The prompts that accompanied these magic lantern slides borrow heavily from Lewis Carroll’s text, just as the slides closely echo Tenniel’s original designs
Only the Cat’s head appeared; it seemed to think that was sufficient. “Who are you talking to?” said the King, coming up to Alice. “It’s a friend of mine—a Cheshire Cat,” said Alice, “Allow me to introduce it.” “I don’t like the look of it at all,” said the King, “It must be removed,” and he called to the Queen, “My Dear! I wish you would have this Cat removed!” “Off with his head!” answered the Queen. But here a difficulty arose, and the question was hotly argued. The executioner said that you couldn’t cut off a head unless there was a body to cut it off from; the King said that anything that had a head could be beheaded; and the Queen said that if something wasn’t done about it in less than no time, she’d have everybody executed all around. The Cat settled the question by quietly fading away, and the players went back to their game. Presently the Queen asked Alice, “Have you seen the Mock Turtle yet?” “No,” said Alice, “I don’t even know what a Mock Turtle is.” “It’s a thing that Mock Turtle Soup is made from,” said the Queen; “Come on and he shall tell you his history.”
Image Caption:
W. Butcher & Sons
Alice in Wonderland
Magic lantern slides issued in the Primus junior lecturers' series, number 778d
London, 1905-1908
The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. Gift of Arthur A. Houghton, Jr., 1987, PML 352354.1-7.
Photography by Graham S. Haber, 2015.