06 August 2008
Goodies in the British Library.
I was in the British Library this afternoon. Their shop seems to have more and more gifts and fewer and fewer books! Mind you, these books are great, and often quite unusual.
The BL owns "Alice's Adventures Underground", and the shop stocks some interesting CDs, including the CD-ROM "Alice's Adventures: Turning the Pages", which helps you to feel as if you're really reading the book (ISBN:712305254).
Prominently displayed was the "Annotated International Bibliography of Sylvie and Bruno" (ISBN:978 0 7123 5006 8) which I hadn't seen before. It is a rather splendid looking book so I examined it and see that it lists all known editions of the "Sylvie and Bruno" books, with excerpts, anthologies, critical articles and studies and parodies. There's also a long essay by Anne Clark Amor, and a complete list of the recipients of Carroll's presentation of both books, compiled by Edward Wakeling. The authors are Clare Imholz and Byron Sewell, and with that line up I am sure the scholarship is impeccable.
For me the most eye catching and appealing bit of Carrollania in the whole shop was Robert Sabuda's pop-up "Alice in Wonderland". For those who have not seen this pop-up genius's work, his site is worth a peep.
The book's first spread contains a pop up of a leafy tree in which the Cheshire Cat is hidden, and Alice is leaving her sister and racing off after the White Rabbit. There's a small "book" also built in to the scene with a flap across it which says "Open Me". After opening the flap, you see "Pull me up and look inside." You pull the section out and it concertinas up to several inches high. There's a peephole in the top and when you look in, you see Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole, which is lined with books. Another section on this spread opens out to show some of the story text, and has pop up "eat me" and "drink me" cake and bottle, plus an animated Alice, swimming in the pool of tears. That's just the first page spread - there's lots more. It's a positively magical book - or I think so, anyway. Sabuda has also done a cool "Wizard of Oz"!
The BL owns "Alice's Adventures Underground", and the shop stocks some interesting CDs, including the CD-ROM "Alice's Adventures: Turning the Pages", which helps you to feel as if you're really reading the book (ISBN:712305254).
Prominently displayed was the "Annotated International Bibliography of Sylvie and Bruno" (ISBN:978 0 7123 5006 8) which I hadn't seen before. It is a rather splendid looking book so I examined it and see that it lists all known editions of the "Sylvie and Bruno" books, with excerpts, anthologies, critical articles and studies and parodies. There's also a long essay by Anne Clark Amor, and a complete list of the recipients of Carroll's presentation of both books, compiled by Edward Wakeling. The authors are Clare Imholz and Byron Sewell, and with that line up I am sure the scholarship is impeccable.
For me the most eye catching and appealing bit of Carrollania in the whole shop was Robert Sabuda's pop-up "Alice in Wonderland". For those who have not seen this pop-up genius's work, his site is worth a peep.
The book's first spread contains a pop up of a leafy tree in which the Cheshire Cat is hidden, and Alice is leaving her sister and racing off after the White Rabbit. There's a small "book" also built in to the scene with a flap across it which says "Open Me". After opening the flap, you see "Pull me up and look inside." You pull the section out and it concertinas up to several inches high. There's a peephole in the top and when you look in, you see Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole, which is lined with books. Another section on this spread opens out to show some of the story text, and has pop up "eat me" and "drink me" cake and bottle, plus an animated Alice, swimming in the pool of tears. That's just the first page spread - there's lots more. It's a positively magical book - or I think so, anyway. Sabuda has also done a cool "Wizard of Oz"!
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