Raymond Sheppard and Man-Eaters of Kumaon

Merlin Unwin 2017 illustrated edition

I have to declare straight away I received a copy of Jim Corbett's first published book from Merlin Unwin as a thank you for help I gave them regarding the Sheppard illustrations in this title. Having said that I have a copy from the 1950s and had always intended to read it before blogging about it! So thanks to Merlin Unwin I have now read my first Jim Corbett book! And what a read it was too!

Bibliographic details

Author: Jim Corbett
Illustrator: Raymond Sheppard
ISBN: 978-1-910723-43-2
Published: September 2017
Format: 216 x 138 mm
Binding: Hardback
No. of pages: 272
33 black & white illustrations
Price: £15.99

All royalties from UK sales of this edition of Man-Eaters of Kumaon go to tiger conservation at the Corbett Tiger Reserve, Uttarakhand, India.

All illustrations below are from my 1961 reprint of the 1952 edition by Oxford University Press

The cover of the first Sheppard illustrated edition of Man-Eaters of Kumaon

I expected the topic of hunting down man-eating tigers and the eighty-year old writing style to jar with me, but I was wrong! It was a sensitive, fascinating insight to a world I knew nothing about - beyond clichés. The geography, the cultures and particularly the awareness of nature and the environment kept my attention so much so that I could not put it down until getting to the end of each of his seven tiger stories. (There also a chapter on fishing and on his faithful Cocker Spaniel, Robin). This edition also, like earlier editions (and there have been quite a few!) has a map of the man-eater sites, a glossary of Indian terms, an author’s note - more on that shortly and and an additional piece that I don't have in my 1950s edition, of Corbett photographing tigers. The thing you need to know is these events all took place during a period in the earliest part of the 20th century when conservation of wildlife was not high on any country's agenda and Corbett was particularly sensitive to this.  His upbringing (he was born in the Nainital district, northeast India) was such that he knew the jungle very well and demonstrates in the book how to call a tiger towards you impersonating a potential mate. He preferred hunting alone as a man-eater can be very fast and unpredictable and sensibly he'd rather only rely on himself as a loaded rifle behind him might accidentally be fired in panic! As time went on Corbett saw hunters just out for 'sport' and hated the waste as even the dead animals would be left if not enough of a trophy for the hunter - not even rounded up and given to the local population for food.

Man-Eaters of Kumaon Frontispiece and Title Page

I usually scan all the Sheppard illustrations and share them here thanks to Christine Sheppard's ongoing permission. But as the publisher has gone to the trouble of re-typesetting the text and using Sheppard's illustrations I don't feel I should this time. So I'll limit my scans to the full page illustrations. But there are many smaller and equally gorgeous illos in the reprint.

Man-Eaters of Kumaon page 13

BIOGRAPHY
Edward James Corbett was born on the 25 July 1875 near the Kumaon foothills of the Himalayas, in the Nainital district now Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand during the days of the British rule in India. His father, William Christopher Corbett the Postmaster of Nainital died in 1879, when Jim Corbett was just 4, and he left his widow, - his second wife - Mary Jane Corbett (who died in 1924) with 8 children. Corbett was closest to his sister Margaret ('Maggie') Corbett. His early life was spent learning the skills of trekking and exploring that would serve him well when, from 1911 for 27 years, he tracked man-eating tigers (and leopards). A legacy enabled him to quit his railway job, and thereafter his income came from his estate agency business with rentals making up the bulk.

Man-Eaters of Kumaon page 29

It was Lady Violet Haig, who persuaded Corbett to commit his stories to paper, which he did in a self-published book entitled "Jungle Stories", this led to his amazing writing career. In the foreword to editions of his first commercially available work, Corbett makes clear that they are only 'man-eaters' because of injuries they have sustained, such as one tigress who encountered a porcupine whose quills embedded in one of her eyes. Also this may happen in very rare circumstances where their environment has been destroyed (by man!) which Corbett saw in the major de-forestation work around his beloved locality. I'm not sure the 1948 film of the book - although none of Corbett's stories were actually used - did anything to educate people on tigers' behaviour. The film starred Wendell Corey, now better known as the detective in Hitchcock's Rear Window. Perhaps Corbett received royalties for the use of his book title; perhaps it raised his profile at the time, but whatever the truth his stories still read as excellent sensitive writings on the thorny issue of hunting tigers (and leopards). His writings are still in print and many biographies have appeared over the years, the best being:

• Kala, D.C. (1979). Jim Corbett of Kumaon New Delhi : Ankur Pub. House
• Booth, M. (1986). Carpet Sahib: A Life of Jim Corbett London: Constable

The latter is the book on which Booth also wrote a screenplay - see below

Man-Eaters of Kumaon page 39

After the independence of India, in 1947, Corbett moved with his sister Maggie to Nyeri, Kenya, where he settled and continued to write and raise awareness of the declining numbers of tigers and other wildlife. On 19th April 1955, a few days after writing his sixth book Tree Tops, (which was also illustrated by Sheppard) Corbett died of a heart attack. He was buried at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Nyeri. His legacy began, with his books, but in 1957 the Ramganga tiger sanctuary was re-named in his honour as the Corbett National Park, The Corbett Museum is located at Choti Haldwani, 3 km form Kaladhungi, and there's a short video on YouTube of the Museum.

Talking of YouTube I was amazed to see some original film by Corbett (and of Corbett) and also the dramatisation of his work by the BBC,initially broadcast as Man-Eaters of Kumaon on BBC Two on 14 December 1986 at 19.15.  The accompanying Radio Times (13-19 December 1986) has a great cover of Corbett and there is a two page feature too on this Martin Booth  and John Elliot adaptation.

Radio Times 13-19 December 1986
Artwork by Bill Sanderson

Radio Times 13-19 December 1986 p4

Radio Times 13-19 December 1986 p5

Radio Times 13-19 December 1986 p41

Raymond Sheppard illustrated Man-Eaters of Kumaon in 1952, The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag in 1954, Tree Tops in 1955 and The Temple Tiger and more Man-Eaters of Kumaon in 1957. His illustrations have been reproduced in so many editions of these works I gave up trying to capture the data a long time ago and stuck to the originals

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A select Bibliography (from the British Library holdings)

There are, in addition, to the books listed below a lot of 'mash-ups' of Corbett's writing including a graphic 'novel' for the Kindle plus several biographies, many published in Delhi, where his name is so revered even today for saving so many lives through his careful campaigns.

Man-eaters of Kumaon / Jim Corbett. S.l.]: S.l.] : O.U.P., 1944.

• Man-Eaters of Kumaon ... With an introduction by Sir Maurice Hallett ... and a preface by Lord Linlithgow. Second edition.]. Madras: Madras : Oxford University Press, 1945.
• Man-Eaters of Kumaon ... With a foreword by Lord Linlithgow. With plates, including a portrait.]. London: London : Oxford University Press, 1946.
• Man-Eaters of Kumaon. Illustrated by Raymond Sheppard. London: London : Oxford University Press, 1952.

The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag / Jim Corbett. London: London : Oxford university press, 1948.

• The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag, etc. With plates, including a portrait, and a map.]. London: London : Oxford University Press, 1948.
• The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag. Illustrated by Raymond Sheppard. London: London : Oxford University Press, 1954.

My India. Impressions of the life and people of districts in Agra and Oudh and Bengal.]. London: London : Oxford University Press, 1952.

Jungle Lore. With a portrait.]. New York: New York : Oxford University Press, 1953.

• Jungle Lore. With plates, including a portrait.]. London: London : Oxford University Press, 1953.
• Jungle Lore. S.l.]: S.l.] : Oxford University Press, 1961.
• Jungle lore / Jim Corbett ; with an introduction by Martin Booth. Delhi: Delhi : Oxford University Press, 1990.

Man against Man-Eaters. (Illustrated by Raymond Sheppard. Abridged from “The Man-Eaters of Kumaon,” and “The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag.”). London: London : Oxford University Press, 1954.

The Temple Tiger and more Man-Eaters of Kumaon. With plates.]. London: London : Oxford University Press, 1954.

• The Temple Tiger, and more Man-Eaters of Kumaon ... Illustrated by Raymond Sheppard. London: London : Oxford University Press, 1957.
• The Temple Tiger and more Man-Eaters of Kumaon / Jim Corbett ; illustrated by Raymond Sheppard. Bombay ; Oxford: Bombay ; Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1957 1982 printing].
• Man-Eater! A condensation from The Temple Tiger and More Man-Eaters of Kumaon. (Illustrations by Bob Kuhn.).

Tree tops. S.l.]: S.l.] : O. U. P., 1955.

• Tree Tops ... Illustrated by Raymond Sheppard. An account of the scenes witnessed by Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on their visit to “Tree Tops,” Kenya, in 1952.]. London: London : Oxford University Press, 1955.

OTHER TITLES

• Man-Eaters of India. (A Corbett omnibus, including Man-Eaters of Kumaon, The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag, The Temple Tiger and More Man-Eaters of Kumaon.) With a portrait.]. New York: New York : Oxford University Press, 1957.
• Man-Eaters of Kumaon, and, The Temple Tiger, etc. London: London : Oxford University Press, 1960.
• Man Against Man-Eaters. London: London : Oxford University press, 1964.
• Jim Corbett's India / stories selected by R.E. Hawkins. Oxford: Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1978.
• My India / Jim Corbett. Delhi ; Oxford: Delhi ; Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1989.
• The Jim Corbett omnibus. Delhi ; Oxford: Delhi ; Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1991.
• The second Jim Corbett omnibus. Delhi ; Oxford: Delhi ; Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1991.
• The Oxford India illustrated Corbett / illustrated by Prashanto ... et al.]. New Delhi ; Oxford: New Delhi ; Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2004.
• My Kumaon : uncollected writings / Jim Corbett. New Delhi: New Delhi : Oxford University Press, 2012.

Whilst wrapping this up I browsed the Merlin Unwin site and spotted that they have also reprinted some of one of my favourite author's books: 'BB' or Denys Watkins-Pitchford. Follow the link to have a browse

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