Three bottles for the 'Alice' books

Three bottles - illustrations by JVL for Lewis Carroll's Alice books

Left to right: 
Rowlands Macassar oil bottle (Looking-Glass);
Sal Volatile bottle  (Looking-Glass);
A blue bottle (Wonderland).

'Eat Me' and 'Drink Me'

'Eat Me' and 'Drink Me', two illustrations by JVL in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Artists' Choice Editions, 2009.

Here are the two relevant passages in the book 

`EAT ME' 

Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under

the table:  she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on

which the words `EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants.

`Well, I'll eat it,' said Alice, `and if it makes me grow larger,

I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep

under the door; so either way I'll get into the garden, and I

don't care which happens!'

 `DRINK ME'

There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she

went back to the table, half hoping she might find another key on

it, or at any rate a book of rules for shutting people up like

telescopes:  this time she found a little bottle on it, (`which

certainly was not here before,' said Alice,) and round the neck

of the bottle was a paper label, with the words `DRINK ME'

beautifully printed on it in large letters.

 It was all very well to say `Drink me,' but the wise little

Alice was not going to do THAT in a hurry.  `No, I'll look

first,' she said, `and see whether it's marked "poison" or not';

for she had read several nice little histories about children who

had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant

things, all because they WOULD not remember the simple rules

their friends had taught them:  such as, that a red-hot poker

will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if you cut your

finger VERY deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had

never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked

`poison,' it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or

later.

Dice

'Dice', an illustration in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Artists' Choice Editions, 2009.

The sum of two sets of six dice equals 42.

The pebble game

The pebble game, an illustration by JVL in The Pink House, Ink Parrot Press, 2002.

This represents the game in which you throw a pebble up into the sky and throw a second one immediately afterwards, hoping to hit the first one.

'The Old Man of Corfu'

'The Old Man of Corfu', an illustration by JVL in The Nonsense Verse of Edward Lear, 

Jonathan Cape, 1984 and reissued in 2012.

This drawing is a portrait of Edward Lear himself, rushing about in a bewildered state about the environs of Corfu.

Here is the poem:

There was an Old Man of Corfu,

Who never knew what he should do;

So he rushed up and down, till the sun made him brown,

That bewildered Old Man of Corfu.

Two Logo Designs

A logo design for Rosemary Sandberg Ltd, an agency for writers and illustrators.

Designed by JVL in 1991

A logo design for the Ditchling Health Centre Support Group

Designed by JVL in 1991

'The Old Man of the Coast'

'The Old Man of the Coast', an illustration by JVL in The Nonsense Verse of Edward Lear, 

Jonathan Cape, 1984.

'The Old Man of Ibreem'

'The Old Man of Ibreem', an illustration by JVL for The Nonsense Verse of Edward Lear, 

Jonathan Cape, 1984.

'The Old Person of Hove'

'The Old Person of Hove' an illustration by JVL in The Nonsense Verse of Edward Lear, 

Jonathan Cape, 1984

'When griping grief the heart would wound'

'When griping grief the heart would wound', a notebook drawing by JVL, 10 August 2013.

This drawing includes the first two verses from Richard Edwards' rather fine part-song 'When grypinge griefes'. It is an apt evocation of how music can soothe our troubled minds. The poem was partly quoted by Shakespeare in his play Romeo and Juliet (Act 4, scene 5). Edwards was born in Somerset in 1524 and died in London in 1566. On the right is a part self-portrait.

'A Maze, HCE and ALP'

'A Maze, HCE and ALP', a notebook spread drawn by JVL, 9 September 2011.

Le Lapin

'Le Lapin' a notebook spread by JVL dated 27 January 2011.

'Happenstance'

'Happenstance', a double-page spread from JVL's notebook, 12 July 2011.

The Table at Twynberllan

The Table at Twynberllan, a notebook drawing by JVL, December 2009

'Box characters'

'Box characters', drawings by JVL in a notebook dated December 1973.

'BA Association Self-validation'

'BA Association Self-validation', a notebook drawing by JVL drawn during a meeting 

of the BA Graphics Association on the 21st of May 1976.

'£$€, Ladder and Poppy heads'

'£$€, Ladder and Poppy heads' a notebook drawing by JVL, May 2012.

I have always thought that £$€ would be an appropriate acronym for the £ondon $chool of €conomics

The White Knight's Box

The White Knight's Box, an illustration by JVL in Through the Looking-glass, 

Artists' Choice Editions, 2011, page 92.

[The White Knight] was dressed in tin armour, which seemed to fit him very badly,

and he had a queer-shaped little deal box fastened across his

shoulder, upside-down, and with the lid hanging open. Alice looked

at it with great curiosity.

'I see you're admiring my little box.' the Knight said in a friendly

tone. 'It's my own invention -- to keep clothes and sandwiches in.

You see I carry it upside-down, so that the rain can't get in.'

'But the things can get OUT,' Alice gently remarked. 'Do you know

the lid's open?'

'I didn't know it,' the Knight said, a shade of vexation passing over

his face. 'Then all the things much have fallen out! And the box is

no use without them.' He unfastened it as he spoke, and was just

going to throw it into the bushes, when a sudden thought seemed to

strike him, and he hung it carefully on a tree. 'Can you guess why I

did that?' he said to Alice.

Alice shook her head.

 'In hopes some bees may make a nest in it -- then I should get the

honey.'

The train carriage from Through the Looking-Glass

The train carriage from Through the Looking-Glass, an illustration by JVL 

in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, Artists' Choice Editions, 2011.

The text:

'Tickets, please!' said the Guard, putting his head in at the window.

In a moment everybody was holding out a ticket: they were about

the same size as the people, and quite seemed to fill the carriage.

'Now then! Show your ticket, child!' the Guard went on, looking

angrily at Alice. And a great many voices all said together ('like the

chorus of a song,' thought Alice), 'Don't keep him waiting, child!

Why, his time is worth a thousand pounds a minute!'

 'I'm afraid I haven't got one,' Alice said in a frightened tone: 'there

wasn't a ticket-office where I came from.' And again the chorus of

voices went on. 'There wasn't room for one where she came from.

The land there is worth a thousand pounds an inch!'

'Don't make excuses,' said the Guard: 'you should have bought one

 from the engine-driver.' And once more the chorus of voices went

on with 'The man that drives the engine. Why, the smoke alone is

worth a thousand pounds a puff!'

Alice thought to herself, 'Then there's no use in speaking.' The

voices didn't join in this time, as she hadn't spoken, but to her great

surprise, they all THOUGHT in chorus (I hope you understand what

THINKING IN CHORUS means -- for I must confess that _I_ don't),

'Better say nothing at all. Language is worth a thousand pounds a

word!'

 'I shall dream about a thousand pounds tonight, I know I shall!'

thought Alice.

All this time the Guard was looking at her, first through a telescope,

 then through a microscope, and then through an opera- glass. At

last he said, 'You're travelling the wrong way,' and shut up the

window and went away.

'So young a child,' said the gentleman sitting opposite to her (he was

dressed in white paper), 'ought to know which way she's going,

even if she doesn't know her own name!'

A Goat, that was sitting next to the gentleman in white, shut his

eyes and said in a loud voice, 'She ought to know her way to the

ticket-office, even if she doesn't know her alphabet!'

There was a Beetle sitting next to the Goat (it was a very queer

carriage-full of passengers altogether), and, as the rule seemed to

be that they should all speak in turn, HE went on with 'She'll have

to go back from here as luggage!'

Alice couldn't see who was sitting beyond the Beetle, but a hoarse

voice spoke next. 'Change engines -- ' it said, and was obliged to

leave off.

 'It sounds like a horse,' Alice thought to herself. And an extremely

small voice, close to her ear, said, 'You might make a joke on that --

 something about "horse" and "hoarse," you know.'