Great British Illustrators 1:Sir John Tenniel and Alice in Wonderland

We must all do our best to find ways to stop going stir crazy while protecting ourselves from the Covid 19 virus. One way that I've come up with is to revisit some of my favourite illustrators from books and other forms of fiction I loved as a kid. I have to start with the great Sir John Tenniel. Tenniel was the principal illustrator for Punch Magazine for over 50 years, and was the first illustrator to receive a knighthood. However for most people he is remembered for his original illustrations to Alice in Wonderland.
I grew up in my grandmother's house. She had a number of classic books which my grandfather had bought. In time I would read several of them, but was too young for all but Alice in Wonderland for a long time. This book fascinated me, and even though it was a while before I would even try to read it, Tenniel's wonderful illustrations hooked me from the start.
The first sketch here is a detail from his illustration of the Mad Hatter's tea party in "Alice in Wonderland". As I've said, for me the archetypal images of the book are from Tenniel's illustrations, the Disney film notwithstanding. Others are copies of Tenniel's illustrations for the book I made on earlier occasions (See if you can spot which one is copied from "Through the Looking Glass") :-

Last year, during my marathon stint of producing at least one sketch every day for a whole year I made a copy of a very famous Tenniel Cartoon concerning Benjamin Disraeli's purchase of shares in the Suez Canal, while he was Prime Minister.

Also, through his work for punch, John Tenniel made many images which I've recycled for my hand drawn Christmas cards for friends and families - these are just a few examples: -

Tomorrow: Edward Ardizzone and "The Land of Green Ginger"