Abraham Lincoln & Lewis Carroll: A Curious Connection

Abraham Lincoln photographed by Alexander HesslerIn honor of President’s Day, it’s a good time to observe the curious relationshipLewis Carroll photographed by Reijlander between Abraham Lincoln and Lewis Carroll.  Although the two men never met, I would like to mention some interesting connections between these two famous figures.

The popular English dramatist, Tom Taylor, was the person who introduced Lewis Carroll to the chief cartoonist of Punch magazine, John Tenniel. Taylor contributed humorous pieces to Punch, which was an significant topical magazine popular on both sides of the Atlantic. Famous for its cartoons, Punch was the nineteenth-century equivalent of The New Yorker. As an avid theatergoer, Carroll knew Taylor from attending the opening of many of his plays. Once Carroll even wrote Taylor correcting him on some of math in his play The Ticket-of-Leave Man. Taylor warned Carroll that Alice’s Adventures Under-Ground, the title for the manuscript that Carroll both wrote and illustrated for Alice Liddell, sounded too much like a book about mining.

Tenniel's political carton depicting Lincoln in treeCarroll admired Tenniel’s drawings and asked him to illustrate hisTenniel's illustration of Cheshire Cat for Wonderland forthcoming Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Tenniel accepted the challenge; but being a busy, professional artist he recycled some of the images that he had already created for Punch magazine into his illustrations for Wonderland. The most famous example is Alice looking at the Cheshire Cat sitting in a tree. This is a reworking of Tenniel’s 1862 Punch cartoon “ ‘UP A TREE.’ Col. Bull and the Yankee ‘Coon” that features Abraham Lincoln as a raccoon. In the illustration that appears in Wonderland, Lincoln as the raccoon is transformed into the Cheshire Cat.

In the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois, there is a long hall, called The WhisperingWhispering Gallery in the Lincoln Presidential Museum Gallery, filled with a display of political cartoons criticizing Lincoln prior to his second inauguration. Some of those cartoons were featured there are by John Tenniel who frequently satirized Lincoln in Punch. (Punch actually coined the term ‘cartoon.’)

            Taylor wrote the play Our American Cousin (1858). That comic melodrama was being performed at Ford Theater when President Lincoln and his wife Mary were in the audience April 14, 1865. John Wilkes Booth, a lead actor in the theater’s production of Taylor’s play, assassinated Lincoln during that performance.

            Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was published in the same year. In 1865, Carroll also wrote American Telegrams, which was an academic satire against Dean Henry George Liddell, the father of Alice Liddell. In it, Carroll parodied telegrams produced during the U.S. Civil WarTom Taylor photographed by Lewis Carroll.

Carroll photographed Tom Taylor in London wearing an U.S. Civil War uniform.  While Lincoln was the most photographed man of his age, Carroll is considered one of the best amateur photographers, particularly of children, during the same time period. Lincoln was in front of the camera while Carroll was behind the camera.

Although the two men lived far apart from each other, the lives of Lincoln and Carroll intertwined in interesting ways.

Sources:

Cohen, Morton N. Lewis Carroll: A Biography. New York: Knopf, 1995.

Hancher, Michael. The Tenniel Illustrations to the “Alice” Books. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1985. (Ohio State Univ. Press has the entire book available online.)

Jones, Jo Elwyn and J. Francis Gladstone. The Alice Companion: A Guide to Lewis Carroll’s Alice Books. New York: New York University Press, 1998.

Mad-Hatter Tea party with Lewis Carroll's chessboard

The new Alice in Wonderland film has inspired a whirlwind of parties and events around the world.  It's great that the Alice books can stimulate so many imaginative ideas! Even though I may not be particularly keen onLewis Carroll's chessboard on exhibit at University of Illinois Tim Burton's Alice escapade, I am thrilled to see so many people get excited about the Alice books.

We were happy to be invited to a Mad-Hatter's Tea Party at the University of Illinois's Rare Book & Manuscript Library.  The Library was finishing a good exhibit of Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland materials that are housed there titled "Curioser and Curioser: The Games and Mindgames of Lewis Carroll."  The most interesting objects on exhibit were the chessboard that Lewis Carroll used and letters that Carroll wrote to a child in mirror script.

It was an astonishingly fun party for children and adults surounded by objects that Carroll either created or owned.  The party featured giant cards, a beautifully set tea table, cookies marked "Eat Me," and an A chocolate and fondant chessboard cake.amazing cake shaped liked a chessboard complete with chocolate and white chocolate chess pieces.  The Cheshire Cat told the true story of her origins.  The Mad Hatter munched on carrots and apples and was a delightful master of ceremonies.  The Caterpillar smoked a soap bubble hookah.  Children and adults were dressed up in great costumes.  It was the best Mad-Tea Party we've been to.

Two Mad Hatters ready to challenge Johnny DeppEat Me cookies for Alice and friendsPartygoers could read original Lewis Carroll's letters in mirror script.

The cute Dormouse popped out of a teapot to enjoy the festivities.

Have you thought that Alice in Wonderland is frightening?

As our household gets excited for the upcoming release of the new Alice in Wonderland film, some people weAnne Hathaway as the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland, holding the Dormouse know or read in forums are admitting that Lewis Carroll's original book was rather frightening to them.  It's hard to pinpoint what some people found frightening, but others specify the oddness of the characters, the way Alice seems to loose control, the original John Tenniel illustrations, or other illustrations or films. 

After talking to a few critics who've seen the film and after watching many of the previews, I'm beKristen Stewart brooding in Twilightginning to think that Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is going to focus on a  darker interpretation  of the book as well as heightened  conflicts.  Each generation re-interprets classics and it seems that the times are right for an Alice that's not intimidated but finds the world of Wonderland in chaos.  She's a powerful teen-age girl who's ready to fight for what's right, or what seems right anyway. This would dovetail with how Disney is marketing this Alice to tweens and teens enamored with the darkness of the vampires in the Twilight series as well as the brainy, but klutzy, teen-age girl trying to find her way in a confusing, dark world filled with unusual, surreal characters.  By the way, it's worth hanging out at your local mall's Hot Topic store just to see how this linking of Twilight and Alice comes together at the tween/teen hangout. Angst and confusion and Day-Glo stripes, cute Johnny Depp and sweet Anne Hathaway (famed modern Cinderella of Princess Diaries). While you're there, pick up a Cheshire Cat hoodie with key zipper so you can look cool.