Alice in Holidayland by F. W. Martindale | illustrated by Frank H. Mason and Noel Pocock

Alice in Holidayland – A Parody in Prose, Verse, and Pictures

Perpetrated with Profound Apologies to Lewis Carroll and Sir John Tenniel

text by F. W. Martindale, pictures by Frank H. Mason and Noel Pocock
[North Eastern Railway, 1st edition 1914]* Printers Leeds and London: Chorley & Pickersgill Ltd, The Electric Press

A booklet produced for the North Eastern Railway Company to promote the holiday destinations and attractions served by their line.

From the text: “You may look at the lodgings here, if you like, ” said the Landlady, “but you can’t look at all the lodgings in Holidayland, unless you’ve got the North Eastern Railway’s Guide to Seaside Apartments on the Yorkshire Coast.”

At least two of the images in the booklet were used as posters. Both The Walrus and the Carpenter by Great Northern Railway, and Tweedledum and Tweedledee by North Eastern Railway were displayed in 1913, each poster offering a free copy of Alice in Holidayland upon application.**

Note: a second edition of this title was published, also undated but clearly stating the edition.

Card covers with illustrations to front and rear. pp 47, [1] colophon, plus twelve colour plates; string bound. Size: 7.25 x 8.5 inches approx. (184mm x 214mm).

Covers lightly worn and creased; rubbed to extremities; some grubbiness and marking. String sunned to spine. Pages age tanned but generally clean throughout; slight ‘nick’ to fore-edge of half-title; some light creasing to lower corner of pages.

Overall, showing light wear but otherwise a particularly nice, clean copy – uncommon, and an exceptional example.

– – – – –

References

*Jisc Library Hub Discover | British Library

[p. 377] Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and The Secret History of Wonderland (Harvill Secker, 2015)

**[plates 31-32] Beverley Cole and Richard Durack, Happy as a Sand-Boy – Early Railway Posters (National Railway Museum/HMSO, 1990)

Noel Pocock | Bear Alley and Frank H. Mason | Bear Alley

The Morgan Library & Museum | Lewis Carroll Collection