Alice Project Update

 I'm feeling very pleased with myself. I've just finished making copies of the first three illustrations that accompany the poem "You Are Old, Father William" in Aice in Wonderland. There are actually four illustrations accompanying the poem in the original book, but I copied the fourth one some time ago. Here they are, along with the poem:-

"You are old, Father William," the young man said,
    "And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head—
    Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,
    "I feared it might injure the brain;
But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
    Why, I do it again and again."

"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
    And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door—
    Pray, what is the reason of that?"

"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
    "I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment—one shilling the box—
    Allow me to sell you a couple."

"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak
    For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak—
    Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
    And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
    Has lasted the rest of my life."

"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
    That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose—
    What made you so awfully clever?"

"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
    Said his father; "don't give yourself airs!

Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
    Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!"

I'm pleased with myself for a couple of reasons. For one thing, I don't think that they are badly done. But also they are all fairly detailed originals, with a lot of work to do in each, especially with the shading. I wasn't actually looking forward to doing them, but I've worked steadily through them and find myself nicely ahead of schedule, and within sight of the finish line on Wonderland. This takes me down to single figures left to do on the first book. I've made copies of 35 of the 42 illustrations, and this also takes me to 50 out of the 92 in both books combined.