SirenDrake

This is a test document intended to consolidate information about whether Alice Liddell should be identified as Alice in Wonderland and information about the original illustrations for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. I collected information from three different pages: Alice Liddell, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), and I am not sure which page should contain the consolidated information.

Identity

There is considerable evidence that the fictional Alice is Alice Liddell's namesake including several circumstances of the creation of the stories and a number of references to Liddell in the text of the stories. However, it is impossible to determine the exact degree to which Liddell's personality influenced the character of the fictional Alice. Dodgson is said to have claimed in later years that the fictional Alice was entirely imaginary and not based upon any real child at all, and one can only speculate on whether he said this because he wanted to protect Liddell's identity, because he considered the fictional Alice's personality to be completely different, because no child had been used as a model for illustrations of Alice, or from some combination of these.

(L-R) Edith, Lorina, and Alice Liddell by Charles Dodgson.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a revision of Dodgson's handwritten manuscript Alice's Adventures Underground, which was the written version of a story that Dodgson told Alice Liddell and her sisters, Lorina and Edith, on a picnic outing. All members of the party were represented in the story: the Lory for Lorina, the Eaglet for Edith, the Dodo for Dodgson, the Duck for Canon Robinson Duckworth who accompanied the group as chaperone, and of course Alice for Alice Liddell. When the party returned from their outing, Alice Liddell asked Dodgson to write down the story for her, and he obliged. Many years later, after Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was an established success, Dodgson decided to publish a facsimile of the original manuscript Alice's Adventures Underground. Liddell agreed to relinquish the original manuscript long enough for the facsimile to be produced, and on August 14, 1885 he wrote to her "it is very pleasant to think that you are thus connected with the facsimile edition; of the existence of the original you were of course the chief if not the only cause."

There are at least three direct links to Liddell in the two books. First, he set them on 4 May (Liddell's birthday) and 4 November (her "half-birthday"), and in Through the Looking-Glass the fictional Alice declares that her age is "seven and a half exactly", the same as Liddell on that date. Second, he dedicated them "to Alice Pleasance Liddell". Third, there is an acrostic poem at the end of Through the Looking-Glass. Reading downward, taking the first letter of each line, spells out Liddell's full name. The poem has no title in Through the Looking-Glass, but is usually referred to by its first line, "A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky".

A boat beneath a sunny sky,
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July--

Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear--

Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die.
Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:

Ever drifting down the stream--
Lingering in the golden gleam--
Life, what is it but a dream?

Original Illustrations

first page of Alice's Adventures Underground with a drawing by Dodgson.

last page of Alice's Adventures Underground with a picture of Alice Liddell.

Dodgson's original handwritten manuscript Alice's Adventures Underground included some sketches drawn by Dodgson, and the final page included a cropped version of a photograph of Alice Liddell taken by Dodgson in 1860. Although the fictional Alice may have been named for Liddell, Dodgson's drawings of the character differ in appearance, most notably in the absence of the fringe (bangs) that Liddell wore and that is clearly visible in the manuscript photograph. Biographer Anne Clark suggests that Dodgson might have used Alice's younger sister Edith Liddell as a model for his drawings.

Whoever was the model for Dodgson's drawings, Alice Liddell was probably not the model for John Tenniel's illustrations. After some discussion, Tenniel and Dodgson agreed that the fictional Alice, unlike Liddell, would not have a fringe, and when Dodgson later decided to publish a facsimile of his original manuscript, he removed Liddell's photograph from the final page, both of which indicate that he did not want Liddell identified as the fictional Alice. Furthermore, The Nursery "Alice", the first version with colored illustrations, has Alice as a blonde, though Liddell was a brunette, and even in black and white, Tenniel's illustrations suggest a blonde Alice.

There is a story that in January 1865 Dodgson purchased a photograph of Mary Hilton Badcock, obtained her father's permission for her to sit for Tenniel, and persuaded Tenniel to use her as a model for the illustrations of Alice, but at the time Dodgson was supposedly purchasing the photograph, Tenniel had already completed a dozen illustrations and sent the proofs to Dodgson.

Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Alice from Through the Looking-Glass.

For Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Tenniel designed a charming outfit for Alice: a knee-length dress with a Peter Pan collar, a rather plain pinafore, and black mary janes. Tenniel uses a variation of this outfit for Alice in his illustrations for Through the Looking-Glass; her pinafore has a ruffled edge, she wears striped stockings, and her hair is held back with a wide ribbon. In honour of Alice, such hair bows are sometimes called Alice bands, particularly in the United Kingdom. In the railway carriage illustration, Tenniel added coat, muff, hat with feather, and purse, but these additions are not in any of his other illustrations, and except for that one drawing, Alice's clothing remains unaltered until she reaches the final square and becomes a queen, and then she is depicted wearing a crown, a pearl necklace, a more formal dress, and shoes that completely enclose her feet up to the ankle. But her iconic outfit is the more casual dress with pinafore, hair ribbon, and mary janes.

right|thumb|Cover art from The Nursery "Alice".

Because Alice was first drawn in black and white, her colors have varied from artist to artist. In The Nursery "Alice", the first version with colored illustrations, Alice is a blonde in a yellow dress with blue stockings, a blue hair-ribbon, and a blue and white pinafore. When Fritz Kredel colored Tenniel's illustrations for the 1946 Random House editions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, he also made Alice a blonde, but he colored Alice's dress blue with white stripes at the bottom and outlined her pinafore in red. A simplified version of Kredel's color scheme is often employed, most notably in the Disney movie, Alice in Wonderland, where Alice's dress is solid blue with a plain white pinafore.

Because of the widespread popularity of Tenniel's illustrations and Dodgson's collaboration in their design, Tenniel's Alice is the most widely recognized and is generally considered the classic look. It has influenced the work of many artists in their general look and dress designs for Alice.

Notes

SirenDrake (talk) 01:34, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and ask your question there. Again, welcome!  —Recurring dreams 10:07, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

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