Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Illustrated by June Lornie

Description

Lewis Carroll is the pen-name for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who was a lecturer of mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford. Dodgson started the telling of this tale on July 4, 1862 during a rowing boat tour on the Thames River at Oxford. Pastor Robinson Duckworth and three girls were members of the party: Alice Liddell, the ten-year old daughter of the dean of Christ Church, and her sisters Lorina, aged thirteen, and Edith, eight years of age. The poem at the beginning of the story states that the threesome urged Dodgson to tell them a story. And so he set out to present the first version of the tale, admittedly with some initial reluctance. Now and then, within the broader tale, reference is made to all five of the boat party; the story first appeared in print in 1865. ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR: As a child, June Lornie spent much of her life in hospital. She had to lay on her back, so she used a mirror to see what was going on around her -- and as a result, she always saw the world back to front. The nurses told her fairy stories like "Cinderella", "Snow White", and many more. Because she had a mirror, she was told a story, "Through the Looking-Glass", about a little girl who went through a mirror -- that little girl was called Alice. After this she was read "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and fell in love with the story. As the years went by June remained fascinated with Alice. Later in her career, June became director of the Liverpool Academy of Arts. Her illustrations for Alice started with a single work: "The Mad Tea-Party". This was soon joined by others, then, after she had had an exhibition of this first group and saw them all hanging on a wall together, she felt inspired to complete a full set of illustrations for the story, work which occupied her off and on for a further two years. After the "Cheshire Life" magazine did a two-page spread on her illustrations, June and her husband David joined the Daresbury Lewis Carroll Society. She has held many exhibitions displaying her illustrations for "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", and plans to start illustrating "Through the Looking-Glass" as well.