Art: Alice at Auction

“They very soon came upon a Gryphon . . . (If you don’t know what a Gryphon is, look at the picture).” — Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Manhattan collectors last week came upon Lewis Carroll’s fantastic Gryphon in all his original scaly glory. Up at auction was the largest group in the U.S. of the great Sir John Tenniel’s illustrations for Alice, Through the Looking-Glass and other drawings (collection of the late Bronson Winthrop, onetime law partner of War Secretary Henry L. Stim-son). The Gryphon, as well as the King and Queen of Hearts, the White Rabbit, the Mock Turtle, the Frog-Footman, and Alice herself brought good prices on the auction block. A drawing of Alice at the moment her neck started to lengthen (“Curiouser and curiouser!”) went for $475, top figure for the series; Alice and the Gryphon (see cut), $220; the whole block of Tenniel originals, $4,217.50.