Alice's Adventures Under Ground

We went to see the Fantasy Realms of Imagination exhibition at the British Library today. A history of fantasy in literature from myths and folk tales, through the likes of the Brontës, Carroll and Tolkien, to modern authors, computer games and live action role play. 

Manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground 1862 - 64

"Lewis Carroll's handwritten version of the story that would eventually be published as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

The original title, Alice's Adventures Under Ground, locates the fantasy world of the story in relation to our own. From the moment Alice goes down the rabbit hole, the nonsensical rules of the world beyond this portal demonstrate the way that Fantasy can invert and critique reality."

extra
"These costumes were worn by Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev in their roles as Princess Aurora and Prince Florimund in the Royal Ballet's 1968 production of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty."
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight c.1400

Mervyn Peake's notebooks.