Raymond Sheppard 70 years ago - Lilliput 1955

Original art by Raymond Sheppard

I've shown quite a few works by Raymond Sheppard from Lilliput magazine.  As 2025 is slowly coming to an end, I wanted to show his illustrations from 70 years ago from Lilliput.

 The January edition contained a story by Sandy Sanderson called "Death in the tall grass" and concerns an attack by a water buffalo on men in 8 foot elephant grass in the Sudan. Despite my best efforts all I can tell you about Sandy Sanderson is he wrote quite a few stories in Lilliput (two of which were illustrated by Sheppard - and one by Frank Bellamy). He also wrote articles in Collier's, Cavalier and True magazines which might imply he was American. Unfortunately the surname 'Sanderson' often leads to the nickname 'Sandy'! However in Chris Harte's - mostly - excellent "Lilliput Magazine: A history and bibliography" we have a single line in the author entry that tells us he was Harold Sanderson (1931-1993) -is this reference to the same man?

Lilliput January 1955, p.9

 

Lilliput January 1955, p.10

For the observant among you, you may have noticed that the colours change between the original art (at the top of this article) and the published version of page 9. This often happened and one wonders how the art editor at the time gave the commission - or did he not worry and merely substitute according to that month's prevalent colour?

Original art by Raymond Sheppard

The art at the top of the page is owned by me, and the reverse of the artwork shows Sheppard - at this point - was using "Fashion Plate Drawing Board" by Winsor and Newton.

Fashion Plate Drawing Board

In the February issue of 1955, Raymond Sheppard drew illustrations for Colin Willcock's "The snare of the fowler"

Lilliput February 1955, p.21

This is the opening page of the article and I've already shared the second spot illustration here - owned by Brain Marks where we see that the orange colour is again turned to blue! On page 63 of this issue of Lilliput Sheppard also drew a white whale!  

Lilliput February 1955, p.63

Moving into March 1955, Lilliput had an article, "Master of the Mountains" written by Malcolm Monteith with a lovely image of a fox drawn by Sheppard - unfortunately being chased by the hunting pack of dogs. But the background is all there in detail. Further in the article we have a spot illustration for the centre of the page of the hounds. 

Lilliput March 1955, p.33 "Master of the Mountains"

Lilliput March 1955, p.34

The original artwork shows some explanation of what went on with the colour changes mentioned above. 

Original art by Raymond Sheppard

"Weak yellow tone over background only" is what the bottom line states in pencil and looking at the published work above we can see it was finalised in VERY weak yellow!

Malcolm Monteith (1913-1995) wrote extensively for Lilliput on the subject of natural history but also on many other topics. Monteith's dates again come from Harte's book mentioned above but I couldn't find any more details. He also wrote 3 other tales which were illustrated by Sheppard. The first was in May 1955 "Stoop out of Heaven" about how peregrine falcons are used to capture grouse. 

Lilliput May 1955, p.49 "Stoop out of Heaven" (Original Art)

Monteith again writes for the July 1955 issue and I've shared the original art from Brian Marks here for "Trap in the tide". The article tells of the 'putcherman' capturing salmon. The next Monteith, is "The Harbourer", which appeared in August 1955. It tells the story of Ralph Slocombe, the harbourer to the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, whose"job is to find, through pure woodcraft and the knowledge absorbed in the thirty-six years he has worked for the Hunt, a warrantable stag for hounds next morning". The original art is still around, and shows a gorgeous stag jumping a fence. 

Lilliput August 1955, p. 43 "The harbourer"  (Original Art)

 Moving swiftly on to another 1955 Lilliput,in the April edition, Sheppard bravely tackles "Suicide on the Little Big Horn" by John Prebble. John Edward Curtis Prebble (1915-2001) wrote many books and articles/short stories and is most often quoted today as inspiring the screenplay for "Zulu", the 1964 film.  

 Sheppard drew a full page plus four B&W illustrations for the story - which garnered Prebble much criticism from Lilliput readers at the time. The following month's letter pages were full of noted inaccuracies! No-one criticised Sheppard's artwork though.

Lilliput April 1955, p. 16
"Suicide on the Little Big Horn"  (Original Art)

Lilliput April 1955, p. 17 
"Suicide on the Little Big Horn"  (Original Art)

Lilliput April 1955, p. 18
"Suicide on the Little Big Horn"  (Original Art)

Lilliput April 1955, p. 22
"Suicide on the Little Big Horn"  (Original Art)

Lilliput April 1955, p.23
"Suicide on the Little Big Horn"  (Original Art)

 If the image on page 18 looks odd to you, you can read more about the "Sun Dance" on Wikipedia

 In the July edition 1955, Lilliput had a small illustration accompanying a book review section (called "Animal Crackers") which you'd hardly recognise as Sheppard's work unless you knew the original art is in Christine Sheppard's possession - that's provenance for you! The book it accompanies is called Psychology of animals in zoos and circuses by Dr. H. Hediger and shows Flippy the dolphin whose talent is towing "a surfboard of bathing belle".

Lilliput July 1955, p.64 (Original Art)

The main illustrations by Sheppard in the July issue accompanies "The big bull" by Neil Ewing. I've shown the third - thanks again to Brian Marks - but here are the published and the original art for the other pair

Lilliput July 1955, p.41

Lilliput July 1955, p.41 (Original art)

Lilliput July 1955, p.42 (Original art)

Lilliput July 1955, p.42

I can't find anything about Neil Ewing in any of my usual sources and even WorldCat has nothing useful. This appears - even according to Chris Harte - to be the only article by Ewing. It's based in the Zambesi area and concerns the attack of an African buffalo. That's all I can say about that!

So, if I've calculated correctly this is the final item I have to show from Sheppard's Lilliput output from 1955

"Steer course 180" by N. J. Crisp was published in the December issue and tells the tale of Krane who kills a policeman and then hits a Flying Instructor to steal the latter's Auster. His lack of knowledge leads to him crash landing and being caught. 

Lilliput December 1955, p.45

 

Lilliput December 1955, p.47

Norman James Crisp (1923-2005) wrote many TV episodes of popular series in the 1960s plus many plays. His output in magazines were pretty good too running from at least 1955-1962, but these are the only images Sheppard drew for a Crisp story.