GUINNESS. Alice Versary: The Guinness Birthday Book.

London: Designed for Arthur Guinness Son & Co. by S. H. Benson Ltd.; printed by W. S. Cowell Ltd., Ipswich, 1959 (code GA/2437/59). Illustrated by Ronald Ferns. Quarto. Original pictorial wrappers. Profusely illustrated in colour throughout. Light edge wear and slight creasing to wrappers; internally clean and bright. A very good copy.

A charming piece of Guinness advertising ephemera issued to commemorate the bicentenary of the founding of the Guinness brewery in 1759. The booklet playfully reimagines the world of Alice in Wonderland, bringing together familiar characters—Alice, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Lion and Unicorn, and others—around a celebratory cake decorated with bottles of Guinness and bearing the dates 1759–1959.

The text humorously adapts scenes and dialogue from Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland stories, weaving them into a whimsical narrative celebrating Guinness’s two hundredth anniversary. Ronald Ferns’s richly coloured illustrations capture the fantastical atmosphere of Carroll’s world while incorporating subtle references to Guinness throughout.

Produced by the celebrated advertising agency S. H. Benson, responsible for many of Guinness’s most imaginative mid-twentieth-century campaigns, the booklet forms part of a highly collectible series of illustrated promotional publications issued by the brewery during the 1950s.

Guinness advertising booklets—particularly those drawing upon literary themes—are increasingly sought after by collectors of Irish advertising, graphic design, and Carrolliana.

[WR Food & Drink]