Raymond Sheppard and Jim Corbett in Lilliput

Lilliput March - April 1952, pp.80-81

A recent Facebook post reminded me that I should return to Jim Corbett's writings. The Facebook 'post' showed an image that others had not seen before, so I I thought I'd share both the stories that Corbett provided to Lilliput magazine which were illustrated by Raymond Sheppard PLUS the one that was not! Please don't ask me to scan the complete stories, I'm showing the image positions on the page for reference so you can see what size they were reproduced at!

Lilliput March - April 1952, p84

In the March - April issue 1952 of Lilliput we see "The Manhunters of Saharanpur" told in pages 80-100 with illustrations by Raymond Sheppard. Although Corbett is best known for his humane killing of man-eaters, this story revolves around Sultana Daku (born Sultan Singh), who was a 1920s 'outlaw' and member of the Bhantu tribe who led a revolt against the English government in India, and Corbett tells of his pursuit.

Lilliput March - April 1952, p89

Lilliput March - April 1952, p92

Lilliput March - April 1952, p97

As the editors of Oxford University Press stated on the flyleaf of  My India, 1952: 

In this book Colonel Corbett wrote more fully than elsewhere of the people of India, to whom his  profound devotion was clear throughout his earlier books

From correspondence I have received  - and Facebook groups  - that devotion has gone both ways as Corbett is still revered and remembered by the people of India. 

Here are photos from Christine Sheppard of two pieces of the original art from this Lilliput story

Lilliput March - April 1952, p89 - ORIGINAL ART

Lilliput March - April 1952, p84 -ORIGINAL ART

If you click on the drawings you'll see notes scribbled around the frame. Finally, if you are searching for this issue (and the next), the covers are shown here. Notice that Lilliput changed during 1954 to a larger size magazine. Hopefully the ruler gives you some clue. I should also say, the 'ticket' stuck over Corbett's latest story has nothing to do with Corbett - it's just a free gift given in certain issues! 

Comparative sizes of the two Lilliput formats

"The Temple Tiger" - first appeared in this country in October 1954 in the book which contained five stories including this one. In Lilliput December 1954, we get pages 72-86 with Sheppard illustrations which do NOT duplicate the book illustrations, which I will cover in a later article.

Lilliput December 1954, p72

The original art for this is framed and has Sheppard's writing stating "Tiger and Himalayan Black Bear" - which hopefully clears up one comment on the Facebook post. 

Original art - framed with note underneath

Lilliput December 1954, p73

Lilliput December 1954, p76

Lilliput December 1954, p79

Lilliput December 1954, p82

I promised at the start of this article to share one page by another artist and I'm sure, if Raymond Sheppard were reading this he wouldn't mind as it's Ronald Searle.

Lilliput April-May 1951, pp.80-81

" The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag" ran from page 80 - 112 with just this illustration (plus paw marks around the border of several other pages!). And that is all the artwork accompanying all three Jim Corbett stories in Lilliput magazine. here's the cover to the story above

Lilliput April-May 1951