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.'

'The Aged Man sitting on a Gate'

'The Aged Man sitting on a Gate', an illustration by JVL for Through the Looking-Glass 

by Lewis Carroll. Artists' Choice Editions, 2011.

The Aged Man sitting on a Gate

'I'll tell thee everything I can; 

There's little to relate.

I saw an aged aged man, 

A-sitting on a gate. 

"Who are you, aged man?" I said, 

"and how is it you live?"

And his answer trickled through my head 

Like water through a sieve.

He said "I look for butterflies 

That sleep among the wheat: 

I make them into mutton-pies, 

And sell them in the street. 

I sell them unto men," he said,

"Who sail on stormy seas; 

And that's the way I get my bread -- 

A trifle, if you please."

But I was thinking of a plan 

To dye one's whiskers green, 

And always use so large a fan 

That they could not be seen. 

So, having no reply to give 

To what the old man said, I cried, 

"Come, tell me how you live!"

And thumped him on the head.

His accents mild took up the tale: 

He said "I go my ways, 

And when I find a mountain-rill, 

I set it in ablaze; 

And thence they make a stuff they call

Rolands' Macassar Oil -- 

Yet twopence-halfpenny is all

They give me for my toil."

But I was thinking of a way 

To feed oneself on batter, 

And so go on from day to day 

Getting alittle fatter. 

I shook him well from side to side,

Until his face was blue: 

"Come, tell me how you live," I cried,

"And what it is you do!"

 He said "I hunt for haddocks' eyes 

Among the heather bright, 

And work them into waistcoat-buttons

In the silent night. 

And these I do not sell for gold

Or coin of silvery shine 

But for a copper halfpenny,

And that will purchase nine.

"I sometimes dig for buttered rolls, 

Or set limed twigs for crabs; 

I sometimes search the grassy knolls

For wheels of Hansom-cabs. 

And that's the way" (he gave a wink) 

"By which I get my wealth -- 

And very gladly will I drink 

Your Honour's noble health."

I heard him then, for I had just 

Completed my design 

To keep the Menai bridge from rust 

By boiling it in wine. 

I thanked much for telling me

The way he got his wealth, 

But chiefly for his wish that he

Might drink my noble health.

And now, if e'er by chance I put 

My fingers into glue  

Or madly squeeze a right-hand foot 

Into a left-hand shoe, 

Or if I drop upon my toe 

A very heavy weight, 

I weep, for it reminds me so, 

Of that old man I used to know --

Whose look was mild, whose speech was slow, 

Whose hair was whiter than the snow, 

Whose face was very like a crow, 

With eyes, like cinders, all aglow, 

Who seemed distracted with his woe,

Who rocked his body to and fro,

And muttered mumblingly and low, 

As if his mouth were full of dough, 

Who snorted like a buffalo -- 

That summer evening, long ago, 

A-sitting on a gate.' 

'The Goose that laid the Golden Eggs'

'The Goose that laid the Golden Eggs', an illustration by JVL in Aesop's Fables, Jonathan Cape, 1989.

This is a fable by Babrius  showing that grasping people often destroy the very thing that is of benefit to them.

The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs

A CERTAIN man had the good fortune to possess a goose that laid a golden egg every day. Dissatisfied with one egg a day, and thinking to obtain the whole treasure at once, he killed the goose, and, cutting her open, found her - just what any other goose would be!

Text: John Coker edition (p112, 1927).

Selected parallels: Babrius 123. Avianus 33. Caxton, (Avianus 24).  La Fontaine 5/13. L’Estrange 1/247. Chambry 287. Perry 87. Daly 87. TMI D876.

'The Magpie; Pica Pica'

'The Magpie; Pica Pica', a drawing by JVL done on a computer 10 March 1987. 

The only one I have drawn on a computer and it doesn't look very much like a magpie!

'The Squirrel and the Crow'

'The Squirrel and the Crow' an illustration by JVL of a poem by Wendy Cope, 

for one of the 'Prospero Poets' series for Clarion Press, 1994.

The Rising Cadence of the Interrogative and Fingers

The Rising Cadence of the Interrogative and Fingers,  a notebook drawing by JVL, November 2008.

'Yellow'

'Yellow', a double-page spread from JVL's notebook, July 2004.

It is a nonsense essay upon the colour yellow, referring to daffodils.

'Caps and Rabbits'

'Caps and Rabbits', a drawing by JVL, 1976.

The top left shows JVL as a cuckoo clock.

'HCE and Shem the Penman' A notebook drawing by JVL, 1 July 2011.

I have been using these Alwych notebooks since 1968, I see that I bought this notebook in 1980, costing £1.15. Today they cost £6.20. I have bought enough to last the rest of my life unless I live to 100! I couldn't do without them!

Lord's Café Glossop

Lord's Café Glossop, a drawing by JVL, a corner of his father's café, in a student sketchbook of 1958

Today, the 27th of July, is my father's birthday, born in 1904 and died in 1972.

'Sam's cactus and Venus fly-trap'

'Sam's cactus and Venus fly-trap', a notebook drawing by JVL, 3 November 2012.

'The Owl and the Pussy-cat with pig'

'The Owl and the Pussy-cat with pig', an illustration by JVL for The Nonsense Verse of Edward Lear, Jonathan Cape, 1984.

And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood

With a ring at the end of his nose,

His nose,

His nose,

With a ring at the end of his nose.

'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling

Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will'.

Elephant insects

Elephant insects, an illustration by JVL from Lewis Carroll's  Through the Looking-Glass, 

Artists' Choice Editions, 2011.

Looking-Glass Insects

Of course the first thing to do was to make a grand survey of the

country she was going to travel through. 'It's something very like

learning geography,' thought Alice, as she stood on tiptoe in hopes

of being able to see a little further. 'Principal rivers -- there ARE

none. Principal mountains -- I'm on the only one, but I don't think

it's got any name. Principal towns -- why, what ARE those

creatures, making honey down there? They can't be bees -- nobody

ever saw bees a mile off, you know -- ' and for some time she stood

silent, watching one of them that was bustling about among the

flowers, poking its proboscis into them, 'just as if it was a regular

bee,' thought Alice.

     However, this was anything but a regular bee: in fact it was an

elephant -- as Alice soon found out, though the idea quite took her

breath away at first. 'And what enormous flowers they must be!'

was her next idea. 'Something like cottages with the roofs taken off,

and stalks put to them -- and what quantities of honey they must

make! I think I'll go down and -- no, I won't JUST yet, ' 

The Duodenum and Pancreas

The Duodenum and Pancreas, a drawing by JVL done as a student at Salford Art College in 1959.

It is based on an engraving found in a book of anatomy but I wouldn't vouch for its accuracy!

The Ass Eating Thistles

'The Ass Eating Thistles', an illustration by JVL in Aesop's Fables, Jonathan Cape, 1989, page 64.

Here is the fable, as told by Charles Draper in 1760.

The Ass Eating Thistles

AN Ass, loaded with provisions, meeting with some Thistles, began to devour them with much greediness. In the midst of his coarse repast he said thus: The provisions I carry cannot seem more exquisite to delicate palates, or more agreeable to their appetite, than this harsh thistle is to me.

Moral: One person’s meat is another person’s poison.

Text: Charles Draper (116, 1760).

Selected parallels: Babrius 133. Chambry 280. Perry 360.