Raymond Sheppard and Enid Blyton's 6th Holiday Book

I previously mentioned Enid Blyton's Holiday Books (4th and 5th) and being logical here is the next one: Enid Blyton's Sixth Holiday Book. Like all things Enid Blyton we have to remember views from the 1950s may not be reflected in our 21st century world.  

Enid Blyton (6th) Sixth Holiday Book was published by Sampson, Low & Marston in 1951. The two stories Raymond Sheppard illustrated was called "The Cuckoo in the Clock" (pages 123-128) and "The Wrong Bus" (pages 154-160).

 

Enid Blyton (6th) Sixth Holiday Book p123
The goblins are shocked by Cuckoo

The story is about two naughty thieving goblins, Snap and Grab! The toys are all asleep and from the Golliwog, they steal a brooch; the fairy doll, a silver crown; Pam's thimble and scissors. Although Cuckoo's appearance at three in the morning shocked the thieves, and he'd seen the thieves in the night, all he could say in the morning was "Cuckoo". But the next night Cuckoo decides to carry on cuckoo-ing and that alerts the toys when Snap and Grab are at their naughty work.  They send one goblin to fetch all their hoard and when Grab returns they are suddenly interrupted by Pam who has awoken due to the cuckoo. The toys rush with the goblins into the doll's house and the door is locked. Pam discovers the key on the floor and wonders what's happening.

Enid Blyton (6th) Sixth Holiday Book p124
The teddy bear was leaning against the golliwog dreaming of buns

Interestingly the caption and story don't match Sheppard's illustration here. Teddy is actually near dolly!

Enid Blyton (6th) Sixth Holiday Book p125
"Look at her silver crown", whispered Snap, "I'll take that".

Enid Blyton (6th) Sixth Holiday Book p126
They took the toy cat's blue ribbon

Enid Blyton (6th) Sixth Holiday Book p126
"Cuckoo. Did you seen anyone here last night?"

Enid Blyton (6th) Sixth Holiday Book p127
Caught hold of them by the scruff of their necks

Enid Blyton (6th) Sixth Holiday Book p128
She saw the tiny key of the doll's house

The second story is quite interesting, having an other-wordly quality. "The Wrong Bus" tells the tale of two children, Colin and Sue who having visited Aunt Phyllis. the latter reminds them to wait for the bus at the old oak tree, but something strange happens after the children turn down the wrong lane and approach a different oak tree. We find that the children barge their way onto the bus which is very busy. Someone suggests strongly that Colin give up his seat for an elderly woman, but he insists he paid for it and will stay there. Sue is no better. When a baby drops its rattle, Colin is not going to help. When an old man's purse falls from his pocket though, Colin grabs it only to be given away by a parrot. The passengers all turn on Colin and Sue accusing them of needing new parents who can teach them manners. The children defend their parents but are taken to the "Wise Woman". Colin begins to realise these are peculiar people and they might have got on the wrong bus. The Wise Woman looking in a mirror sees that indeed Colin and Sue's parents are good and kind but "too gentle and too trustful", trusting their children. She allows them another chance and the children run back to the bus stop, getting on the next one. When a woman gets on later, Colin has changed and gives up his seat!.

 

Enid Blyton (6th) Sixth Holiday Book p154
The Wrong Bus

Enid Blyton (6th) Sixth Holiday Book p155
The children set off to catch the bus

Enid Blyton (6th) Sixth Holiday Book p156
Colin took no notice. He wasn't going to pick up a baby's rattle

Enid Blyton (6th) Sixth Holiday Book p157
He bent down to pick up the purse

Enid Blyton (6th) Sixth Holiday Book p158
"I see badness and unkindness in them!" she said

Enid Blyton (6th) Sixth Holiday Book p159
The children fled away at once

Enid Blyton (6th) Sixth Holiday Book p160
Colin stood up and offered her his seat

UPDATE 5 December 2022

Christine Sheppard has kindly written, and I think I should have spotted this too:

"Recognise myself, my brother as the children & my grandmother, Annie Gale, with the shopping bag!"

Sheppard drew illustrations for one more of the Holiday books which I'll cover in a later post.

Raymond Sheppard and pigs and racoons

Everybody's magazine (17 March 1956)

I am always looking to my collection to share Raymond Sheppard artwork, but Christine Sheppard has a lot of cuttings and pieces of printed materials which have her Father's artwork on them. How to identify where they appeared? Luck, research, determination and luck is the answer!

For example, let's look at pigs today!

This image of a pig standing upright in a crude wooden pen, with a blank notice attached is unusual. The pig is fully completed but the rest is in outline. I suspect this is an advertising piece, due to the blank notice board on which a product/service name could be printed. Perhaps it appeared in adverts in farming magazines - I haven't found it anywhere else yet.

A pig on hind legs

But interestingly, this looked familiar (see Argosy January 1958) and after consulting my spreadsheet with all sorts of keywords in it, found that I was sort of right.

Everybody's magazine (17 March 1956)

The article which appeared in Everybody's magazine (17 March 1956) was called "If animals went to school" written by R. Quentin Goochley. Such an unusual name you would think was easy to research, but unfortunately, I have found nothing on him! But I did find an almost identical article by a Professor R. W. Goochley in Sydney Morning Herald, (Saturday 31 May 1952, page 6) c/o Trove. Here is the published list of the 10 most intelligent animals:

1. Chimpanzee.
2. Capuchin monkey,
3. Gorilla.
4. Other monkeys and apes
5. Dog
6. Cat.
7. Elephant
8. Raccoon
9. Pig
10. Horse

An almost identical article was published earlier in the Singapore Straits Times (11 May 1952, page 15). None of the above tells me who this Professor was or why 4 years after this, the article appeared in Everybody's in 1956, this time with Sheppard illustrations.

Here are the other 3 images from the Everybody's article drawn by Raymond Sheppard (the fourth being at the head of this article).

Everybody's magazine (17 March 1956)
The cat and the dog

Everybody's magazine (17 March 1956)
Capuchin monkeys

Everybody's magazine (17 March 1956)
Raccoon

Interestingly, the original art for the raccoon came up for sale in 2016 so I captured the images:

Original coloured artwork

Look and Learn version

The one immediately above has a very visible LOOK AND LEARN stamp. I've consulted Steve Holland who indexed a lot of the artwork on the Look and Learn site but he didn't remember seeing this. As he said  "It's only 1 1/4 inches tall, so it'll be tucked away in a corner somewhere, I guess. Rather smaller than it's original appearance". I suspect that was for the original Everybody's reproduction above. 

[UPDATE: 26 Oct 2022: David Slinn identified the very issue and supplied this scan}

Look & Learn No.25 (7 July 1962)

Look & Learn No.25 (7 July 1962) pp.18-19

How did the art turn up stamped "Look and Learn"? With all the takeovers in 1959-1961 in magazines and comics, it is hard to keep track. We do know that Everybody's was published at this time by Amalgamated Press (and it was merged into John Bull in 1959). But Amalgamated Press was taken over in January 1959 by the Mirror Group (acquiring "42  weeklies, 23 monthlies and 20 annuals") who were based in Fleetway House, Farringdon, leading to a name change to Fleetway Publications in April 1959. In March 1961 when the Mirror group took over Odhams Press they had all 4 major publishing companies: Odhams, Newnes, Hulton and Amalgamated Press. From this body, in January 1962, came Look and Learn with the first issue containing some reprinted Sheppard artwork. Perhaps the stamp is on the artwork because it's an ownership stamp? As an aside Look and Learn have a tremendous picture library - listed on their main page and you'll see they own all the following magazines and comics now: Look and Learn, Treasure, The Bible Story, Ranger, various educational annuals, various nursery comics and annuals plus The Children’s Newspaper.

Anyway I promised a focus on pigs, so here are some shots of original studies and artwork by Raymond Sheppard. Looking at these it's obvious Sheppard could have produced the title for Studio Publications on farm animals, but in 1947, C. F. Tunnicliffe produced the book How to Draw Farm Animals. 

Essex Saddlebacks (24 March 1951)

 

Pig stretching

Piglet sketches

Pig head study

Pig study

Back of pig's head study

Outline front view of pig

Pig lying down & head (signed)

Sow and piglets suckling

Studies of pig' trotters

If you read this far, well done! I thought I'd add another mystery item, I own. This 3 piece wooden jigsaw is not signed but appears to me to be by Raymond Sheppard. I'm happy to be proved wrong.

Jigsaw by Sheppard?

Raymond Sheppard and Woman's Day

Woman's Day 7 June 1958 pp28-29

Firstly I apologise for the quality of the scans provided here. This is a rare item, so photos from bound volumes will have to do till I buy a copy of the magazine!

Christine Sheppard has a cutting pulled from a magazine with no name except the title of the very famous story: "The Snow Goose" by Paul Gallico. I noticed that there was a "motif" stating "A Woman's Day Cameo Book" on the page and set to searching. I then found a cover on eBay which showed that "Woman's Day" was, as suspected the title of the magazine and the cover here shows the idea of the "Cameo Book"

Woman's Day 10 May 1958 showing "Cameo Book"

Yesterday I searched in the British Library through the first volumes and found exactly where the following images were published!  

Woman's Day started publication on 22 March 1958 (and according to the British Library ran till 2 September 1961 = 173 issues). It's size was comparable to other glossies at the time - think Picture Post or Everybodys),  and has some beautiful illustrations by artists like Koolman, Uptton, Edwin Phillips, John Batchelor, Jack M. Faulks, Jack Matthew, and Leslie Caswell. But in a market that was flooded with women's magazines, the horizon was dark, not only with print strikes but amalgamations and takeovers so it's not surprising it merged with Woman's Own. 

But let's look at Raymond Sheppard's illustrations in the magazine - some of his last.

Woman's Day 30 May 1958

The previous week's magazine to the appearance of "The Snow Goose" trailed the coming event along with the usual content- knitting, fashion, cooking etc.  The idea of the "Cameo Book" was quite flexible, covering film adaptations ("The Song of Bernadette" with stills from the film) but some might have stills plus an illustration commissioned for the event. Others covered were "South Pacific" - yes, the musical, and "An Episode of Sparrows" which is the story adapted as "Innocent Sinners" starring Flora Robson and David Kossoff

Curiously Sheppard's signature appears on the first page of the story (and he is credited) but there are none on the others, including the unusually coloured double page shown at the start of this article.

Woman's Day 7 June 1958 p.25

Woman's Day 7 June 1958 p.27

Woman's Day 7 June 1958 p.30

On the novella's Wikipedia page, we are told: 

The Snow Goose: A Story of Dunkirk is a novella by the American author Paul Gallico. It was first published in 1940 as a short story in The Saturday Evening Post, after which he expanded it to create a short novella which was published on 7 April 1941. 

The Internet Archive has an illustrated (not by Sheppard) copy, if you want to read the book and Sir Laurence Olivier tells the story on YouTube - where other versions can be found to listen to. If you want to know more about the book Martin Benson's page on "The Snow Goose" is interesting

I have mentioned another Gallico story that Sheppard illustrated in one of my first blog articles on Sheppard

As an aside, yesterday after spending the day at the British Library I met some friends. At 7pm the pub rang a very loud ship's bell and announced the very sad news that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has died. One minute of silence followed in the middle of a usually very noisy pub on Euston Road- very strange but very moving. A day that will be remembered for a long time.

Raymond Sheppard and Mountaineering stories (Part Two)

 

Disaster strikes the first ascent of the Matterhorn, by Gustave Doré

I recently wrote about some mountaineering, hill climbing stories which I saw as a theme in Lilliput stories Raymond Sheppard had illustrated. Continuing this we travel to much higher climes/climbs!

The September 1955 issue of Lilliput shows us the "Disaster on the Matterhorn", written by Ronald Clarke. Interestingly Sheppard re-drew the famous Doré image (at the top of this article).

Lilliput September 1955 p.56
Sheppard after Doré

The title drawing shows the infamous mountain with a cut-in for the title font as can be seen from the original art (courtesy of Christine Sheppard). 

Lilliput September 1955 p.57

The Matterhorn original art by Raymond Sheppard

Clarke gives an overview of the disaster and its aftermath, focussing on Whymper who wrote of the tragic event in 1871 after much pressure to share what happened. Raymond Sheppard produced portraits of the climbers Whymper, Croz, Hadow, Douglas, Taugwalder and Carrel. Interesting one portrait - the latter - was not used.

Lilliput September 1955 p.58: Whymper

Lilliput September 1955 p.59: Croz

Lilliput September 1955 p.60: Hadow

Lilliput September 1955 p.61: Douglas

Lilliput September 1955 p.62: Taugwalder

Here's the original artboard where we can see that the Art Editor has noted "Not this" next to the portrait of Carrel, who was the competing Italian for the summit.

Six portraits - Carrel was unused in the article

Ronald Clarke seems to have specialised in mountaineering articles:

• Disaster on the Matterhorn, Lilliput September 1955
• Room for another on Top?, Lilliput February 1956 [This article is about 'Stegophily' - cimbing buildings!]
• Ironmongery on the Mountains, Lilliput December 1956

I searched for books by the same author and am guessing he might be Ronald William Clarke (not to be confused with the Australian athlete) who wrote:
    

• Great moments of Rescue. London: Phoenix House, 1959.
• Sir John Cockcroft. London: Phoenix House, 1959. ('Living Biographies for Young People' series)
• The rise of the boffins London: Phoenix House, 1962.

Lilliput November 1955 p.15

Lilliput changed in November 1955, with its first photographic cover. In this magazine, "La Haute Route" by Jocelyn Stevens tells the story of two guides, seven men and an 18 year old American girl (the authoress) who, setting off from Zermatt, aim to tour La Haute Route - which was first crossed on skis in 1947. This is the only Sheppard illustration as the rest of the three page article show photos of the group and their map across La Haute Route. 

Thanks to Christine Sheppard we have  part of the original art for the above and also a study for the fallen skier.

Peter, the fallen skier - Original art (part)

Study for Peter, the fallen skier

"Long before they'd reached the summit, the oxygen had run out" is how the next story is introduced. 

Lilliput February 1956 pp56-57

"K2 Conquered!" appeared in Lilliput February 1956, written by Professor Ardito Desio who writes about Compagnoni and Lacedelli's 31 July 1954 attempt on the second highest mountain in the world. I'm not sure if the climbers are looking at the mountain range as we are but the original art for these two pages are naturally one in colour and the other in B&W. 

K2 Conquered - Original art (p.57)

Again I'm indebted to Christine Sheppard for the permission to reproduce these following from original art.  

Lilliput February 1956 p58 - Original Art

The image above shows the mountain range with the camp below with 2 tents in the camp. The next image which appeared on page 59 has the scene of Compagnoni losing his footing and tumbling in the snow.

 

Lilliput February 1956 p59

This page shows the positioning and choice of sizing for each image. Some could be drawn very detailed but shrunk to a near blot on paper!

 

Compagnoni losing his footing -Original Art (p.59)

The two masked climbers ascend - Original Art (p.59)

Removing oxygen mask near summit -Original Art (p.60)

Lilliput February 1956 p.61

Dropping into the void - Original art (p.61)

Lacedelli slips on the ice wall - Original Art (p.62)

"A matter of time" by R. M. Martin appeared in Lilliput August 1956. It tells the story of Clive Mander and Peter Halliday climbing Mount Lucifer (which I found out is in Alaska). 

Lilliput August 1956 p. 11

Lilliput August 1956 p. 12

Losing the ice pick - Original Art (partial)

 The climbers are dependent on each other's skills, but accident follows accident. When Halliday falls after hurting his wrist, he is dangling on the rope held by mander, who naturally enough begins to think of how to save at least one of them. A last minute unexp[ected rescue takes place and the two men wonder about what might have been. It's a well-written tale but strangely the author appears to have only written this one story. I can't find anything about him at all.