JOHN TENNIEL · ILLUSTRATION REFERENCE
The Gryphon
The Gryphon rests with its wings folded, before the Mock Turtle’s story.
Black Iris print edition · $325
Pre-order · Estimated release December 2026; timing is tentative.
THE ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATOR · 1820–1914
John Tenniel
The line that gave Wonderland its face.
Reproduced in The History of Punch (1895). Wikimedia Commons ↗
THE ARTISTA world
A world
in a line.
John Tenniel (1820–1914) was a British illustrator and political cartoonist. His long career at Punch helped shape Victorian visual culture, but his illustrations for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass gave him a lasting place in readers’ imaginations. His expressive figures bring theatrical poise to the most improbable situations. Knighted in 1893, he remained closely associated with the precision and character of his line.
Alice, the White Rabbit, and the peculiar company of Wonderland remain inseparable from his exacting line and expressive characters.
Read the V&A biography ↗Wonderland, on paper.
Six of Tenniel’s illustrations are being returned to paper by Black Iris Art Gallery using genuine early-20th-century printing plates. These are later production artifacts, not Tenniel’s original drawings or the original 1865 woodblocks.
JOHN TENNIEL · ILLUSTRATION REFERENCE
Alice and the Tiny Door
An impossible little doorway, and the promise of another world.
Black Iris print edition · $500
Pre-order · Estimated release December 2026; timing is tentative.
JOHN TENNIEL · ILLUSTRATION REFERENCE
The White Rabbit Running Late
An anxious White Rabbit sets a remarkable adventure in motion.
Black Iris print edition · $550
Pre-order · Estimated release December 2026; timing is tentative.
JOHN TENNIEL · ILLUSTRATION REFERENCE
The Mouse’s Tale
Alice and the assembled creatures listen to the Mouse after the Caucus Race.
Black Iris print edition · $325
Pre-order · Estimated release December 2026; timing is tentative.
JOHN TENNIEL · ILLUSTRATION REFERENCE
The Mad Tea Party
The Hatter and March Hare put the sleepy Dormouse into a teapot.
Black Iris print edition · $550
Pre-order · Estimated release December 2026; timing is tentative.
JOHN TENNIEL · ILLUSTRATION REFERENCE
Father William
Father William turns a somersault at the doorway, to his son’s astonishment.
Black Iris print edition · $275
Pre-order · Estimated release December 2026; timing is tentative.
Original illustration references are shown here. Photographs of the new finished impressions are forthcoming.
From story
to impression.
A story on the river
Carroll’s diary records the boat trip of 4 July 1862, when he told a story to Alice, Edith, and Lorina Liddell. That story became Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, the handwritten beginning of Wonderland.
British Library · Carroll’s diary ↗The illustrator enters
Carroll first illustrated his own manuscript. For publication he turned to John Tenniel, whose theatrical characters and precise drawing had made him a celebrated contributor to Punch. Their collaboration gave the story its enduring visual identity.
Victoria and Albert Museum ↗An impression worth getting right
The first edition was withdrawn after Tenniel objected to the quality of the printing. Even at Wonderland’s beginning, how an illustration reached the paper mattered.
Bodleian Libraries ↗Many hands behind the line
Tenniel’s drawings were translated into wood engravings by the Dalziel Brothers. Metal copies of the engraved blocks let publishers print the illustrations. Drawing, engraving, and printing were distinct crafts working together.
The Met · Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ↗