Raymond Sheppard illustrates Lilliput stories

 

Lilliput September-October 1951
"The birth of a berg" by James Fisher

So here we are in the thirteenth year of this blog! Unbelievable, but I'm so happy to see Raymond Sheppard's name and work better known than when I started.

In August I showed you Brian Marks' fantastic artwork including the opening double-page spread for "The birth of a berg" written by James Fisher. If I had not been so excited I might have remembered to include the above illustration of two seal heads which completes that story's illustrations. So there that's that done.

Let's move onto  covering some more Lilliput illustrations. 

 "Half a ton of tail"

Lilliput April-May 1951 p.47
"Half a ton of tail"

Lilliput (April-May 1951) contains a story "Half a ton of tail" by Charles Osborne. the story's sub-title tells you all you need to know: "Hunting the Basking Shark off the coast of Galway". The two illustrations accompanying the story are 1) of a basking Shark and 2) three men in a boat with the Basking Shark bumping their boat.

Lilliput April-May 1951 p.49
"Half a ton of tail"

This looks to be the only piece by Osborne in Lilliput and looking at the General Fiction Magazine Index, their entry points to Charles Thomas Osborne - who the Guardian, in his obituary, called "Author, poet, biographer and theatre critic who was literature director of the Arts Council of Great Britain" (Wed 18 Oct 2017). The AusLit site has a piece on Charles Osborne, who 

"studied music in Brisbane and Melbourne and worked as a music and literary journalist as well as an actor. After moving to England in 1953, he became the assistant editor of London Magazine from 1958 to 1966, and was the literature director of the Arts Council of Great Britain from 1971 to 1986."

The Australian was born in 1927 in Brisbane and died at the age of 89 in 2017. Read more on Wikipedia. I do not often criticise Sheppard's artwork but when I think of a basking shark, I see a wide open mouth, gathering plankton. Knowing he visited London Zoo very often to sketch, I wonder if lack of material to draw from was the problem.  

Original art thanks to Christine Sheppard

 "Springtime in Alberta"

The next item from 1951, is this one page about prairie chickens.

Lilliput May-June 1951 p.86
"Springtime in Alberta"

 There's a paucity of information on the author Kerr Ritchie who wrote this short singular piece "Springtime in Alberta" in Lilliput. He doesn't appear in the Library of Congress or Library and Archives Canada!

Wikipedia can show you the mating ritual of prairie chickens and tell you more of the bird. But to make up for this lack of information here's the original artwork owned by Christine Sheppard.
 

Original Art

"The Whirling Dervishes"

Original Art (p.39) "an Oriental King Lear"

In the issue dated June-July 1951 J. Lavrin writes about "The Whirling Dervishes", a term I was very familiar with, but had to admit knew nothing! This was Janko Lavrin's only contribution to Lilliput - to my knowledge - even though the author was prolific from the 1920s all the way through to at least the 1970s with many of his works still in print and published in many languages. He was born 10 February 1887 in Krupa, Slovenia and died 13 August 1986 in Fulham, at the age of 99!. He is described as 

"a Slovene novelist, poet, critic, translator, and historian. He was Professor Andrej Jelenc DiCaprio of Slavonic Studies at the University of Nottingham. An enthusiast for psycho-analysis, he wrote what he called 'psycho-critical studies' of Ibsen, Nietzsche and Tolstoy." (Wikipedia)

His Who's Who entry tells us he began as a journalist in Russia, 1910; became a Russian war correspondent, 1915–17. During the War of 1939–45, he was attached to BBC (European service) as broadcaster and language superviser.

Original Art (p.40) The leader

Lavrin tells of wandering in Elbasan, in Albania

"Who is he?" I asked the Albanian who seemed to know everybody and everything in the town of Elbasan. "That fellow? He's a dervish. Chief of the Ruffai. There are a number of sects among our local Mohammedans, but the Ruffai...... 

Instead of finishing the sentence, he only closed his eyes and gave a significant whistle. "If you'd like to see them I could take you there."

Original Art (p.41) The 'victim'

Here the author witnesses the leader who begins a chant that is echoed by others who form a semi-circle around him. Then a bowl was passed from man to man and after smelling the brew the effects begin immediately. An energetic dance and wailing to Allah is followed by one dervish falling to his knees, kissing the leader's bare feet and lying down face upwards, only for the leader to wet his sword blade with saliva, and draw it across the dervish's throat, and "cut into the flesh. One saw the wound distinctly, but there was no blood". As the dance comes to a quieter spell, the leader bends, withdraws the knife, wets his finger and touches the eyelids of the 'victim' who blinks, kisses the leader's feet and rises and joins in the dance. 

Original Art (p.42)The Dervishes

These images are all from the original art which Christine Sheppard still owns. The angles and crops are mine based on my hurried photographs.