Alice Travels Down The Rabbit-hole At The British Library
Last Updated 20 November 2015
A caterpillar smoking a hookah, a baby transforming into a pig and a white rabbit in a waistcoat. This surreal mix of characters could only exist in Lewis Carroll's massively popular and trippy novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
The British Library has put on a fantastic free display exploring the world of Alice through illustrations, books and lots of other items packed into this exhibition.
The first third of the exhibition does a helpful job of recapping some of the key scenes of the story for newbies and for people like us who read the book so long ago that we'd forgotten large parts of it.
Some highlights include a version of the book brilliantly illustrated by Salvador Dali, a sculpture of the bottom half of Alice, legs up in the air as she disappears down the rabbit-hole and even a selection of video games inspired by the novel — visitors are encouraged to pick up a gamepad and have a play.
It's great to see how differently the story of Alice has been interpreted from the cutesy Disney version to the much grittier drawings that focus on the darker side of the tale.
Alice in Wonderland is on at The British Library until 17 April 2016. Entrance is free and it's open seven days a week.