Carroll's classic stories reunited with Peake's celebrated illustrations, restored for the first time to their original glory.
In the 1940s, Gormenghast trilogy author Mervyn Peake was commissioned to produce a series of seventy pen-and-ink drawings to accompany Lewis Carroll's two classics,
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
and
Through the Looking-Glass
. Previously admired for his illustrations of
Treasure Island
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
, Peake set to work, producing such luminous, eccentric images that Graham Greene would later refer to him as 'the first artist since Tenniel to recast Alice in a contemporary mould.'
In these editions, Peake's marvelous illustrations, many of them originally drawn on poor quality wartime paper, have been meticulously reproduced as they were meant to be seen. Thanks to a combination of old-fashioned craft and cutting-edge computer technology, the delightful images shine for the first time in over two decades alongside Carroll's fantastically eccentric text. With introductions by modern literary masters Will Self and Zadie Smith, these beautifully designed and printed books are the perfect gift for adults and children alike.
Author Biography: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-98), a.k.a. Lewis Carroll, was a lecturer in Mathematics at Oxford University when he wrote
Alice in Wonderland
(1865) and
(1871).
Mervyn Peake (1911-68) was an artist and writer. His illustration credits include
,
, and the Brothers Grimm's
Household Tales
. As a novelist, he is best known for his Gormenghast trilogy.