{down the rabbit hole}

Have you made it to see Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland? It’s always fun to see a classic story through fresh eyes. Miss Alice has had many makeovers through the years - both on film and in book illustrations. I was excited to find a wonderful archive of vintage book illustrations compiled by artist and jewelry designer Diane Plumley called ‘We’re All a Little Mad Here.’ Diane uses select images in her work (see her shop Picture Purfect Design) but has also been kind enough to share a large number of the illustrations and ephemera she’s collected on Flickr.

One of the series I particularly love depict Alice as she’s falling down the rabbit hole. Like the wardrobe, or the looking glass or the tollbooth - the rabbit hole is that magical place of transition between reality and fantasy. Following is an except from Lewis Carroll’s original text describing Alice’s decent.

“The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed to be a very deep well.

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her, and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything: then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves: here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down ajar from one of the shelves as she passed: it was labeled “ORANGE MARMALADE” but to her great disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar, for fear of killing somebody underneath, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.”



Thank you to Junior Society Report.