On a summer afternoon in 1862, a shy Oxford mathematician named Charles Lutwidge Dodgson took a rowing trip up the Thames with a colleague and three young sisters, daughters of the dean of Christ Church College. To pass the time, he told the girls a rambling story about a bored little girl who follows a white rabbit down a hole into an absurd, upside-down world. One of the sisters, Alice Liddell, loved the story so much she begged him to write it down. Dodgson did, and a few years later, under the pen name Lewis Carroll, he published it as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
The book came out in 1865, though the very first printed copies were quickly withdrawn because the illustrator, John Tenniel, was unhappy with how his drawings reproduced. A corrected edition followed later that year, and the book became an immediate and lasting sensation. Carroll followed it in 1871 with a sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, which introduced now-famous characters like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Red Queen, and Humpty Dumpty.
Tenniel’s illustrations are inseparable from the story’s identity. A well-known political cartoonist for Punch magazine, Tenniel brought a sharp, satirical style to his 92 wood-engraved illustrations for the two books. His image of Alice, with her long hair and pinafore dress, became the template most people still picture when they think of the character, even though the blue-and-white color scheme most associate with her actually came later, through adaptations, since the original engravings were black and white.
Original John Tenniel Art Collage on a Lady’s Handbag: https://morecuteness.com/product/alice-in-wonderland-bucket-bag/
A Few Unforgettable Characters
Part of why the books have endured is the sheer strangeness and charm of the characters Alice meets along the way.
The White Rabbit is the one who starts it all, a fussy, waistcoat-wearing creature perpetually late for something, muttering and checking his pocket watch as he darts down the rabbit hole that Alice follows him into.
The Cheshire Cat is perhaps the most philosophical resident of Wonderland, a grinning, purple-striped cat who can appear and disappear at will, sometimes leaving nothing behind but his smile. He speaks in riddles and seems to find the whole of Wonderland, and Alice’s confusion in it, quietly amusing.
The Mad Hatter presides over the story’s most famous scene, the never-ending tea party, alongside the March Hare and the sleepy Dormouse. Cursed to be stuck at six o’clock forever, he’s eccentric, rude, and given to nonsensical riddles like asking why a raven is like a writing desk.
The Mad Hatter illustration on a vegan leather backpack: https://morecuteness.com/product/mad-hatter-mini-backpack/
The Caterpillar sits atop his mushroom smoking a hookah, offering Alice cryptic advice and the means to change her size, one side of the mushroom making her grow, the other making her shrink.
Original illustration of The Caterpillar smoking a hookah atop a mushroom depicted on a crossbody sling bag: https://morecuteness.com/product/alice-and-the-caterpillar-sling-bag/
The Queen of Hearts is Wonderland’s tyrant, a shrieking, short-tempered monarch obsessed with croquet and beheadings, whose favorite phrase, “Off with their head!”, has become one of the most quoted lines in English literature.
The Queen of Hearts original illustration on a lady’s handbag: https://morecuteness.com/product/alice-and-the-caterpillar-sling-bag/
Because these characters were so vividly drawn, both in prose and in Tenniel’s engravings, they invited constant reinterpretation. Arthur Rackham’s 1907 edition gave Wonderland a dreamy, gothic quality. Later illustrators like Ralph Steadman, Salvador Dalí, and Barry Moser offered wildly different takes, from anarchic and inky to surreal and painterly. Walt Disney’s 1951 animated film cemented a softer, brighter version of the story for mass audiences, and it’s largely that colorful, whimsical aesthetic that lives on in fashion and design today.
That enduring charm is why Alice and her fellow Wonderland characters still show up on everything from tea sets to handbags. If you love the aesthetic, here are a few pieces inspired by the books:
Toile de jouy of Alice in Wonderland illustrations on a lady’s handbag: https://morecuteness.com/product/alice-in-wonderland-handbag/
From a rowboat on the Thames to Tenniel’s engravings to Disney’s technicolor version and beyond, Alice’s journey down the rabbit hole has never really ended. Every generation seems to find its own way to fall in, and its own way to bring a bit of Wonderland along with them.