Raymond Sheppard and The Story of Heather

 

The Story of Heather dustjacket

 THE AUTHOR

May Wynne The Bookman (Feb 1909), p.235

Mabel Winifred Knowles (1 January 1875 – 29 November 1949)  wrote extensively for children, but also Detective and Science Fiction using her two nom-de-plumes: May Wynne and Lester Lurgan. Wikipedia has enough of an article to fascinate and tell us what an intriguing character she was. She was born in Streatham, and never married, leaving £6,070 11s. 7d in 1950 at probate - as a comparison, my parents bought a bungalow in 1964 for £3,000!

The British Library lists 229 books (with many editions)  including the 1899 "Life's Object: or, Some Thoughts for Young Girls" as her earliest book publication,and the last 1938 or 1939 - "The Lend-a-Hand Holiday" or "Schoolgirls' stories". However thanks to the wonderful FictionMags website we also know she wrote at least 158 short stories for magazines too! They go from 1907 ("The Escape: A Story of Red Hugh O’Donnell" in The Captain #105, December 1907) through to 1948 ("Pot Luck for Jessamy!", in Champion Book for Girls 1948).

But this wasn't her only work. Sally Mitchell (2004) tells us

[Mabel] was in charge of the St Luke's Mission Church in London's Victoria Docks and lived nearby at Tyne House, 93 Maplin Road. She died of heart failure at 124 Butchers Road, Victoria Docks, London, on 29 November 1949 while preparing to lead a mission service for women.

THE BOOK

An advert in the Children's Paper shows the 1/6d "The Story of Heather" was first scheduled for publication in June 1920 by Nelson in their interestingly titled series "Nelson's New Library for Boys, Girls and Children"!

From Bexhill-on-Sea Observer (16 November 1912 p.11) :

This is the story of a pony told by himself. How he was born on beautiful Exmoor, and witnessed the tragedy of a friend who was lost in a bog, and taken by the moor giants; how he was broken in and had a nice home; was stolen and experienced very hard times with gipsies; how he underwent cruel treatment by thoughtless children, and how at last he ran away and got back to his kind friends. 

This edition had colour illustrations by Dorothy Pope. In April 1938 we learn of a sequel: "Heather: The Second", again by Nelson but this being almost 20 years later priced at 3/6d and illustrated by the prolific children's artist Honor C.Appleton

THE ILLUSTRATIONS

The dustjacket image drawn by Raymond Sheppard is included as the Frontispiece in the version he illustrated. The Bookseller of the 16 September 1936 states the edition as:

The Bookseller  16 September 1936,p.20

So we know when Sheppard's version was released. Bearing in mind he was born in March 1913, this means he had this commission when he was 23 years old! I'm always wondering what his earliest published work was, and this is certainly a contender, but I know I'm chasing a rainbow here! Anyway to the pictures

Frontispiece " Our home was on Exmoor"

p.16 "I galloped away at Tricksie's side"

p.46 "One little girl gave me a  delicious morsel"

p.80 "He gave me a last vicious cut across the head"

p.106 "Sometimes they would chase me"

p.172 "In the meadow with Ned the donkey"

The black and white images are full of vitality but in an earlier style of Sheppard's, and show his command of animal studies already at that age. The pictures illustrating "Heather" show horses galloping together, a boy and a girl having a picnic being approached by Heather, the cruelty of a horse-handler to his pony pulling a trap and also boys who throw snowballs at the pony.  Why Sheppard didn't get to illustrate the sequel is unknown.

REFERENCE:

Sally Mitchell, (2004) "Knowles, Mabel Winifred [pseuds. May Wynne, Lester Lurgan] (1875–1949)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/58982]