Artist of Wonderland

Extensively illustrated, this is an absorbing and insightful study of the life and work of John Tenniel, the Victorian political cartoonist who illustrated Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’ books.

Best known today as the illustrator of Lewis Carroll’s Alice books, John Tenniel was one of the Victorian era’s chief political cartoonists. This extensively illustrated book is the first to draw almost exclusively on primary sources in family collections, public archives, and other depositories. Frankie Morris examines Tenniel’s life and work, producing a book that is not only a definitive resource for scholars and collectors but one that can be easily enjoyed by everyone interested in Victorian life and art, social history, journalism and political cartoons, and illustrated books. In the first part of the book, Morris looks at Tenniel the man. From his sunny childhood and early enthusiasm for sports, theatre, and medievalism to his flirtation with high art and his fifty years with the London journal Punch, Tenniel is shown to have been the sociable and urbane humorist revealed in his drawings. Tenniel’s countrymen thought his work would embody for future historians the ‘trend and character’ of Victorian thought and life. Morris assesses to what extent that prediction has been fulfilled. The biography is followed by three sections on Tenniel’s work, consisting of thirteen independent essays in which the author examines Tenniel’s methods and his earlier book illustrations, the Alice pictures, and the Punch cartoons. For lovers of Alice, Morris offers six chapters on Tenniel’s work for Carroll. These reveal demonstrable links with Christmas pantomimes, Punch and Judy shows, nursery toys, magic lanterns, nineteenth-century grotesques, Gothic revivalism, and social caricatures. Morris also demonstrates how Tenniel’s cartoons depicted the key political questions of his day, from the Eastern Question to Lincoln and the American Civil War, examining their assumptions, devices, and evolving strategies. The definitive study of both the man and the work, Artist of Wonderland gives an unprecedented view of the cartoonist who mythologized the world for generations of Britons.

List of Illustrations Preface Introduction Part I: Biographical Sketch 1. Toast of the Evening, 1901 2. A Pretty Place, 1776-1840 3. "Jan," 1840-1850 4. "Jackides," 1850-1862 5. On Gen'l Punch's "Staff," 1862-1874 6. Good Sir John! 1874-1893 7. Exeunt, 1893-1901 8. Out of the "Show" Altogether, 1901-1914 9. Postscript Part II: Methods and Modes 10. Drawing on Wood 11. Before Alice Part III: Enchanting Alice 12. The Draftsman and the Don 13. Harlequin Alice 14. Alice in the Land of Toys 15. The Grotesque Alice 16. Alice and the Gothic Taste 17. Alice and Social Caricature Part IV. The Punch Cartoons 18. The Pride of Mr. Punch 19. As for Political Opinions 20. King Demos 21. Paddy and Hibernia 22. The Dis-United States Appendix: A Guide to Tenniel's Unidentified Punch Work Notes Index

• By (author) Frankie Morris

"Morris has almost certainly looked at every bit of art (extant and available) that Tenniel produced. Many of the theses advanced along the way are fresh and in some cases unprecedented. The book can claim to be the standard work on Tenniel." Richard Maxwell, Yale University, editor of The Victorian Illustrated Book "Wonderfully, Dr Frankie Morris has written a fine, true and highly readable biography of Sir John Tenniel, the great nineteenth-century cartoonist. Here for the first time, we have a splendidly serviceable analysis, well illustrated, of Tenniel's cartoons as instruments of political persuasion. Morris also offers many fresh and surprising insights into the Tenniel-Carroll relationship and the Alice illustrations." Draper Hill, author of Mr Gillray, The Caricaturist "Dr Morris does a great service to Tenniel's reputation. Her analysis of Tenniel's pictures is masterly. No-one hitherto has properly recognised the similarities between the personalities of Lewis Carroll and John Tenniel - a major element in the mutual sympathetic understanding in the subsequent partnership. Morris' book is a triumph, and bears testimony to a lifetime's study of her subject." Children's Books History Society Newsletter "There is no doubt that Morris' book offers the best and most reliable biography and account on Tenniel's working methods yet published." Lewis Carroll Review "Morris deals comprehesively with the history and politics of the times through which Tenniel lived and worked, and gives a detailed account of his life and the important circles in which he moved. This is a monumental work that will be appreciated by artists and historians alike." The Foghorn "In the new and long-awaited work by Morris, a lifetime study of Tenniel has been distilled into a comprehensive account, intelligently divided into sections dealing with the biography and the two greatest achievements. Her analysis of the Alice illustrations is of immence value and enduring fascination. This is a scholarly yet readable account of Tenniel by a critic who is steeped in her subject; it is most persuasively argued, a magisterial study that is likely to remain the standard work for many years to come." Print Quarterly Publications "Morris's book is a fine biography, beautifully illustrated with over two hundred examples of Tenniel's art. For the non academic-reader, it is a lovely coffee-table book, inviting the reader to indulge to nostalgic reminiscences of the Alice books. Academic readers find an equally delightful text, rich in primary research, fully referenced with exceptionally detailed endnotes." Popular Narrative Media
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