Vintage Alice in Wonderland Hookah Caterpillar Cushion

Vintage illustration Victorian black and white fairy tales story image by Sir John Tenniel in Lewis Carroll's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1865. Alice with the Hookah Smoking Caterpillar sitting on a magic mushroom cap. Alice is portrayed as a quaintly logical girl, sometimes even pedantic. She is seven years old but acts much older. In this image the Caterpillar is noted for its ambiguous central figure, whose head can be viewed as being a human male's face with pointed nose and protruding chin or being the head end of an actual caterpillar, with two "true" legs visible. Alice does not like the Catepillar when they first meet, because he does not immediately talk to her and when he does, it is usually in short, rather rude sentences, or difficult questions. He asks Alice to repeat the poem You Are Old, Father William, which comes out rather strange like many of the nursery rhymes Alice attempts in Wonderland. The Caterpiller tells Alice how to grow and shrink using the mushroom upon which he is sitting.