You know how I got totally obsessed with those weird old Alice pictures? Like, the original doodles from Lewis Carroll’s crazy book. Yeah, that. Wanted to see ’em bad. Figured it’d be easy. Spoiler: it wasn’t.
Thinking It Would Be Simple
Grabbed my laptop, coffee steaming hot. Typed “Alice in Wonderland pictures old book” into that big search thingy. Clicked the first few sites that popped up.
Boom. Instant letdown.
- Some just showed those boring Disney cartoons. Wrong!
- Others had tiny, fuzzy little stamps I couldn’t see.
- Found one that said “original,” but it was just a photo of a dusty book cover. Useless.
Felt like the internet was messing with me. Sipped my lukewarm coffee. Annoying.
Getting Serious (Kinda)
Okay, fine. Needed a better plan. Remembered something about libraries having old books online. Typed “old book library pictures online.” Found a couple big ones – you know the names.
Got excited again! Typed “Alice in Wonderland” into one of their picture sections.
- One library made me click a hundred times just to see a thumbnail. Seriously?
- Another one finally showed actual old-looking pictures! But… they were locked down tight. “Download not permitted” messages everywhere. Couldn’t zoom. Couldn’t save. Could barely see the rabbit.
My kid yelled from the other room asking where his toy was. Great timing. Almost threw the laptop cushion.
Stumbling On The Good Stuff
Was about to give up. Decided to try one last, weird search: “see John Tenniel drawings high res” (yeah, found the artist’s name somewhere earlier in the mess).
Clicked a link that looked maybe okay. Held my breath.
Holy mackerel.
- There it was. The REAL Mad Hatter tea party. Crisp. Clear.
- Could zoom right in on his mad eyes and the weird tiny cups.
- Found the Cheshire Cat grin floating in a tree. Creepy and awesome.
- Even saw the little details on the Queen of Hearts’ dress.
No hoops to jump. No shouting kids (for a minute). Just… pure, old-timey wonderland weirdness. Scrolled through dozens like a kid.
Wrapping It Up
Took me longer than it should’ve. Drank way more coffee than planned. Made some stupid search attempts. Learned the hard way that just typing “Alice pictures” gets you junk.
Turns out the secret sauce was:
Artist’s name (John Tenniel) + something like “view high resolution” + bypassing the official museum traps.
Now they’re saved on my tablet. Showed my kid later. He just pointed at the cat and said “Funny teeth!” Mission accomplished, I guess. Still glad I bothered. Weird book deserves its weird pictures.
