A note from the blogger: first, the title. Rather than continuing to add initial synonyms or repetitive phrases for “more,” I’ve decided to simply number them. Four similar posts have come before (links below), so this is V. I would also like to say something about my criteria for selection: it being an “outlier” is by far the most important. There are many editions out there with “cutesy,” colorful pictures aimed at children that are tiresome to collectors; these posts are about the edgy, unusual, different. I prefer that they be of recent vintage, but that’s not an absolute. I must have a physical copy to examine. Accessibility is desirable, but not a deal breaker. This time, there’s a bonus tenth one, as we showed Adriana Peliano’s Wonderland last time, but wanted the world to know there’s also a Looking-Glass now.
Les Aventures d’Alice au Pays des Merveilles (AW) comes in a bilingual French & English edition with wildly idiosyncratic images by Sandrine Domaine (L’Oxalide, 2014, ISBN 978-2-916881-98-0). Easy to find, wonderful imagery: what’s not to like?
Алиса в Стране Чудес и Зазеркалье (AW/LG) in Russian (Niburt, 2017, ISBN 978-5-716406-48-3) is illustrated in a truly playful and funny way by Dmitry Trubin. Available from the artist.
Attraverso lo Specchio (LG) in Italian (Nuages, 2004, ISBN 88-86178-32-8) features the sumptuous, spectacular engravings of Leonardo Cemak.
Алиса в Стране Чудес (AW in the Nabokov Russian translation, Moscow Textbooks, 2008, ISBN 978-5-89577-129-7) with Anna Yudina’s supremely evocative art was released to schools and libraries but not to bookstores, and is well worth hunting down. She also created the visual layout, fonts, typography, and decorations, earning an IBBY award for illustration in 2010.
不思議の国のアリス と 鏡の国のアリス (AW/LG) in a box set (Aki Shobo, 2015, ISBN 978-4-7505-1428-4) features the hilarious cartoon-y drawings of Maki Sasaki, one of Japan’s premier illustrators, picture book writers, and manga artists. Also available as individual volumes from Amazon.jp.
While randomly perusing my Russian library, I came across Приключения Алисы в Стране Чудес и Алиса в Зазеркалье (AW/LG, Middle-Uralysk, 1987, no ISBN) with the spectacularly innovative and intricate drawings by N. V. Tikhonova. Truly stunning!
Giovani Giannini’s twenty-one full-page, highly detailed drypoint engravings for a signed and numbered fine-press edition of Les Aventures d’Alice au Pays des Merveilles (AW in French, Michel de L’Ormeraie, 1976, no ISBN) are slyly humorous, quite unusual, eccentric, and splendidly rendered.
不思議の国のアリス ビジュアルファンBOOK (AW: Visual Fan Book, Mynavi, 2015, ISBN 978-4-8399-5513-7 contains the text of AW in both Japanese and English, many notes and essays in Japanese, and illustrations by thirty-two different popular artists, all of whom incorporate photographs of the pretty model Midori Fukusawa in their work. Available on Amazon.
Загадочный Гость (Mysterious Guest, Nigma, 2020, ISBN 978-5-4335-0762-3) is a collection of Carroll’s poetry, both Alice and otherwise, translated into Russian. Evgeny Antonenkov’s charmingly witty illustrations are enough reason to have this book. Obtainable through Ruslania.
Adriana Peliano’s “reimagining,” a delightful, nearly wordless, romp through Wonderland, was in our last post. She is a brilliant AI artist, and the journey is light and lovely, symbolic and surreal. Now her companion LG is available: You can get a signed hardcover (English or Portuguese) for US$30 by emailing her. A Kindle edition is forthcoming.
Astonishing Illustrators IV
Astonishing Illustrators III
Astonishing Illustrators II
Astonishing Illustrators I