“Through the Looking Glass” is Lewis Carroll’s sequel to “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and was written six years later, in 1871. Several aspects of the storyline are based on similar themes. Where the first story used playing cards to represent numerous characters, the second uses chess pieces. Even Alice herself is said to be a pawn who must, as in a real game of chess, reach the eighth square in order to become a queen, while the land through which she travels resembles a giant, real life chessboard, where the squares are lush countryside neatly divided by brooks.
Though not quite as famous as Wonderland, the story is significantly longer and has also been adapted many times for film, television and the theatre. Tim Burton’s recent film, “Alice in Wonderland”, is based largely on the first book but includes characters and elements of plot from both.
The English illustrator, Sir John Tenniel brought Alice to life further by providing a series of captivating drawings. These were subsequently engraved onto blocks of wood for printing and copying. The process is known as “woodcut” and required great skill.
The engravers had to make sure that the wood which was cut away from the block exactly matched the blank or white parts of the original drawing and that what remained on the block’s surface, matched the drawing itself.
