of a visit which his small heroine
paid to Australia. When she went away she announced that she would not
return until the North Shore Bridge was built. Little did she guess what
was in store for her. She was recalled, shortly after, on a highly
important mission in connection with the bridge, which is described in
"Through the Joke in Class." First of all a mysterious message in a
sealed parchment is brought by a Sea-Maid to Hole In the Wall, near
Newport. This she hands to an obliging platypus, who, in turn, gives it
to a flying fox for transmission to headquarters. On the last stage on
the road to Mount Unapproachable, in Central Australia, it is entrusted
to an emu. When opened it is found to contain the stern command that
Alice and no one else is to lay the foundation-stone of the bridge. In
due course, Alice arrives. She meets various queer and argumentative
creatures, who hold vigorous debate. In the discussions an ancient
Spanish chart figures largely. And then Alice awakes, noticing from the
paper that the bridge was still in the air, and realising that she might
have to visit Australia a third time unless she gave up dreaming.
(Published by the author.)
-----------------------------
In 1924 New Zealand publishing house Whitcombe & Tombs, based in Auckland, issued a version of Alice in Wonderland
for the Australasian education market. This 68 page primary school
reader was edited by E.A Stewart and featured an original cover design
by the Carlton Studio of Melbourne plus eleven internal black and white
illustrations by talented young Australian artist Christian Yandell
(Waller). Intended 'for children aged 9 to 10 years', it was number 415
in the Whitcome Story Books series and marked the first known
illustration of Alice in Wonderland by Australian artists. Nine
editions appeared through to 1960, with the majority printed in
Christchurch, New Zealand. No extant copy of the original 1924 edition
is known, though the print run numbered 10,000. Yandell went on to work
with distinction in book illustration, book plate design and the
creation of large mosaic windows for churches. Her fine line drawings
show pre-Raphaelite influences, whilst the figure of Alice was based on
her niece Klytie Pate - an artist who worked with pottery. Yandell's
illustrations are perhaps the finest by an Australian artist in this
area for half a century. It is unfortunate that they did not appear in a
publication of higher quality, as they were deserving of such. They
remain little known and have never been reproduced, apart from a single
illustration of the slender Klytie Pate in the Alice 125 exhibition catalogue. Whitcombe & Tombs also issued an edition of Through the Looking Glass in 1924, illustrated by New Zealander Gwyneth Richardson. It was reprinted in five editions through to 1949.
The ephemeral nature of this and other school readers - whereby they were often smallish items printed on low quality paper with simple cardboard covers and glued bindings, discarded by children after heavy use in the classroom, and not widely available for purchase in bookshops or seen as collectable - meant they did not always find their way into public and institutional collections or archives. It was also common for the illustrations within school readers - especially line drawings - to be coloured in by their amateur young owners. Between 1904-35 Daily Express Publications in the UK released a large format, 447 page compendium volume entitled Children's Treasury of Great Stories which included an illustrated version of Alice in Wonderland, alongside Tales from Shakespeare, Gulliver in Lilliput and Tales from the Arabian Nights. An Australian edition was printed by United Press, Sun Building, Melbourne during this period (?1930s) and must rank as the first Australian printing of Carroll's work in book format. It was not until the 1940s that locally produced and printed editions appeared, brought on by difficulties experienced in securing material from a war ravaged Britain, which had been Australia's major supplier of books. In 1942 the Herald and Weekly Times Ltd. of Melbourne, through its publication arm Colorgravure Press, issued a combined edition of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, illustrated by local artist Donald Glue. Part of the 'Herald Classic' series, it was listed as an 'Australian War Economy Publication'. A watercolour from the series is illustrated below, along with various elements of the original edition, such as dustjacket, internal vignette drawing and a three colour plate.
Glue's artwork was a mixture of line drawings based on Tenniel's original engravings, though softer in line, and stylised coloured prints which were not at all derivative. Not to be outdone, in 1943 Sydney publisher Consolidated Press, owner of the Daily Telegraph, also issued a combined version of the two Alice books, illustrated throughout and with a dustjacket by local artist Kate O'Brien.
Reprinted in 1944, 1946 and 1947, this edition contained eleven full page black and white images along with a number of small vignettes of Alice and animals such as an owl. The dustjacket featured a humorous three colour (black / grey / yellow) drawing of Alice extracting the hapless White Knight from a swamp which he had fallen head first into. O'Brien's Alice was very Australian - older than Tenniel's 7 year old by about 5 years, with pigtails and dressed in the short sleeve top and short skirt appropriate for the antipodean summer. During this period versions of Alice in Wonderland and Through the looking glass were also issued by Publicity Press, Sydney as part of the John Mystery Pocket Book series. Edited and compiled by local song writer and children's book author John Mystery (aka. Lester Sinclair), they first appeared in 1938, and whilst many editions in the series bore this date on the title page, initial publication often occurred through to the late 1940s. The John Mystery Pocket Books comprised a variety of local stories such as The Woolly Sisters Get Well Book and Puppy Smut at the Dentist alongside literary classics including The Count of Monte Christo, Little Women, Dickens' A Christmas Carol and Carroll's two works.
Cheaply produced due to wartime supply shortages and
with illustrated cardboard covers, they sold in large numbers through
department stores such as Woolworths. Despite this, or perhaps because
of it, they are now scarce. For example, the Alice in Wonderland
edition is not known in any public collections nor listed in the
Australian National Bibliography database, though it was referred to in
the Alice 125 exhibition catalogue and the cover reproduced therein (Paul, 1990).
Local illustrators were used throughout the series, with the unidentified 'C.L.' responsible for Alice in Wonderland. No name is attached to the drawings in the 140 page Through the looking glass edition.
Another interesting local printing from the immediate
post-war years was compiled by English author Herbert Strang (actually
George Herbert Ely and Charles James L'Estrange) who, since 1920, had
issued an edited version of Alice in Wonderland in association
with Oxford University Press. Illustrated by A.E. Jackson, an
Australian edition was first published in Melbourne around 1946 and
reprinted in 1947 and 1949. It did not feature any local content. Not a book publication as such, but nevertheless significant, was the Alice in Wonderland comic strip which appeared in the Sydney Sunday Herald from 23 January 1949. Illustrated by Australian artist Nan Fullarton,
it comprised 18 parts covering a full half page, with each panel text
heavy. Its appearance was perhaps spurred on by publication the
previous year in the US of Alex Blum's Classics Illustrated comic book Alice in Wonderland. This work also appeared in newspaper comic strip form.
Fullarton's Through the Looking Glass strip was published in the Sunday Herald
between July and October 1950. Both the Australian and American strips
were early examples of the post war proliferation of illustrated
versions of Alice, appearing as comic books and strips and later as the
graphic novelisations and manga so common today.
Fullarton's simple but attractive illustrations also
featured in school reader versions of the two Alice books published by
Spring Press and Hampster Books, London, in various editions from 1950
through to the 1960s (illustrated below). It is likely they were used
in Australian primary schools along with the other school readers cited
above.
The Alice stories first appeared on film in Enland in 1903 (cf. Alice in Wonderland - film, tv and video presentations).
The numerous adaptations thereafter often were accompanied by
photoplay editions featuring Carroll's original text interspersed with
movie stills. These live action features added greatly to the popularity
and notoriety of the works, however it was the 1951 production of Walt
Disney's animated version of Alice in Wonderland which was to
have the biggest impact. Its release and subsequent re-release on a
regular basis over the years - alongside an increasing variety of film,
television and animated variants - sustained interest in Lewis Carroll's
books. Disney's film was also accompanied by a variety of related
material, ranging from Little Golden Books for children through to
unedited editions featuring selected Disney illustrations from the film.
These books were both imported and printed locally. The Disney version
of the Alice universe remains in print and common to the present day,
pointing to the significant increase in interest in, and awareness of,
Carroll's work since the 1950s. At the end of the decade (1959) Golden Press, Sydney, published an edition of Through the Looking Glass for W.H. Allen, London. Illustrated by Maraja, it was No.10 in the
Splendour Series and had first appeared in England during 1957. It was
an example of an increasingly common occurrence i.e. local printings
using proofs prepared in the UK or US. Numerous versions of the Alice adventures were
available in Australian bookshops during the 1960s and 1970s, however
from the 1980s onwards Australian editions illustrated by local artists
became more common. Examples include:
- Alice in Wonderland (1982) featuring illustrations by the famous Australian artist Charles Blackman, taken from his series of artworks on that theme which had appeared irregularly since 1956;
- Carroll Foundation publications from 1990 featuring artwork by Pixie O'Harris and Gavin O'Keefe.
- Alitji in Dreamland - Alitjinya ngura tjukurmankuntjala : an aboriginal version of Lewis Carroll's Alice's adventures in Wonderland - in 1992 Carroll's work was translated into an Australian Aboriginal language and accompanied by original Indigenous artwork.
- Versions of Alice in Wonderland illustrated by local artists Alice B. Woodward and Sue Shields (1985), Atelier Phillippe Harchy (1998), Eric Kincaid (2006), Rodney Matthews (2008), Robert Ingpen (2009) and Cinzia Ratto (2010).
A large number of Alice-related illustrations by
Australian artists were included in the Carroll Foundation exhibition
which toured nationally during 1990-1 in connection with the 125th
anniversary of the original Macmillan publication. A fully illustrated
catalogue was printed and highlights the varied responses to Wonderland
by local artists since the time of Collingridge in the 1920s. The numerous Alice films, cartoons, television
programs and documentaries that have been released locally have also
generated items such as posters, program guides and stories in local
media, the most recent of these being Tim Burton's adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (2010) featuring Australian actress Mia Wasikowska as Alice.
References
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TROVE [website], National Library of Australia. Available URL: http://trove.nla.gov.au. Accessed 20 June 2012.
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