Lewis Carroll & his Illustrators: Collaborations & Correspondence 1865-1898. - Hardcover

Wakeling, Edward; N Cohen, Morton

9780333783078: Lewis Carroll & his Illustrators: Collaborations & Correspondence 1865-1898.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0333783077 ISBN 13: 9780333783078

Publisher: Macmillan, 2003

Over the course of his literary career, Lewis Carroll communicated endlessly with the people he commissioned to provide the picture plates for his books. These were relationships that were fraught with tensions, overwhelmed by Carroll's perfectionism and maintained by a mutual respect. These letters give a fascinating insight into the way these much loved books came to look to the way they did. Fastidious in his approach, Carroll would redraw the illustrator's sketches, often several times, and would not stand for anything he considered to be below the best. Sometimes this would mean pulping entire print runs of books simply for the plates being `Far too bright.' However, Carroll was not single-minded in his approach, these letters unearth the uneasy collaborations he had with artists such as Tenniel, who would force him to change his mind, sometimes even altering the text as a consequence. This is a book for anyone who has loved the Alice books, as well as an intriguing glimpse behind some of the most endearing of artistic collaborations.

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Review:

And about time too, for this is the first publication of the letters of one of the most famous and influential writers in modern literary history. In the age of Harry Potter, the Alice books are still the children's stories with the widest audience and the deepest appeal, and there is an immense public appetite for information about their author. But Lewis Carroll did not live a particularly adventurous life. The adventure is in the stories, and to some extent in this correspondence, much of it with printers, publishers and illustrators. A book for anyone at all interested in how the Alice books came to be not just imagined and written, but finally produced as bound and illustrated printed pages.

Synopsis:

Over the course of his literary career, Lewis Carroll communicated endlessly with the people he commissioned to provide the picture plates for his books. These were relationships that were fraught with tensions, overwhelmed by Carroll's perfectionism and maintained by a mutual respect. These letters give an insight into the way these books came to look the way they did. Fastidious in his approach, Carroll would redraw the illustrator's sketches, often several times and would not stand for anything he considered to be below the best. Sometimes this would run to pulping entire print runs of books simply for the plates being "far too bright". This is not to say that Carroll was single-minded in his approach, these letters unearth the uneasy collaborations he had with artists such as Tenniel, who would force him to change his mind, sometimes even altering the text as a consequence. This is a book for anyone who has loved the Alice books.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.