Blue Alice

Blue Alice: A Trip Through a Sexual Wonderland by Jackson Short.

Paperback. Published by Dell, 1972. First printing.

Alice seems to be a popular subject for ‘adult’ interpretations. The back cover of this book says “”Once upon a time there was a wee sexy miss named Alice”.

From the blurb:

Curiouser and curiouser!

Poor Alice. First there was the White Hophead who led her astray… then Timothy J. Caterpillar, the psychedelic guru with his unusual methods of instruction… then General March O’Hare and General Mad Anthony Hatter, both wigged out of their skulls on Hanoi Gold… then Tricky Dick Cheshire, who was willing to do anything to make everyone, and especially Alice, love him… then Horatio H. Humpty, who gets his kicks with his ever ready mouth… next came the White Knight of New York, who liked it best on horseback… and the Red Queen, who showed Alice a new way to a woman’s heart,,,

Yes indeed, things were getting curiouser and curiouser for Alice- and the worst, and best, was yet to come…

Fantastic 1970′s stylee cover art…

Alice Versary

Alice Versary: 1759-1959- The Guinness Birthday Book

Pamphlet of 16 pages, celebrating the 200th anniversary of Guinness.

Illustrations by Ronald Ferns

Printed by W. S. Cowell Ltd, Ipswich.

Guinness began sending promotional booklets to doctors in 1933, breaking off during World War 2, and restarting again in 1950.
In all, 24 were made, of which five are based on the Alice books: this is the last of the five. All of the booklets were produced by the advertising agency SH Benson, who were also responsible for many of the iconic Guinness ads of the period.

Ronald Ferns (14 October 1925 – 2 December 1997) was an English illustrator, designer, cartoonist and surrealist painter in both oil and watercolour.  After training at St. Martins in London, his first major official commission was a vast mural for the 1951 Festival of Britain for the Milk Marketing Board. In the same year, he was also commissioned to create the scenic design for the premiere of Fate’s Revenge by the Ballet Rambert. He later produced children’s books including The Learned Hippopotamus (1986), Caterpillar Stew (1990) and Like It Or Not (1992.

Parodies include The Fish Ball and Curiouser and Curiouser:

‘It must, I fear,’ said Alice, ‘Be something that I ate – I’m opening like a telescope at an alarming rate! And yet I can’t help thinking how useful necks like these would be in any Wonderland where Guinness grows on trees’.

Seems to be the easiest to find of the Guinness Alices. Mine was on ebay- there are usually one or two on amazon: Alice Versary

Alicia in Blunderland

Alicia in Blunderland by Peter Schuyler Miller. Introduction by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach.

Small hardback with dustjacket, Published by Oswald Train, 1983. First edition. Number 112 of 500.

Dust jacket art by Stephen E. Fabian.

P. Schuyler Miller (1912-1974) was an American critic and science fiction writer. In 1933 he wrote Alicia in Blunderland: publishing it serially in Science Fiction Digest magazine under the byline ‘Nihil”. This book brings the episodes together in a limited format along with an introduction by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach (1910-2003), another American SciFi writer.

Alicia meets characters and writers of science fiction of the period.

Bought in Marchpane Books, Cecil Court.

Available on Amazon: Alicia in Blunderland

Alice in Blunderland: an Iridescent Dream

Alice in Blunderland: an Iridescent Dream by John Kendrick Bangs.

Illustrated by Albert Levering.

Published by Doubleday, Page & Company, New York, 1907. Hardback clothbound first edition: no dustjacket. 12mo.

Bangs (1862-1922) was an American writer, essayist and lecturer, and he turns Alice turns into a political satire

Alice travels to Blunderland, where “everything goes just right”: assuming you believe the keepers of the Municipal Home of Children, where all the children live. Appearances by the dormouse, the Duchess, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the White Knight.

From Alice in Blunderland:

“Certain of our members claim that they have a right to sell their votes for $500 apiece–”

“Mercy!” cried Alice, “Why, that is–that is terrible.”

“It certainly is,” said the March Hare ruefully, it’s rotten. Here I’ve been holding out for $1,250 for mine, and these duffers want to go in for a cut rate that will absolutely ruin the business.”

There’s a facsimile version available: Alice in Blunderland: An Iridescent Dream

The Mad Hatter talking through his hat.

Alice Sinn Dead Wonderland

Alice Sinn Dead Wonderland, written and illustrated by Aaron Bordner.

Published by Sirius Entertainment, 2006. Paperback, first printing.

Graphic novel featuring characters from Alice along with Springheel Jack.

Publisher’s blurb:

This Halloween, Alice Sinn returns to Dead Wonderland in an original graphic novel from the master of twisted reality, Aaron Bordner. Alice has a problem sleeping. It’s that she can’t wake up! She has never been the same since that horrid car wreck and so she is trapped in the Waking Dream, her only memories painted on her skin by electrified needles. And the one man with the answers to her questions is lunatic that stalks her every move. Don’t miss this colossal, manga graphic novel event, guaranteed to draw your subconscious fears out where you can see them!

Available on Amazon: Alice Sinn Dead Wonderland

…and has its own Facebook page!

Alice Through the Paper-mill

Alice Through the Paper-mill: In Respectful Criticism of the Paper Control and Kindred Matters relating to the Present State of the Trade. A Plea for an Equitable System of Planning whereby to ensure a measure of Efficiency and a Degree of order for all Concerned. By Arthur Wragg.

Printed by C. H. Foyle of Boxfoldia, 1940 for private circulation. Hardback, second edition. No dustjacket

12 full-page b/w drawings by the author.

A satire on war-time paper control regulations.

I love the illustrations, especially Alice enjoying a crafty fag.

Available on abebooks.
On Amazon: Alice Through The Paper-Mill,

Hide and Seek

Hide and Seek:  Sunbeam Toy Books 2nd Series.

Published by F. Warne & Co.

Elsie goes into the woods to play Hide and Seek, where she meets Alice, Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

Little Master Carroll- Alice in Wonderland: A Color Primer

Little Master Carroll- Alice in Wonderland: A Color Primer by Jennifer Adams.

Artwork by Alison Oliver.

Published by Gibbs M. Smith Inc, 2012

ISBN: 978-1423624776

First edition.

Board book aimed at the very young, which somehow manages to capture the spirit of Alice in twenty words. The pictures help- they’re charming. She’s also done Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice- I’m very curious to see those…

Jennifer Adams apparently works as a senior editor for Gibbs Smith, who published her book. It’s certainly tightly edited!

Alison Oliver has a website where you can see some of the pictures from the book.

Available on Little Master Carroll: Alice in Wonderland: A Color Primer (BabyLit)

Oedipus in Disneyland

Oedipus in Disneyland: Queen Victoria’s reincarnation as Superman by Hercules Molloy.

Published by Paranoid Press, 1972.

Paperback.

I can’t pretend I’ve read this- I only bought it yesterday after all- but on skimming it seems to be a (badly written) cross between a Freudian nightmare and a Foucault’s Pendulum conspiracy theory horror story.

I’ve found a couple of reviews on-line- one from Angtime:

But nothing, nothing, nothing in the world will mess your head up more than “Oedipus in Disneyland” by Hercules Molloy. I have a first edition, for the simple fact that it never made it to a second. The title, snappy as it is, gives one only a small glimpse as to its range. The subtitle: “Queen Victoria’s reincarnation as Superman”, while also intriguing, is likewise only part of the tale. What will melt your mind is Clark Kent, unaware of his destiny, sitting alone in a Mexican jail cell, reading “Alice in Wonderland” and providing a subtextual play-by-play. Copies are hard to come by, not surprisingly, but a google search turned up one review that began with the words “It is positively disgusting….” And one webpage that just had some keywords: Classics-Alice-Wonderland-Kent-Clark-Dirty-Sex-Superman-Bad-Words which I think surmises it pretty well.

…and one from the International Journal of Social Psychiatry:

There’s also an amusing review/article here.

I think I’ll stick to skimming it!

Available via Amazon: Oedipus in Disneyland

Allies in Wilhelmsland

Allies in Wilhelmsland by J.G.R.H. & C.T. (with apologies to “Alice in Wonderland”)

Published by ‘s.n’ in 1914- printed by Ford and Co.

J.G.R.H. is J.G. Russell Harvey and C.T. is Charles (or Charlie) Thomas: between them they seem to have written several wartime verse spoofs including Rhymes of the Times for War Babies of all Ages.

The included verses originally appeared in ‘The Bristol Times and Mirror’ and ‘The Western Daily Press”.

The book is really a pamphlet of 12 pages with parodies of some of the poems from Wonderland: all poking fun at the Kaiser.

Really tatty copy- all the pages are loose and the cover is in two pieces, but it’s the only one I’ve been able to find.

Notes on the text read:

Deutschland unter Alles.

“Sold for the benefit of the Belgian Refugees’ Relief Fund”

“The authors, J.G. Russell Harvey and Charles Thomas are much indebted to Messrs. A.W. Ford & Co., Ltd. Bristol, for printing this booklet at a purely nominal cost”