In celebration of the first publication of Lewis Carroll's classic 'Alice in Wonderland', or 'Alice's Adventures Underground' as it was originally titled, the British library held a series of exhibitions looking back over the history of Alice, and the many works and pieces it has influenced.
The library ran a small exhibition between November and April that showed a collection of drawings inspired by Alice from artists and illustrators all over the world. It was fascinating to see how Carroll's story had been interpreted so differently and incorporated into so many different styles of artwork. There were quite classical drawings that depicted the Alice we all know, blonde hair and blue dress included. And then there were artists who took a more abstract approach when illustrating the story.
The exhibition was really well put together and very interesting, even including the original copy of the book, handwritten by Carroll with his own illustrations as well. I learned so much about one of my favourite stories, especially about its origins and how it started as a tale the author told to two young girls on a river trip. They loved it so much he wrote it down and gave it to them as a gift. I really loved the way the exhibition was laid out, taking you through the history of Alice and then individual illustrator's approaches to creating images to accompany this story. It included items adorned with Alice, the Mad Hatter and the Red Queens and even media clips from the Disney movie and Tim Burton's more recent take on the story.
On top of this exhibition, one afternoon the British library held a reading of the original story. Featuring actors such as Charles Dance and Toby Jones, it was apparently the first known reading (to an audience) of the first copy. It was amazing to hear it read aloud, especially from such talented performers. They sat in mismatched colourful armchairs on stage and each read small sections, occasionally accompanied by live music from a piano. It was thoroughly enjoyable and I would recommend attending a live reading, as it really is very different to have a book performed in front of you. Overall I thought the British Library did a really great job of celebrating Alice's story and gave me a new appreciation to the novel and the influence it has had on film, art and drama.
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