Cotsen Children’s Library

Frontispiece (signed by Dalziel) and title page (protective tissue not shown). Alice’s adventures in Wonderland. London: Macmillan and Co., 1877. (Cotsen 30998)

One of Cotsen’s numerous editions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has an especially attractive feature. Our copy of an 1877 reprint (London: Macmillan and Co.) of the 1866 first edition contains a particularly attractive fore-edge painting:

When this gilded fore-edge is fanned in a downward direction, a painting is revealed:

Contemporary bookbinders, publishers, and printers, Maclaren & Macniven’s (Edinburgh) binder’s stamp can still be made out on the front free endpaper verso. Since we know they are responsible for the excellent ruled and gilt-stamped red morocco binding, gilt-tooled dentelles and marbled endpapers, it’s reasonable to assume that they are responsible for the fore-edge painting as well; especially because gilt is typically applied to edges after such a treatment in order to protect and conceal it.

Though not exactly alike (and obviously in color), the painting resembles Tenniel’s original illustration found on page 97:

Vignette, page 97

Though fore-edge marking and devices have been found in manuscripts as early as the 10th Century, disappearing fore-edge paintings (like the one above) seem to have been developed some time in the mid 17th Century. Most surviving examples are English and were produced in the late 19th Century. Exceedingly rare, this is Cotsen’s only example in the collection.

If you want even more Alice (and who doesn’t?) join us in celebrating the 150th anniversary of the first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with our newest exhibition curated by our Rare Books Cataloger, Jeff Barton:

Meg Rosoff, Wild Boars Cook! Illustrated by Sophie Blackall. New York: Henry Holt, 2008. (Cotsen Q-001929)

Today we pay tribute to those artists who elevate calories from salt, fat, refined white sugar, bleached flour, and preservatives to the empyrean. The post does not recommend the consumption of over processed food full of empty calories (also known as “cheat food”), nor will it show children eating disgusting quantities of unhealthy things out of the box with their fingers. There will be, however, graphic depictions of artworks whose raw materials are candy, snack food, and their packaging– plus some picture books in which they figure prominently. If you have high nutritional principles or no will power whatsoever, do not read any farther.

Why wouldn’t sugar be a powerful source of inspiration for artists? It is packed with cultural significance, it can be molded and spun, and it takes color beautifully.

A candy wrapper collage by Laura Benjamin.

As much as we admire how visual artists have exploited the tactile and sculptural qualities of junk food, it is the picture book illustrators who have realized its narrative potential. When the hero’s father is laid off in Richard Egielski’s Jazper, he takes a three-week job house-sitting for five evil moths. In the evenings, he passes the lonely hours reading magic books in the library.

Richard Egielski, Jazper, p. 14. New York: Laura Geringer Books, 1998. (Cotsen Q-001945)

By the time the moths come home, Jazper has mastered the art of transformation and decides to hit the boards to supplement the family income. When the moths read the great newspaper write-up of the Amazing Jazper’s act, in which he changes into anything from a pickle to a cheese doodle, they vow to take revenge for having allowed him access to the library.

Jazper the stupendous cheese doodle. Richard Egielski, Jazper (1998), p. 17. (Cotsen Q-001945)

Or there’s Dennis Nolan’s Hunters of the Great Forest. The reader has no idea what they might be seeking when they set out one warm night over the mountains and through the forest, braving dragonflies, toads, blue jays and irascible chipmunks.

It’s in the lower right hand corner. Dennis Nolan, Hunters of the Great Forest, p. 32. New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2014. (Cotsen Q-001906)

It takes all their strength and cunning to bring the prize home to the village.

Dennis Nolan, Hunters of the Great Forest (2014), p. 34. (Cotsen Q-001906)

Toasted on sticks in front of a roaring fire, one marshmallow is enough to sustain the entire Lilliputian community.

Dennis Nolan, Hunters of the Great Forest (2014), p. 37. (Cotsen Q-001906)

It’s space aliens against a cat in David Wiesner’s Mr. Wuffles!

This doesn’t look good for our space travelers. David Wiesner, Mr. Wuffles!, p. 8. New York: Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. (Cotsen Q-001903)

There’s no choice except to abandon ship and take refuge under the radiator, where their Brobdingnagian enemy can’t reach. But he can sit in front of their hiding place and wait. And wait. And wait.

Cheese it! David Wiesner, Mr. Wuffles! (2013), p. 15. (Cotsen Q-001903)

They take heart when the ladybug finds rations… Not bad at all!

Don’t despair lads, we’ll outlast it… David Wiesner, Mr. Wuffles! (2013), p. 19. (Cotsen Q-001903)

Fortified by empty calories, our space aliens find the strength to confound the brute, make their way back to their space ship, and blast off towards the safety of their own galaxy somewhere far far away…

Who would have ever guessed that stories of perseverance, courage, and derring-do could hinge on sugar and…

ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), SOYBEAN AND PALM OIL WITH TBHQ FOR FRESHNESS, WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, SKIM MILK CHEESE (SKIM MILK, WHEY PROTEIN, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES, ANNATTO EXTRACT FOR COLOR), CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS …

If sugary and starchy installations prove impossible to conserve, representations of junk food in the picture book will live on, if properly annotated. Now pass the doughnuts.

Cotsen Children’s Library

Princeton University

Alice’s Adventures in a Fore-edge Painting

Empty Calories, Sugar, and Junk Food in Picture Books