Raymond Sheppard and The Golden Gift Book

The Golden Gift Book by Odhams

There was the poor brute -a rabbit caught by the foot
"Trapped" Golden Gift Book p. 181

I have mentioned before how hard it is to collect Sheppard's published artwork when Blackie and Son or Odhams chose to reprint the same story in a different book, or to reprint the illustrations for another story, and today I have a new combination.

I bought this 512 page volume on eBay after asking the seller what story Sheppard had illustrated - mentioning I already own two versions of The Golden Gift Book by Odhams in which "The Baby and the Bear" appears. The response meant I purchased this straight away, not realising this has 512 pages, i.e. is two and a half inches thick! In fact it bears little resemblance to the other two 312 or 320 page slim volumes!

 I have listed the complete contents below alphabetically to help any researchers. For example in typing this up I discovered B. L. Kearley as an author. I knew Kearley was an agent for various comic artists, but this was new. So you never know. 

The other two versions I have state "Copyright S1141" printed by Odhams (Watford). I'd love to crack the code for that strange copyright statement. Is it 1941? The other version I have states "Reprinted 1948" and printed, surprisingly by "The Aberdeen University Press". What went on here, I have no idea. 

Anyway back to the reason for the blog: Raymond Sheppard's illustrations

"Trapped", Golden Gift Book, 1939, p175

 TRAPPED by Richard Bird

Bird (William Barradale-Smith, 1881-1965) wrote for Blackie's Children's Annual, Blackie's Boy's Annual as well magazines such as Boy's Own Paper, Captain and The Strand magazine. He was a schoolmaster  who wrote his stories from first-hand knowledge, as one source states. However, I doubt  Queer doings at Aldborough was such a tale - about the experience of a public schoolboy who suddenly became invisible!

If you look at the image at the top of this article you'll see a wonderful self-portrait of the artist himself and again shinning down the drainpipe (below). 

"All asleep?"
"Trapped", Golden Gift Book, 1939, p177

Mister Bateson began a resumé of the game
"Trapped", Golden Gift Book, 1939, p179

Down a friendly spouting
"Trapped", Golden Gift Book, 1939, p180

"Beastly shame!" was Hopwood's verdict
"Trapped", Golden Gift Book, 1939, p183

"For he's a jolly good fellow!" burst forth in all its glory
"Trapped", Golden Gift Book, 1939, p187

"Trapped", Golden Gift Book, 1939, p189

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS by Richard Bird

• The Forward in Love. An improbable comedy. London: Herbert & Daniel, [1911]
• The Gay Adventure. A romance. Edinburgh; London: W. Blackwood & Son, 1913.
• The Rival Captains. A public school story London: Henry Frowde; Hodder & Stoughton, [1916]
• The Sporting House. A school story  London: Oxford University Press, 1921.
• The Deputy Captain  London: Oxford University Press, 1922 [1921]
• The Ryecroft Rivals  London: Blackie & Son, [1923]
• The Liveliest Term at Templeton London: Blackie & Son, [1924]
• Dawson's Score, and other school stories London: Blackie & Son, [1924]
• Trouble at Wyndham London: Blackie & Son, [1925]
• Touch and Go, and other school stories London: Blackie & Son, [1925]
• The Big Five at Ellerby, and other school stories London: Blackie & Son, [1926]
• Play the Game, Torbury! London: Blackie & Son, [1926]
• The Third Jump, and other stories London; Glasgow, [1927]
• Queer Doings at Aldborough, London: Oxford University Press, 1927.
• Carton's Cap, and other school stories London; Glasgow: Blackie & Son, [1927] 
• The Moreleigh Mascot London; Glasgow: Blackie & Son, [1927]
• School House v. The Rest London: Oxford University Press, [1928]
• Thanks to Rugger, and other school stories London; Glasgow: Blackie & Son, 1928.
• The Wharton Medal London: Oxford University Press, 1929.
• Captain of Keynes London; Glasgow : Blackie & Son, [1930]
• A School Feud. London: Oxford University Press, 1930.
• Terry Takes Charge London: Oxford University Press, 1931.
• The Richard Bird Omnibus. containing The Rival Captains, The Sporting House, The Wharton Medal. London: Oxford University Press, 1937.
• The Boys of Dyall's House London; Glasgow, [1939]
• The Morleigh Mascot London; Glasgow, [1946]
• Meet the Australians Dick Kevin, and Bird (Richard) pseud. [i.e. Walter Barradell-Smith.] London: Devereaux Publications, [1948]
• Cricket. The Ashes, 1948. Fixtures, personalities, history, data, tables, records. Dick Kevin, and Bird (Richard) pseud. [i.e. Walter Barradell-Smith.] London: Devereaux Publications, [1948]
• A School Libel London, [1952]

MAGAZINE STORIES (thanks to http://www.philsp.com/indexes.html)

• The Ace of Stamps, Boy’s Own Paper Oct, Nov, Dec 1924, Jan, Feb, Mar 1925
• Bats versus Boats, The Captain Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep 1922
• Beginners’ Luck!, Chums Aug 7 1920
• Borrowed Plumes,The Captain Aug 1920
• Change Over!,Chums Feb 22, Mar 1, Mar 8, Mar 22, Apr 5, Apr 12, Apr 26, May 24, May 31, Jun 28, Jul 19, Jul 26, Aug 9 1925
• Christmas at the Professor’s, The Captain Dec 1921
• Dawson’s Score, The Captain Oct 1919
• The Dipcote Skippers, The Captain Oct, Nov, Dec 1915, Jan, Feb, Mar 1916
• The Eleventh Hour, The Captain Nov 1921
• Garvice v. Grammar, Boy’s Own Paper Feb, Mar 1930
• The Ghost Walk, The Captain Jan 1923
• Glad Rags or—!, The Captain Sep 1919
• Hard Lines, The Captain Feb 1920
• Harker’s “300”, The Captain Feb 1923
• The Haunted Dorm, Boy’s Own Paper Aug, Sep 1921
• The Henley of the North, The Captain Jan 1923
• The Holiday Task, The Captain Apr 1921
• Honours Easy, The Captain Mar 1924
• Hooligan Hall, The Captain Oct, Nov, Dec 1920, Jan, Feb, Mar 1921
• The House in Rotherhithe: A Tale of the Press-Gang, Short Stories Mar 12 1898
• Kill or Cure, The Captain May 1920
• Latimer’s Luck, Chums May 24 1924
• Little Candles, The Strand Magazine Apr 1916
• “Little Miss Austin”, The Captain Mar 1920
• The Liveliest Term at Templeton, The Captain Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep 1923
• The Man in Blue, The Captain Nov 1922
• The Mascot Monkey, The Captain Feb 1922
• New Traditions, Boy’s Own Paper Aug, Sep 1929
• Ordeal by Water, Boy’s Own Paper Jul 1922
• The Red Flag, Boy’s Own Paper Nov, Dec 1921, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr 1922
• A Song of Summer, (pm) Pearson’s Magazine Aug 1897, Everybody’s Magazine Jul 1900
• The Sovereign Remedy, The Captain Jan 1920
• The Speaker’s Eye, The Captain Jul 1918
• The Tail End, The Captain Mar 1922
• Talent Money, The Captain Jul 1919
• The Third Jump, The Captain Oct 1922
• The Third Trick, The Captain Apr 1920
• Treason and Plot, The Captain Nov 1919
• When Ghost Meets Ghost, The Captain Dec 1919
• Without Reward, The Captain Aug 1919

 THE BEAR AND THE BABY by C. G. D. Roberts

For a biography and listing see Wikipedia Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts KCMG FRSC (January 10, 1860 – November 26, 1943) was a Canadian poet and prose writer. His story looks quite interesting.

Raymond Sheppard illustrated one of his stories in this book "The Bear and the Baby" which is about a story told to a young boy of a 5 year old girl taken down a flooded stream aboard a raft. A baby bear comes aboard just as scared as the young girl. The girl's mother sets out with a friend in a boat to retrieve the girl who loves the little bear. Just in time they rescue the girl before another mother, the bear, comes aboard!

"Bill's raft's carrying me away"
Golden Gift Book, 1939, p347

Flung her arms about the bear
Golden Gift Book, 1939, p349

He bent to the oars
Golden Gift Book, 1939, p351

He rowed rapidly away just as the old bear
dragged herself up on the raft
Golden Gift Book, 1939, p352b

This colour image is interesting in that it was not included with the story in the other two copies I have and also it's printed on matt paper and 'tipped in' as they say. Usually these are tipped in but on glossy paper. You have the whole short story in one picture here!

Clutched the baby hysterically to her breast
Golden Gift Book, 1939, p352

Golden Gift Book, 1939, p353

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dustjacket

 THE GOLDEN GIFT BOOK, London: Odhams Press Limited, 1939, 512 pages

CONTENTS in alphabetical order

TITLE	AUTHOR	ILLUSTRATOR
A LEGEND OF KNOCKMANY	William Carleton	Iris Brooke
A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT	Elizabeth Barrett Browning	Jack Matthew
A RAINY DAY AND WHAT CAME OF IT	Fanny Fern	Bernard Venables
AFTER RAIN	William Wordsworth
AFTER THE ACCIDENT	S. Malcolm Kirk	Lola Onslow
CARPENTRY IDEAS	Neal Sutton .
CLICK ! WENT THE BAT	Ben Oswald	Yates Wilson
CRIME AT THE TOWER	F. Drake Carnell	Steven Spurrier
DIRGE FOR A RIGHTEOUS KITTEN	Vachel Lindsay	C. de Mornay
ESCAPE FOR EVER	B. L. Kearley	Van Abbé
FELT PICTURE MAKING	Neal Sutton
FRETSAW AND JIGSAW	Neal Sutton
HIAWATHA'S WEDDING FEAST	H. W. Longfellow	Douglas Relf
HIS GRANGE, OR PRIVATE WEALTH	Robert Herrick	Reginald Mount
HOW IT WORKS: X:THE MARVELLOUS AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE	R. S. Lyons
HOW IT WORKS: I: THE SECRET OF THE ESCALATOR	R. S. Lyons
HOW IT WORKS: II: THE ELECTRIC BELL	R. S. Lyons
HOW IT WORKS: III: THE ELECTRIC LIFT	R. S. Lyons
HOW IT WORKS: IV: THE ZIP-FASTENER	R. S. Lyons
HOW IT WORKS: IX: THE SECRET OF THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS	R. S. Lyons
HOW IT WORKS: V: HOW A NEON SIGN IS MADE.	R. S. Lyons
HOW IT WORKS: VI: INSIDE A YALE LOCK	R. S. Lyons
HOW IT WORKS: VII: HOW THE AEROPLANE FLIES IN FOG	R. S. Lyons .
HOW IT WORKS: VIII: THE PENNY-IN-THE-SLOT MACHINE	R. S. Lyons
HOW IT WORKS: XI: " THREE GALLONS, PLEASE "	R. S. Lyons
IN PATRIA POTESTATE	Naomi Mitchison	J. S. Goodall
INTRODUCING CHARLEY CHAFFINCH (from "Sampson's Circus")	Howard Spring	James Holland
INTRODUCTION TO WILD LIFE: BIRDS	Hugh Broadbridge
INTRODUCTION TO WILD LIFE: II. MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES	Hugh Broadbridge
INTRODUCTION TO WILD LIFE: III: PLANTS AND FLOWERS	Hugh Broadbridge
INTRODUCTION TO WILD LIFE: IV.INSECTS	Hugh Broadbridge
INTRODUCTION TO WILD LIFE: V. ANIMALS IN BRITAIN	Hugh Broadbridge
INTRODUCTION TO WILD LIFE: VI. POND LIFE	Hugh Broadbridge
INTRODUCTION TO WILD LIFE: VII. REPTILES	Hugh Broadbridge
JOHNNY NUT AND THE GOLDEN GOOSE	Andrew Lang	Alfred Kerr
KOKO, THE THINGUMABOB	Anthony Armstrong	Reginald Mount
NOAH'S ARK	Michael Drayton	May Smith
PATCHWORK	Neal Sutton
PENELOPE-JANE'S PAGEANT	Neal Sutton
PUK-WUDJIES	Patrick R. Chalmers	J. Gerelli
PULLING THE LEAD STRING	George Cory Franklin	Dudley Cowes
RIVER DOG	Lorna Lewis	M. Shillabeer
SLEEPLESSNESS	William Wordsworth	G. H. H. Davey
SOUP FROM A SAUSAGE SKEWER	Hans Andersen	Joyce Mercer
STARTING AN AQUARIUM	Neal Sutton
TEE HOUSE ON THE ISUKD (from "The Raiders")	S. R. Crockett	Norman Hepple
THE AFFAIR AT NOAH'S ARK	Herbert McKay	Helen Monroe
THE BABY AND THE BEAR	C. G. D. Roberts	Raymond Sheppard
THE BUTTERFLY'S BALL	William Roscoe	Gertrude MiUelmann
THE COCKATOUCAN	E. Nesbit	Edgar Spenceley
THE DRAGON	Mary Gard	Reginald Mount
THE DUCKS	Kenneth Grahame	May Smith
THE ENCHANTED SHIRT	John Hay	Ernest Wallcousins
THE FROLICKSOME DUKE	Anon.	John Harris
THE GARDEN BAZAAR	Agnes Reed	Cyril Holloway
THE GLOW-WORM	William Wordsworth	H. Charles Paine
THE GOBLIN TRAP	Mabel Marlowe	E. Prescott
THE GRAND FEAST	Catherine Sinclair	Jack Matthew
THE GREAT BRONZE TULIP	H. de Vere Stacpoole	C. Walter Hodges
THE GRIFFIN AND THE MINOR CANON	Frank R. Stockton	L. Bowyer
THE HAUNTED FIELD	De La Motte Fouqué	Jack Matthew
THE HISTORY OF A FAMILY OF CATS	Fanny Fern	Bernard Venables
THE HUNCHBACK, THE POOL AND THE MAGIC RING	Maurice Baring	Reginald Mount
THE ITALIAN CONJUROR	Algernon Blackwood	E. B. Thurstan
THE LAND OF LOST TIME	Elizabeth Leslie	Narroway
THE MAGIC GLASS	Richard Hughes	Dorothea Braby
THE MONTHS	Sara Coleridge	Bannerman
THE PEOPLE OF MUCH ADO	Denis Clark	R. S. Sherriffs
THE RETIRED CAT	William Cowper	Ernest Wallcousins
THE RIVER GOD'S SONG	Beaumont and Fletcher	Muriel Gill
THE SCHOOLBOY'S APPRENTICE	E. V. Lucas	Oliver Doyle
THE SECRET EXPEDITION	Mary Charteris	Norman Howard
THE SLEEPING PRINCESS	Tennyson	K. M. Burrell
TRAPPED	Richard Bird	Raymond Sheppard
TRUTH THE BEST	Elizabeth Turner	Mary Coulson
TULIP	Humbert Wolfe	Diliy
VERYNEAT VILLA	Phyllis Megroz	Muriel Gill
WANTED FOR MURDER	Nigel Straight	Douglas Relf
WILD EDRIC—A Legend of Shropshire		Gertrude Mittelmann
WOOL AND BEAD WORK	Neal Sutton

The other two Golden Gift Books I have are missing the following from the above listing (oh, and Vachel is not a spelling mistake!):

TITLE	AUTHOR	ILLUSTRATOR
A LEGEND OF KNOCKMANY	William Carleton	Iris Brooke
A RAINY DAY AND WHAT CAME OF IT	Fanny Fern	Bernard Venables
AFTER RAIN	William Wordsworth
DIRGE FOR A RIGHTEOUS KITTEN	Vachel Lindsay	C. de Mornay
ESCAPE FOR EVER	B. L. Kearley	Van Abbé
FELT PICTURE MAKING	Neal Sutton
FRETSAW AND JIGSAW	Neal Sutton
HOW IT WORKS: V: HOW A NEON SIGN IS MADE.	R. S. Lyons
HOW IT WORKS: VIII: THE PENNY-IN-THE-SLOT MACHINE	R. S. Lyons
HOW IT WORKS: XI: " THREE GALLONS, PLEASE "	R. S. Lyons
INTRODUCTION TO WILD LIFE: IV.INSECTS	Hugh Broadbridge
PATCHWORK	Neal Sutton
PENELOPE-JANE'S PAGEANT	Neal Sutton
PULLING THE LEAD STRING	George Cory Franklin	Dudley Cowes
RIVER DOG	Lorna Lewis	M. Shillabeer
TEE HOUSE ON THE ISUKD (from "The Raiders")	S. R. Crockett	Norman Hepple
THE DRAGON	Mary Gard	Reginald Mount
THE DUCKS	Kenneth Grahame	May Smith
THE ENCHANTED SHIRT	John Hay	Ernest Wallcousins
THE FROLICKSOME DUKE	Anon.	John Harris
THE GARDEN BAZAAR	Agnes Reed	Cyril Holloway
THE GRAND FEAST	Catherine Sinclair	Jack Matthew
THE HAUNTED FIELD	De La Motte Fouqué	Jack Matthew
THE LAND OF LOST TIME	Elizabeth Leslie	Narroway
THE MONTHS	Sara Coleridge	Bannerman
THE RIVER GOD'S SONG	Beaumont and Fletcher	Muriel Gill
THE SECRET EXPEDITION	Mary Charteris	Norman Howard
TRAPPED	Richard Bird	Raymond Sheppard
TULIP	Humbert Wolfe	Diliy
WANTED FOR MURDER	Nigel Straight	Douglas Relf
WILD EDRIC—A Legend of Shropshire		Gertrude Mittelmann
WOOL AND BEAD WORK	Neal Sutton

Raymond Sheppard and Horses

 

"The White Team" was exhibited at
The Royal Academy in 1944 and sold for use as a calendar

It's Christmas and you might have received an annual back in 1955. If it was Swift Annual No. 2 (published in 1955) you might have seen the article I'm focussing on today (as well as some illustrations and a comic strip by Frank Bellamy).  "Horses at work" focussed on the work horses of 1955.

Swift Annual No. 2 [1955], p.22

The article starts by telling us the true story of Gracie the Shire horse and Charlie her driver for a brewery. One day Charlie collapses and Gracie automatically senses something and takes him back to the brewery where his life is saved. Gracie's name was placed on the Animals Roll of Honour and the RSPCA suggested she be retired and enjoy life on the Isle of Wight. 

Swift Annual No. 2 [1955], p.23

If you can read the caption in the above picture you'll see that Shires are so nimble they can work "between narrow rows of cabbages without treading on one!". We then learn there are four breeds of draught horses in Britain: the Shire, the Clydesdale, the Suffolk Punch and the Percheron. The article writer tells us that some milk rounds still have horses and they remember exactly where to stop at each house. What a shame we couldn't continue such a neat way of doing things. The author recommended that  "he will love the apples and carrots you bring him as tit-bits".

Swift Annual No. 2 [1955], p.24

The article ends by explaining that approximately 14,000 pit ponies are still used in the mines. However they are often retired early. Lastly we find out some farm animals love nothing more than frisking freely in a summer's evening.

I have checked Swift Annuals #1, #3 and #4 and they have no illustrations by Sheppard. 

The oil painting at the head of this article was Sheppard's entry in 1944 to the Royal Academy's 176th exhibition. His was # 862 "The White Team" and at the time he was living at 361, Watford Way, Hendon,  N.W.4. Interestingly the contents listing says this was displayed in the "Water Colour and Tempera" section, displayed in the South Rooms. The exhibition ran from Saturday 29 April to Monday 7 August 1944 and cost a shilling to enter - the same price as the catalogue. Whether these dates were stuck too, I don't know - the Second World war may have interfered! There were many familiar names exhibited - thanks to the RA for putting the catalogue online. Sheppard also exhibited in 1946, 1950, 1952 and lastly 1955 to my knowledge.

But let's not end there. Here are some other drawings, paintings and sketches of horses by Raymond Sheppard.

Cart Horse 1935 - note the outline of the head grazing

Cart Horse - labelled "Goldalming 1935"

The nomenclature of a horse

Skeleton... drawn at Natural History Museum

Skull of stallion

You can see the extensive research Raymond Sheppard undertook in his animal studies not just at London Zoo but in Goldaming, Surrey (I presume it's the location and not the horse's name!) and the Natural History Museum. 

Wagon and Horses (in Oil)

Wagon and Horses (Watercolour)

The oil painting I captured from an auction site sold in 1989 - sorry it's not too detailed - but hopefully the gorgeous watercolour makes up for it. Was the latter a colour study for the oil version? I don't know.

Here's a beautiful watercolour from another angle 

Watercolour of a team ploughing

Lastly Sheppard was so talented in many media and the last item I want to show you became a greeting card so it seems appropriate that I say Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you at this point

 

Greeting card

'Scraperboard' version

Uncle Mac's Children's Hour Annuals

 I've written before about The Children's Hour Annual on this blog (and listed what I've found of Uncle Mac's Children's Hour Annual on my other blog) and thought I should cover Uncle Mac's and Raymond Sheppard's contributions in more detail as it's quite interesting.

THE "ORANGE" VERSION

Uncle Mac's Children's Hour Book [1949?]
Unknown artist

The British Library lists only 2 of this title - one 1947 (125 pages) and one 1949 (156 pages) and the 'orange' one - shown above - has a contents page showing the last story starts on page 152 (but it ends on the unnumbered page 157 so a cataloguer might have been lazy or very meticulous!)

Uncle Mac's Children's Hour Book [1949?]
Contents page - Unknown artist

So let's get started on Raymond Sheppard's work in this.

The first piece is the end-papers used at the front and back of the book

Uncle Mac's Children's Hour Book [1949?]
End-papers by Raymond Sheppard

The compilation of the various charactersfrom this album appear on two pages, signed by Sheppard and I love the running bear's expression. On the next piece, the title page, we see the same odd three-headed giant figure as above.

Uncle Mac's Children's Hour Book [1949?]
Title page - Raymond Sheppard

The giant figure is Odds-Bobs-and-Mackerel (whose stories seem to be by George Baker both on the radio and here in the book) who is described as the twenty foot giant with three heads, in order from left to right - Odds, Bobs and then Mackerel!

Uncle Mac's Children's Hour Book [1949?]
Title page - artist unknown

Here's the contents page for others who might want it. We are focusing on two stories in this volume: "Odds-Bobs-and-Mackerel and the Pirates" (pp.69-74) and "The snowman and the scarecrow" (pp.125-126).

p.69 "...and gone off with his bundle
on his shoulder while everyone was asleep"

p.70 "Now he was allowed to tie a red handkerchief round his head,
and stick a cutlass, a dagger, and a pair of pistols in his belt"

p.71 "There was an enormous splash as Odds-Bobs-and-Mackerel
fell into the water, and floundered about, and came gasping to the top."

p.72 ".  lying on deck, one leg each side of the mainmast
his feet up on the foredeck and his shoulders against the poop "

p.73 "...and a wild yell from all three heads at once, tumbled overboard."

p. 74 "Then he turned to Mr. Simpkins, standing there
all loaded with chains and crying like anything."

Although May E. Jenkin ('Elizabeth' as she is known to listeners) is not credited in the Radio Times of
Thursday 19 August 1948, when the pirates story was broadcast at 5pm on the BBC Home Service, we know she is credited as having read aloud the other three episodes of 'OBM' in 1948. The name of George Baker (the author) appears throughout the Radio Times from its earliest times, so unfortunately I can't pin anything down about him (her?).

 The second story "The snowman and the scarecrow" is by Madge Slaney and she is credited (together with Philip Green) as having the story broadcast on 15 March 1949 and it was read by none other than Uncle Mac himself. She also gets a credit earlier for 14 June edition 1948 for a story called "How Smart Black Cow found a Friend". Interestingly there was a Wimbledon player by the same name who played between 1926 and 1949 and on the BBC a violncello player around these dates called William Ernest Slaney. BUT I'm not claiming to know they are tied into our author!

p. 125 "And the old scarecrow said:
“Yes, of course you can. Hop inside.”"

p.125 "The proud snowman said
“No, I won't lend you my warm scarf”"

p.126 "He sat down in front of the old scarecrow and said:
“Please will you let me sit in the pocket of your coat?”"

p.126

I'm so glad that this version of the Uncle Mac's Children's Hour Annual was published with signatures of artists including Sheppard as they are not repeated in the 'yellow' version below. Before I go there, I've listed the artists I've spotted in the 'orange' version in case anyone is looking for their work. Barbara C. Freeman, 'Valerie',  'Wrall', 'H.B.', 'Gala'

THE "YELLOW" VERSION

Uncle Mac's Children's Hour Book "Yellow" version

This image is borrowed from the Internet as mine does not have a dustjacket and I wanted to show it as we may yet find one for the 'orange' version!  If the unknown artist used kids known to him or her as models, I should think some (on the spine) would be 'miffed' as they have been eliminated from the hardback due to there only being a cloth strip in-between the outside covers.

As discussed already dates for these publications are uncertain and why the 'yellow' version is so different is anybody's guess. The cover with the yellow background also has the same contents as above and is credited to Purnell, not Sampson Low as above and the stories and images are exactly the same except....

All images have been traced in outline - eliminating a lot of the subtle shadings - and coloured in a single 'spot' colour! I have reproduced the Sheppard pictures just for completeness but at a lower resolution - to save Blog space!