Alice in the British Library

150 years on

While in London to visit a newly arrived grandchild and his parents, I've had the opportunity to visit the British Library and view the wonderful exhibition mounted to celebrate 150 years of Alice in Wonderland.The giant luggage tag hanging in the foyer promises a journey into the heart of the making of and the interpretations of this story throughout the years.

An inspiring collection is displayed showing the work illustrated in different manners and modes. There's the original illustrations by Tenniel, and adaptations of these by a variety of artists.

• The flapper 20s style has the pack of cards kicking up their heels in a becoming manner. 
• Who would have thought that during the London blitz the Mad Hatter's tea party would be illustrated with 'rations in a Molotov bread basket'? 
• Another version has Alice as a Brownie peering seriously into that hole. Also on display are the versions illustrated by Mabel Lucie Atwell and Ralph Steadman.

The original handwritten text has its own display case telling the story of the American purchase from the estate of Alice Liddell to the ultimate return to the British Library as recognition of the role of Britain during the second World War.

Posters of the Cheshire cat in pyschedelic colours reflect the 60s. Puzzles, games and cards based on the book are also on display along with Disney interpretations of the story.

As no photography was permitted within the exhibition area I have relied on a few notes made on my phone. Maria Popova's Brain Pickings post here provides a look at the works of some illustrators. Those who are in London before April 17th have the opportunity to enjoy these treasures brought together by the British Library.  The excellent Treasures of the British Library is always on display in the gallery.

I leave you with the two versions of Alice near the entrance to the inevitable pop-up shop that accompanies the exhibition. The second picture is a collection of bookmarks I could not resist, after all...We're all mad here!

Alice outside the pop-up shop

Bookmarks

Trove Teetulpa exhibition

Building with Trove

The importance of Trove as a community resource vital to Australia cannot be over emphasised. The development of this valuable resource by The National Library has made historically important information in a wide variety of formats available to all. The Trove API facilitates the development of  innovative programs. One such adaptation is the code for developing an exhibition of Trove materials.

My great grandparents were married at Teetulpa in northern South Australia  in 1887. While investigating what life on the goldfields may have been like for them in the 1880s, I unearthed many interesting reports, books and images in Trove and compiled my findings into four separate lists.

Recently Tim Sherratt shared code to make a D-I-Y exhibition from Trove lists. This is an ideal way to display content in a range of lists from Trove, particularly those lists with visual elements. This was my first venture onto github.com and although I have limited coding experience Tim’s excellent instructions were simple enough for this retiree to follow. His original version of an exhibition is Forecasters: An assortment of weather prophets. He has written more about the process here.

Here’s my Teetulpa Goldfields exhibition.

These interesting exhibitions have been created using Tim's code. I’m sure there are plenty of others out there as yet unseen by me.

• The Chinese in NSW: A history in pictures to 1940 by Kate Bagnall. This is a wonderful collection of resources compiled to complement Celestial Empires at the NLA.
• Explore Canberra in Trove a snapshot of the 1950s, 60s and 70s by Catriona Bryce. An interesting look back at the national capital through the years.
• Queen’s Hall at the State Library of Victoria by Katie Flack. Great views of the Queen’s Hall throughout the years.
• A tour of the Southern Highlands by Catriona Bryce. Love some of the fashions displayed here.
• French Stuff: Un assortiment de ressources issues de la bibliothèque nationale d'Australie by Antoine Courtin.

Thanks Tim for sharing the code and providing the inspiration. Now is the time for the government to #fundTrove and provide for its ongoing and future development in order to ensure the viability of this resource-rich national treasure.

Post in haste, repent with no pleasure

Wherever and whenever I write, I try to correct for errors before pressing send, enter or post. Sometimes an email slips away with mistakes, a blog post has glaring errors or a message on Facebook fails to make sense. Enter my newest friend Grammarly.

We’ve all seen those mistakes where apostrophes are used when a plural s is sufficient. The lack of commas in writing can lead to some significant misunderstandings. Grammarly checks and highlights these omissions.

Install the Chrome extension and sign in to a free account. Click on the small green G in the toolbar. This will activate the extension which will now be displayed at the bottom of the screen and Grammarly will begins its work. A new window opens with suggested corrections displayed.

No more indecision about what’s correct. Those its and it’s should no longer cause angst. The free version of Grammarly checks the spelling in context, grammar, and punctuation. It also analyzes sentence structure and style. Other advanced features are available through the paid subscription service. I’ve found the free version works for me.

The suggestions provided can be accepted or ignored. The sample below shows where I had omitted an apostrophe. To correct, click on the green highlighted word.


Grammarly found four errors in this post before I published. Why not give it a try? It may save an embarrassing moment.