Alisa Smith Williams is a digital artist and illustrator that started as a hobby and has grown into a relevant body of work. A forensic psychiatrist by profession, she has been creating a novel level of surrealist art. Alisa work begins with images created using AI models. These images are then heavily edited with overlays, grunge features, compositing, adjustments and collaged elements (https://www.alisasmithwilliams.com). In her own words “her work begins and ends with storybook surrealism, and along the way leans heavily on pre-Raphaelite, Renaissance, Flemish, and Medieval schools of art, as well as pop surrealism”. She aims at celebrating childhood fairytales, legends, mystery, botanicals, alchemy, poetry, and history.

One of her initial illustrtions featuring Alice and the Mad Hatter captured the attention of editors of the Imaginarion Books that invited her to illustrate Alice. Her beautiful limited edition of Alice in Wonderland (Imaginarium Books, 2024) is a magnificent collection of anthropomorphic fantastical creatures that capture the whimsical and imaginative essence of the Wonderland. The first edition was limited to 2500 numbered copies, the second editions is limited to 500 signed copies and includes a reprint.

Born in Paris in 1883, Laurencin emerged during one of the most revolutionary periods in European art. She studied painting, became associated with the Cubists, exhibited alongside major avant-garde artists, and moved within the intellectual circles of early twentieth-century Paris. She was also romantically involved with the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, one of the most influential literary voices of the era.

Laurencin’s paintings resist easy categorization. While she exhibited with the Cubists, she never fully embraced Cubism’s fractured geometry. Instead, she developed a visual language that felt surprisingly delicate amid the bold declarations of modernism. Pale pinks, silvery greys, powder blues, and soft greens became her signature palette. Young women, animals, flowers, and dreamlike landscapes drift through her compositions as if suspended between reality and memory. She quietly created a universe of her own.

Rather than adopting the visual vocabulary established by her male contemporaries, Laurencin constructed an aesthetic centered on female relationships, self-fashioning, emotional ambiguity, and poetic atmosphere. There is something distinctly “Alice-like” about her world, not Lewis Carroll’s narrative exactly, but the feeling of crossing a threshold into another dimension where ordinary rules no longer apply. Animals appear as companions, time seems suspended, identity becomes fluid.

In such context, illustrating Alice in Wonderland (1930, The Black Sun Press) was a fitting project for an artist whose work consistently explored dream states, transformation, and imagined femininity. This rare edition is especially desirable because it contains six original color lithographs by Marie Laurencin and was issued in a relatively small limited edition.

George Brinsley Sheridan Le Fanu (1854-1929), an Irish artist and illustrator, was the youngest son of the celebrated Gothic writer Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Born in Dublin in 1854, he trained as an artist in Dublin, London, and Paris before establishing his career in London. An Alice for Esperanto Readers

Le Fanu’s place in Alice history comes from a particularly unusual edition of Alice. In 1910, he illustrated La Aventuroj de Alicio en Mirlando, an Esperanto translation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (published by Benn). At a time when publishers were eagerly producing new illustrated editions following the expiration of key copyright restrictions on Alice, Le Fanu joined a growing list of artists offering alternatives to Tenniel’s iconic imagery.

What immediately distinguishes Le Fanu’s Alice illustrations is their elegant simplicity. Unlike Tenniel’s heavily detailed Victorian engravings, Le Fanu relied on clean line work and uncluttered compositions. His drawings possess a quiet charm that feels surprisingly modern. His Alice is recognisably Edwardian rather than Victorian. The character appears lighter, softer, and more naturalistic. The illustrations focus less on satire and grotesque exaggeration and more on narrative clarity, inviting readers gently into Wonderland rather than a overwhelming visual complexity.

This somehow forgotten Alice illustrator, rather than attempting to outdo Tenniel’s famous interpretations, Le Fanu approached the story as a seasoned children’s illustrator. His emphasis is on readability and character, making Wonderland approachable for younger readers. Brinsley Le Fanu was neither a revolutionary stylist nor one of the best-known interpreters of Carroll’s work. Instead, he represents something equally valuable: the international spread of Alice during the early twentieth century.

Today, more than a century after their publication, Le Fanu’s Alice drawings remain a delightful discovery for collectors, scholars, and anyone interested in the rich visual tradition of Wonderland.

Gennady Vladimirovich Kalinovsky was one of Russia’s most renowned illustrators. In 1943, while still a young artist, he submitted his drawing The Fall of the Nibelungs to a newspaper competition, won first prize, and received a recommendation for admission to the Moscow Secondary Art School. He later enrolled at the Surikov Art Institute, where he studied from 1949 to 1955.

Kalinovsky’s body of work, which includes illustrations for more than ninety books, is distinguished by its delicate pen-and-ink line work and richly detailed compositions. His imagery blends fantasy and surrealism, creating dreamlike scenes infused with an often subtle Gothic atmosphere.

One of Kalinovsky’s greatest artistic passions was Lewis Carroll’s Alice books, although political constraints prevented him from and publishing them until he was nearly sixty years old. He achieved widespread acclaim with his masterful black-and-white illustrations for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in Boris Zakhoder’s celebrated adaptation (1974, Detskaya Literatura). He subsequently illustrated several other works by Carroll. Particularly noteworthy are his illustrations for Through the Looking-Glass, for which he received the Ivan Fyodorov Prize and Diploma in 1980 and 1982. In 1988, he produced a colour edition of Alice in Wonderland. More recently, Artist’s Choice Editions has published editions of both Kalinovsky’s Alice books, combining the original black-and-white illustrations with his later colour artwork.

Many Russian collectors regard Kalinovsky’s Alice in Wonderland illustrations as among the finest interpretations of Carroll’s work ever published in Russian.

Milo Winter (1888–1956) was a celebrated American illustrator of the Golden Age of Illustration, a period spanning the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Princeton, Illinois, Winter studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and began his career with Billy Popgun in 1912. Milo Winter illustrated numerous classics, including Gulliver’s Travels, Arabian Nights, Aesop’s Fables, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, first published in 1916 by Rand McNally & Company

Winter’s Alice is a departure from the earlier versions. She appears older, more reflective, and elegantly composed, often adorned with a stylish ribbon and soft, elongated features. His style blends Art Nouveau grace with narrative clarity, making Wonderland feel both magical and grounded.

Winter’s illustrations are known for their masterful accuracy, humorous touches, and emotional depth. His work remains a favorite among collectors and readers, offering a timeless interpretation of Alice.

Sandra Sofia Santos is part of a group of Portuguese artists selected by Livraria Lello to reinterpret literary classics for children. Her work on Alice stands out for its bold character design, expressive use of color, and a clear departure from the more delicate or surreal styles. Her Alice is a girl of action—curious, critical and full of life
The Livraria Lello’s The Little Collection Alice brings a fresh and empowering vision to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Her Alice is not the fragile, wide-eyed girl of tradition, but a robust and spirited child, full of curiosity, wonder, and critical thinking. Santos’s illustrations reimagine Alice as a feminine strong figure, capable of navigating Wonderland with confidence and grace.

The book, adapted by Adélia Carvalho for younger readers, is designed for children aged 6 to 10 and features full-page illustrations with minimal text, making it ideal for read-aloud sessions or independent exploration.

This edition is available in Portuguese, English, Spanish, and French.

K. M. Roberts’s 1908 edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland offers a graceful and imaginative reinterpretation of Lewis Carroll’s classic, departing from the iconic Victorian literalism of John Tenniel. Roberts’s illustrations, eight black-and-white drawings, are infused with the decorative stylization of the Art Nouveau movement, bringing a fresh visual language to Wonderland.

Her pen-and-ink work is both humorous and elegant, capturing the surreal charm of Carroll’s world with flowing lines and expressive characters. Scenes like the Mad Tea Party and the Queen’s Croquet Ground are rendered with a lightness that feels both timeless and distinctly early 20th century. The original 1908 edition, published by S. W. Partridge & Co., is notable not only for its illustrations but also for its richly decorated red cloth binding.

This edition, now reprinted by Pook Press, allows modern readers to rediscover Roberts’s unique vision—a Wonderland that is not just curious, but beautifully strange.

Júlia Sardà Portabella is an illustrator from Barcelona. She completed her studies in illustration in 2010 at Joso, the University of Fine Arts and Massana School in Barcelona. Her work, focused in editorial illustration, is recognized for her captivating and whimsical illustrations. She can be appreciated in several great books like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or her first illustrated book La reina en la cueva.

Sarda’s vibrant colors illustrations, intricate details and enchanting dreamlike quality, hold the necessary elements to depict the fantastical world of Lewis Carroll’s. One can find a published Alice from Julia Sarda (2015, edited by Two Hoots), but also a sketched one. Interestingly, the first is inspired by Alice Lidell, the later depicts a classic blond Alice.