Airhead in Space: Adventures in the Seventh and a Halfth Dimension- Alice from Wonderland

 

Airhead in Space: Adventures in the Seventh and a Halfth Dimension: Alice from Wonderland written and illustrated by Lance Von Prüm.

Published 2017: Up all Night Press

From the blurb:

“Alice From Wonderland” is a hilarious sci-fi fantasy about “Airhead,” a rocket crash test dummy who lives in the twenty-third century. This is the third episode in this trilogy of Airhead’s adventures in space to recover his brain that keeps getting stolen by aliens. The humorous futuristic style might be compared to “Futurama” or “Rick and Morty.” You’ll enjoy laughs, chuckles, puns, wordplay and mind play on every page. The story is illustrated by the author, using little cartoon drawings to help the reader visualize outrageous situations and laugh more.

Available on Amazon, but it’s really one for the completists. Not that I think it’s ever possible to have a complete Alice collection… 😀

It did elicit a debate between the other half and me as to whether ‘halfth’ is a proper word. So that’s something!

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: Josef Shaftel

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: Souvenir brochure/programme for the film by Josef Shaftel.

Published by IPC in 1972.

38 pages including a synopsis, biographies of the actors (Fiona Fullerton, Hywel Bennett, Michael Crawford, Spike Milligan, Ralph Richardson, Michael Hordern, Peter Sellers) and lots of colour photos.

The film was a British made musical directed by the Australian William Sterling, with characters from both Wonderland and Looking Glass. The music was written by John Barry and the lyrics Don Black.

The look of the film was very much that of the Tenniel illustrations.

Available from various sellers on Etsy, Ebay and Amazon.

Alice Through the Looking Glass by Felicity Douglas

Alice Through the Looking Glass by Felicity Douglas: Theatre programme from Her Majesty’s Theatre Brighton.

I can’t find anything useful about the show online: I’m assuming it was the 1953-1954 prduction mentioned here, but the programme itself is undated. All the prices are in LSD rather than decimal though, so its definitely not the 1970s production.

There are some great old adverts in the pamphlet: reminds me of the old cinema ads for the curry house ‘just a few steps from this theatre’. And the cast includes Margaret Rutherford, so I’m amazed I couldn’t find more about it. I did track down this Searle cartoon, from (I think) the same production (same cast, certainly) but different theatre.

wonder.land

wonder.land – National Theatre programme, 2015.

Musical created by Damon Albarn, Moira Buffini and Rufus Norris for the Manchester International Festival, which then transferred to the NT.

I was really looking forward to this, I’d loved Monkey: Journey to the West and the idea of Alice getting the same treatment was so exciting. But it really wasn’t for me. I guess that’s why I’ve had this on my shelf for nearly 10 years before sticking it on here.

I mean, the costumes were amazing, the sets and effects I still remember, but the story was incoherent and the music forgettable. I think the general reviews at the time unfortunately agreed with me.

The basic premise IIRC was that the main character ‘Aly’ enters a virtual online game called Wonder.land while browsing on the internet. There’s a full synopsis on Wikipedia if you can be bothered.

Alice in Wonderland Theatre Programme 1998

Alice in Wonderland Theatre Programme from 1998.

Performed at Compass Theatre, Ickenham.

Programme received as a birthday gift from a member of the cast: Trevor Penton starring as the mouse and the Knave of Hearts. He’s even signed it for me!

Through the Hollow Oak

Through the Hollow Oak: A Book of Nonsense for Children and Older Children: A Fairy Story without any Fairies by Frank Egan.

Illustrated by J.P. Sayer

Published by Denis Archer, 1932.

First edition hardback (green cloth), no dust jacket.

Signed by author and illustrator.

 

Dedicated:

“with profound respect to the memory of Lewis Carroll” 

 

There seems to be a second book: Mary in Beastie Island- published 1933.

Nice use of ‘Herstory’ a long time before RuPaul! 

“‘She,’ said the man, ‘is Queen Anne, and this is her story. So it’s a Herstory book.

Bought in Marchpane, but also available on Amazon.

 

 

Alice : Jasmin Vardimon

Programme for Jasmin Vardimon’s Alice at Sadler’s Wells.

Soft backed theatre programme, production October 2022

From the Sadler’s Wells website: 

A woman, or perhaps a child, unsure of her identity and where she is going.

Escaping or exploring, discovering the powers within her changing body.

The world around her is different, curious, and compelling – at times absolutely bonkers.

Photos of the production on the Guardian website here.

 

 

Wilson in Wonderland

Wilson in Wonderland- a Chronicle, by Jon.

A collection of cartoons by Jon, cartoonist for the Daily Mail, produced during Harold Wilson’s years as Prime Minister.

‘Jon’ was born William John Philpin Jones in Wales in 1913, but was known as John Jones. He joined The Mail when his previous employer (the News Chronicle) was taken over in 1960.

He stayed at The Daily Mail until 1981 when he moved to The Mail on Sunday where he remained until 1988. Bizarrely for someone working on those papers (maybe they were different then) he claimed to be “left of left”.

Published 1968 by Geoffrey Bles, London. Hardback 96 pages.

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0713802189

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0713802184

The Alice connection is all in the title and cover, but I just couldn’t resist. Bought in Marchpane, but available on Amazon.

 

Drink Me: Curious Cocktails from Wonderland

Drink Me: Curious Cocktails from Wonderland by Nick Perry and Paul Rosser.

Published by Rock Point (part of The Quarto Group) 2018, hardback 1st edition.

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1631065125

From the back cover:

Great adventures often start with a simple sip—one of the most famous being Alice’s adventure down the rabbit hole with  a curiously labelled elixir- and Drink Me invites you to do the same! Learn how to mix twnty-five cocktails that will fill you with wonder with their surreal flavor combinations while giving party guests a unique and perfect drink selection for your next spirit-soaked Mad Hatter’s tea party.

Nick Perry and Paul Rosser have delved into the depths of the Pool of Tears in search of the most magical ingredients and sumptuous flavors, and- after some sage advice from a helpful caterpillar- have compiled a list of recipes that would have been  regularly enjoyed by the inhabitants of Wonderland.

Includes recipes for The Caterpillar’s Hookah, the Pool of Tears, the Cucumber Frames and the Off with her Head. A lot of them sound genuinely delicious, but also involve a lot of prep: making your own flavoured vodkas and syrups. 

Strangely, the descriptions and reviews I’ve found online of the book say it contains 20 recipes, but the cover of mine definitely says 25, and I’ve counted them to check. I wonder what’s been taken out…

Available on Amazon and there’s an interview with the authors here.

 

 

 

Through a Looking Glass Darkly

Through a Looking Glass Darkly by Jake Fior.

Published by Alice Looking (1 Jan. 2021)

ISBN-13 ‏ : 978-1527256903
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1527256901

Sold via the Alice Through the Looking Glass shop on Cecil Court, London WC2, and also available on Amazon… but I got my copy at the V&A Alice exhibition.

From the dust jacket blurb:

Through a Looking Glass Darkly is a deeply layered hypnotic journey to the dark side of Carroll’s original text.

If Through the Looking Glass is Carroll’s mirror image of Wonderland, then Fior’s new novel, ‘Through A Looking Glass Darkly’ , is the mirror crack’d.

The V&A website:

The debut novel by Jake Fior features a dual narrative, interweaving details of Victorian magical societies with an updated narrative based on Lewis Carroll’s original text. A teenage Alice embarks on a journey of self-discovery as she steps through the looking glass into a distorted reflection of the modern world.

Now, I’ve not yet read the book, but the cover says there are ‘New Illustrations by John Tenniel’: they look to me suspiciously like the original ones, coloured and sometimes altered. I mean, I like them, but I’m not sure they’re new- maybe I’m missing something.