Alices’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll: illustrated by Peter Weevers. Published by Ted Smart, 1996. First published 1989 by Random House.
ISBN: 0091850770
4to. Hardback with dustjacket.
The original story, illustrated by France-based, UK-born watercolour artist Peter Weevers
I think this book suffers a bit from the common problem that many of the paintings are too similar to the Tenniels- it must be so hard seeing such familiar mental images in a new way. Having said that, there are an awful lot of them (100), and they’re certainly beautiful. The Alice was based on the artist’s daughter, Tilia.
You can see some of his work, including some of the Alice stuff here
Sometimes turns up on amazon: Alice in Wonderland
This one was a present- Thanks Jon!
I don’t think the illustrations of Peter Weevers are at all similar to the work of Tenniel. He has illustrated Alice in his own way without being disloyal to Lewis Carroll’s text. He has also chosen to illustrate passages that have never been illustrated before, thus creating one of the most timeless and complete illustrated versions.
I believe he has also received excellent reviews from the Lewis Carroll Society, which considering their knowledge of the subject, is a considerable honour in itself.
I don’t think the *style* is like Tenniel, but the things he chooses to illustrate are: like I say, it must be really hard to find a new ‘angle’. That’s why I like the John Vernon Lord illustrations (in which Alice doesn’t appear). The pictures themselves are beautiful, but I do feel I’ve seen a lot of them before echoed in various versions of Alice.
I understand what you are saying, but one either illustrates Lewis Carroll’s text in the way one thinks appropriate, or one uses it as a pretext to express oneself in a more personal way. Personally I think Peter Weevers has succeeded in doing both. Never, for example, have the Caterpillar, (as an old, fezzed colonial) the lobster, the Fish and Frog footmen, the whiting and the snail, the guinea-pig doctor and his ‘African’ guinea-pig nurse assitant, etc., or even Alice herself been so portrayed in such ways before.
I think that Peter’s illustrations of Alice are fresh and vibrant, not at all like Tenniel’s. I just purchased the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ that Peter Weevers illustrated, from Amazon books.com. I know he illustrated it in 1989, I am just sorry it took me this long to realize it was in existence. My brother is childrens’ book illustrator Troy Howell so I know a good artist when I see one. I’m not trying to be flippant here…there is another website: http://www.laurenharman.com/alice where you can peruse many more ‘Alice’ illustrators. I must say I was quite impressed with the variety of illustrators.
Thank you for listening.
Cheers!
Teresa in California