LOOKING-GLASS BOOK :

Among the first things Alice encountered upon entering the 'looking-glass world' was a book.

The first page read :

YKCOWREBBAJ
sevot yhtils eht dna gillirb sawT
ebaw eht ni elbmig dna eryg diD
sevogorob eht erew ysmim llA
ebargtuo shtar emom eht dnA

She puzzled over this for some time - at last she realized that is needed to be read backwards -

in the looking glass.

However she still had no idea the meaning of the strange words :

Chinese Export Famille Rose Molded Barbers Bowl

Qianlong, c1765-75

The Rose (regarding Alice) : Her face has got some sense in it, thought it’s not a clever one!
Tiger-lily : ...If only her petals curled up a little more, she’d be all right.

Rare Worcester "Scolopendrium" Pattern Bowl
England, c1772-1775
The 5-lobed molded bowl with large spiraling scolopendrium (hart's tongue fern) leaves

 The snap-dragon-fly :
Its body is made of plum-pudding, its wings of holly-leaves,

 its head, a raisin burning in brandy.

And then there’s the Butterfly :

I wonder if the reason insects are so fond of flying into candles is

because they want to turn into Snap-dragon-flies.

'If that there King was to wake, you’d go out -- bang! -- just like a candle!'
Tweedledum : `Ditto’
Tweedledee : `Ditto, ditto’

Pair of George III Silver Beakers

Peter & Anne Bateman, London, 1799

Then fill up the glasses with treacle and ink,
Or anything else that is pleasant to drink:
Mix sand with the cider, and wool with the wine--
And welcome Queen Alice with ninety-times-nine

Good George II / III Sweetmeat Glass, c1760 (with a bit of sand)

George III Engraved Masonic Tumbler, c1790 (cider & a bit of sand)

George II Light Baluster Wine, with engraved rim (& wool), c1740-50

George III Engraved Opaque Twist Stem Ale, c1780 (with Treacle)

'That’s the effect of living backwards,'

the Queen said kindly :
'it always makes one a little giddy at first'

Rare Kangxi Chinese Imari Fluted & Scalloped Dish

The backside showing the Johanneum Inventory numbers N=268+

China, c1700
From the Japanese Palace, Dresden, Collection of Augustus the Strong

Sheep : Can you row? She handed Alice her a pair of knitting-needles
Suddenly the needles turned into oars in her hands, and they were in a little boat, gliding along between banks.
'Feather!' cried Sheep, as she took up another pair of needles.

First Period Worcester Fluted Sauce "Boat"

Full Moon Pattern, England, c1775

Early 18th Century Pressed Tortoiseshell Plaque, 'Tent of Darius'

Set as Tobacco Box by John Reily, London 1823

The Tortoiseshell After "Queens of Persia at the Feet of Alexander" (Le Brun, 1661)

depicting Alexander the Great visiting the mourning family of the defeated Persian King Darius III,

In the Manner of John Obrisset

Alice : I see nobody on the road.
King : I only wish I had such eyes - to be able to see Nobody!

And at that distance, too!

"In the Shade, Adamson Road", Norwood Creech

Arkansas / Tennessee / Contemporary

Oil & Charcoal on Linen

Red Queen : How is bread made??
Alice : You take some flour ...
White Queen : Where do you pick the flower? In a garden, or in the hedges?
Alice : Well, it isn't picked at al --  it’s ground --
White Queen : How many acres of ground?

The Plum Pudding : 'What impertinence! I wonder how you’d like it if I were to cut a slice out of you!'
(It spoke in a thick, suety sort of voice).

The Salver : Fine Early George II Square Silver Salver, John Tuite, London 1729, Arms of Chaundler

The Slice : George III Pierced Silver Slice / Server, Richard Mills, London, 1770

Large George II Hanoverian Pattern Silver Soup Ladle

Elias Cachart, London, 1748

the up-turned terminal with a period conjoined cypher monogram ML  / 14.5" Long

*** Humpty Dumpty - who was very good with words -

('When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less') -

explains the strange Jabberwocky words' meanings :
 

Brillig - four o’clock in the afternoon - the time when you begin broiling things for dinner
Slithy - lithe and slimy. Lithe is the same as active
Toves - something like badgers - they’re something like lizards - and they’re something like corkscrew.

They make their nests under sun-dials and live on cheese.
Gyre - to go round and round like a gyroscope
Gimble - to make holes like a gimblet
Wabe - grass-plot round a sun-dial; called wabe,

because it goes a long way before it, and a long way behind it —
Mimsy - flimsy and miserable
Borogove - thin, shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round - something like a live mop
Mome raths - Rath is a sort of green pig

Mome -  short for from home - meaning that they’d lost their way
Outgrage - something between bellowing and whistling,

with a kind of sneeze in the middle ...

... you’ll hear it done - maybe - down in the wood yonder :

"Spring Reflections", Hugh Bolton Jones

American (NY / MD)1848-1927 / Oil on Canvas

'In winter, when the fields are white,
I sing this song for your delight --
In spring, when woods are getting green,
I’ll try and tell you what I mean.
In summer, when the days are long,
Perhaps you’ll understand the song.
In autumn, when the leaves are brown,
Take pen and ink, and write it down.'

                               - Humpty Dumpty

Fine George I / II Gesso and Giltwood Looking Glass with Girandoles

(shown above - the other side of which perhaps all these nonsensical adventures occurred)

England, c1720-40

Retaining the original gilt and mirror plate