The White Rabbit's House

The White Rabbit's House, an illustration by JVL in 

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

The Dodo presents Alice with her own thimble

The Dodo presents Alice with her own thimble, an illustration by JVL in 

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

The text:

However, when they had been running half an hour or so, and were

quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out 'The race is over!' and

they all crowded round it, panting, and asking, 'But who has won?'

This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of

thought, and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its

forehead (the position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the

pictures of him), while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo

said, 'EVERYBODY has won, and all must have prizes.'

'But who is to give the prizes?' quite a chorus of voices asked.

'Why, SHE, of course,' said the Dodo, pointing to Alice with one

finger; and the whole party at once crowded round her, calling out

 in a confused way, 'Prizes! Prizes!'

Alice had no idea what to do, and in despair she put her hand in her

pocket, and pulled out a box of comfits, (luckily the salt water had

not got into it), and handed them round as prizes. There was exactly

one a-piece all round.

'But she must have a prize herself, you know,' said the Mouse.

'Of course,' the Dodo replied very gravely. 'What else have you got

in your pocket?' he went on, turning to Alice.

'Only a thimble,' said Alice sadly.

'Hand it over here,' said the Dodo.

Then they all crowded round her once more, while the Dodo

solemnly presented the thimble, saying 'We beg your acceptance of

this elegant thimble'; and, when it had finished this short speech,

they all cheered.

Alice thought the whole thing very absurd, but they all looked so

grave that she did not dare to laugh; and, as she could not think of

anything to say, she simply bowed, and took the thimble, looking as

solemn as she could.

5

The mouse giving a dry speech

The mouse giving a dry speech, an illustration by John Vernon Lord in Lewis Carroll's 

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

The text:

At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority among

them, called out, 'Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I'LL soon

make you dry enough!' They all sat down at once, in a large ring,

with the Mouse in the middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed

on it, for she felt sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get

dry very soon.

 'Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important air, 'are you all ready?

This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please!

 "William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope,

was soon submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had

been of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin

and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria -- "'

The mouse swimming in Alice's 'Pool of Tears'

The mouse swimming in Alice's 'Pool of Tears', an illustration by JVL in 

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

A double page spread of Finnegans Wake

A double page spread of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake showing an illustration by John Vernon Lord of 'The Ondt and the Gracehoper', published by The Folio Society, 2014.

Finnegans Wake binding cover design

Binding cover design by JVL for James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, The Folio Society, 2014.

Here is a link to the Folio Society’s Blog about my notebooks and illustrations for 

Finnegans Wake.

http://www.foliosociety.com/blog/illustrating-finnegans-wake/

Initial letters

Initial letters, designed by John Vernon Lord for Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Artists' Choice Editiions, 2009

Daisies on a bank

Daisies on a bank, a frontispiece illustration by John Vernon Lord in 

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

This illustration acts as a frontispiece in my version of Lewis Carroll's story. I took a photograph in our garden to represent a kind of 'reality' before Alice succumbs to sleep and to dream upon a bank full of daisies. 

The text:

CHAPTER I

Down the Rabbit-Hole

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the

bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped

into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or

conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice

'without pictures or conversation?'

 So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for

the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the

pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of

getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit

with pink eyes ran close by her.

The caterpillar from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The caterpillar from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll, 

an illustration by John Vernon Lord in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Artists' Choice Editions, 2009

Self-portrait (aged 22)

Self-portrait (aged 22), a drawing by JVL in a diary, June 1961.

The Table of Twynberllan

The Table of Twynberllan, a notebook drawing by JVL, 24/25 December 2009.

'Love it, use it, or chuck it'/Tracebridge Condiments

'Love it, use it, or chuck it'/Tracebridge Condiments, notebook drawings by JVL, 13 August 2012

'Yawn's Inquest' (notes for Finnegans Wake)

'Yawn's Inquest' notes and a rough drawing from JVL's Finnegans Wake notebook, March 2013.

These are rough notes in preparation for illustrating this section of Finnegans Wake, which has just published with JVL's illustrations by The Folio Society in 2014.

Finnegans Wake notebook (Cad with a pipe)

A spread from JVL's notebook devoted to James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, 2012. 

This spread includes some of the notes for the episode of the Cad with a pipe.

Yesterday the Folio Society had its launch of its Spring books at the British Library.

Among the books is a new edition of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake edited by Danis Rose and John O'Hanlon with my illustrations in it. If anyone is interested in having a look at the Folio Society’s blog about my illustrations and notebooks - here is the link

http://www.foliosociety.com/blog/illustrating-finnegans-wake

Birds and a mouse swimming

Birds and a mouse swimming, an illustration by John Vernon Lord in Lewis Carroll's 

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

The Text:

It was high time to go, for the pool was getting quite crowded with

the birds and animals that had fallen into it: there were a Duck and

a Dodo, a Lory and an Eaglet, and several other curious creatures.