The Stamp Art Lewis Carroll 150th Anniversary ‘First Alice Issue’. Presents an infomative and educational showcase of Llechwedd Slate Caverns Alice and the White Rabbit postage stamp issue, linking Lewis Carroll with his love of stamps and the railway and mark one of the most famous and loved children’s stories. The showcase of Stamp Art is unique in their display of story telling, presented in Artwork Layouts with a number of ‘Limited Edition’ Fine Artwork prints available for sale in the Stamp Art Gallery Shop.
“All in the golden afternoon…”
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was published in 1865. It was inspired when, three years earlier on 4 July, Lewis Carroll and the Reverend Robinson Duckworth rowed up the River Isis in a boat with three young girls. This day was known as the “golden afternoon”, prefaced in the novel as a poem. The poem might be a confusion or even another Alice-tale, for it turns out that particular day was cool, cloudy and rainy. The three girls would be the daughters of scholar Henry Liddell: Lorina Charlotte Liddell (aged 13; “Prima” in the book’s prefatory verse); Alice Pleasance Liddell (aged 10; “Secunda” in the verse); and Edith Mary Liddell (aged 8; “Tertia” in the verse).
The journey began at Folly Bridge, Oxford and ended five miles (8 km) away in the Oxfordshire village of Godstow. During the trip Dodgson told the girls a story that featured a bored little girl named Alice who goes looking for an adventure. The girls loved it, and Alice Liddell asked Dodgson to write it down for her.
All in the golden afternoon
Full leisurely we glide;
For both our oars, with little skill,
By little arms are plied,
While little hands make vain pretence
Our wanderings to guide.
Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour,
Beneath such dreamy weather,
To beg a tale of breath too weak
To stir the tiniest feather!
Yet what can one poor voice avail
Against three tongues together?
Imperious Prima flashes forth
Her edict “to begin it”—
In gentler tones Secunda hopes
“There will be nonsense in it!”—
While Tertia interrupts the tale
Not more than once a minute.
Lewis Carroll is connected with the philatelic world in a number of ways. This page gives some details of Carroll’s connections with the postal service, listing all the postage stamps with a Carroll connection that members of the LCS have been able to locate and some other post-related matters.
In 1891, Carroll discovered that the rules for commissions chargeable on overdue postal orders, as defined in the Post Office Guide were ambiguous. He published a questionnaire in an attempt to solicit various opinions on the meaning of the rules. A supplement was produced in the same year.
LLECHWEDD SLATE CAVERNS
11 July 1979 – First Alice issue – A stamp with a value of 5 pence was designed by Ivor Wynne Jones for this North Wales organisation. The design, after Tenniel, shows Alice watching the White Rabbit disappearing into a black mine shaft. There are two versions of this stamp, one in English and one in Welsh. There are ten stamps in each language on each sheet, making a total of twenty stamps per sheet. Alice and the White Rabbit are drawn in black and the inscriptions are in purple. A date in the sheet margins reads 18 July 1979, which was the intended date of issue.
22 August 1979 – The same sheet as described above was reissued a month later but with the inscriptions in blue. The date on the margins however remains as 18 July 1979.
25 May 1982 – 150th Anniversary of the birth of Lewis Carroll – A second design by Ivor Wynne Jones, again after Tenniel, shows the scene in the train with the ticket collector looking at Alice through the window with binoculars. The sheets are in the same format as the above issues, twenty to a sheet, half in English and half in Welsh. The drawings are in black and the inscriptions are in purple.
A rare and intriguing stamp artwork celebrating 150 year of Lewis Carroll and his interest in the philatelic world. The Lewis Carrol 150 and Alice & The White rabbit, including both issues of the stamps, are very rare to exhibit in sheet format and both Alice and the Rabbit issues. They mark one of the most famous and loved children’s stories, linking Lewis Carroll with his love of stamps and the railway.
GB LLECHWEDD SLATE CAVERNS RAILWAY stamps. Presented as the original sheets of issue, in ‘Fine Mint’ condition, with printers colours and numbering LSCR-12 and LSCR13, H 00417 ‘Lewis Carroll 150’, Very Rare, and Desirable.
Lewis Carroll 150
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (commonly Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 English children’s tale by Lewis Carroll (a pseudonym of Charles Dodgson). A young girl named Alice falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatures. It is seen as a prime example of the literary nonsense genre.Its play with logic gives the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children.
GB LLECHWEDD SLATE CAVERNS RAILWAY stamps. Presented as Stamp Pairs, in ‘Fine Mint’ condition, one pair with guttering ‘Alice & The White Rabbit’, Very Rare, and Desirable.
Alice & the White Rabbit
The White Rabbit is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” Alice follows him down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Alice encounters him again when he mistakes her for his housemaid Mary Ann and she becomes trapped in his house after growing too large. The Rabbit shows up again in the last few chapters, as a herald-like servant of the King and Queens of Hearts.
GB LLECHWEDD SLATE CAVERNS RAILWAY stamps. Presented as the original sheets of issue, in ‘Fine Mint’ condition, with printers colours and numbering LSCR-12 and LSCR13, H 00384 ‘Lewis Carroll 1832 – 1898’, Very Rare, and Desirable.
Lewis Carroll 1832 – 1898
In his article “Alice on the Stage”, Carroll wrote, “And the White Rabbit, what of him? Was he framed on the ‘Alice’ lines, or meant as a contrast? As a contrast, distinctly. For her ‘youth’, ‘audacity’, ‘vigour’, and ‘swift directness of purpose’, read ‘elderly’, ‘timid’, ‘feeble’, and ‘nervously shilly-shallying’, and you will get something of what I meant him to be. I think the White Rabbit should wear spectacles. I’m sure his voice should quaver, and his knees quiver and his whole air suggest a total inability to say ‘Boo’ to a goose!
Overall, the White Rabbit seems to shift back and forth between pompous behaviour toward his underlings, such as his servants, and grovelling, obsequious behaviour toward his superiors, such as the Duchess, and the King and Queen of Hearts, in direct contrast to Alice, who is reasonably polite to everyone she meets.
Conclusion
“All in the golden afternoon” is the preface poem in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The introductory poem recalls the afternoon that he improvised the story about Alice in Wonderland while on a boat trip from Oxford to Godstow, for the benefit of the three Liddell sisters: Lorina Charlotte (the flashing “Prima”), Alice Pleasance (the hoping “Secunda”), and Edith Mary (the interrupting “Tertia”). Alice gave her name to Carroll’s main character.
The style of Carroll’s poems, including “All in the Golden Afternoon,” were considered to emulate a more traditional and, as some considered even in his own time, outdated form of poetry. Readers at this time would have been looking for poetry full of wit, irony, and the expression of conflict, but in accordance with the poets that he most admired, such as Tennyson and the Rossettis, Carroll’s poetry embodied the principles of beauty and wisdom. This poem in particular contains many of the standard themes of this older, romantic form of poetry—including a dreamy, picturesque landscape and a presupposed listener.
Private commission for exhibition’s and corporate display, in large format artworks with accompanying messaging are available by request. Please contact info@stampartist.co.uk. for more information.
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