Redking's Dream

As principal political cartoonist for Punch, John Tenniel had not contributed to any children's books before he was asked to illustrate Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. One of the reasons he was engaged, the authors of this literary investigation argue, is that Lewis Carroll not only encoded himself and his friend Alice Liddell in the story - he also lampooned a host of Victorian politicians and public figures in the many wonderfully weird characters that the fictional Alice meets in the novels.