Raymond Sheppard and Michael Shephard

 

Lilliput Nov-Dec 1951, p.52

When Lilliput was a pocket-sized publication, it had an interesting presentation on its pages. A little 'lozenge' would list a subject term - in this case "Sport" rather than "Short Story", "Article", "Profile" and even "1901"! Today I want to show you some early Raymond Sheppard appearances in Lilliput, both articles by Michael Shephard.

Part of original art by Raymond Sheppard

Interestingly, if you click on the image of Sheppard's original art, you might be able to make out that this story was to be titled "The Meet" before it was "Vacant Possession". Here's the whole story of the fox that eluded the hunt with Sheppard's artwork. 

Lilliput Nov-Dec 1951, pp.52-53

Lilliput Nov-Dec 1951, p.54

The next one appeared in Lilliput dated "December-January 1952", but I have to tell you, if you are searching for this issue, it's actually Dec 1952-Jan 1953! To be sure, it is Volume 32 No.1 (issue 187). The cover looks like this:

The erroneously labelled Lilliput

Anyway Shephard and Sheppard present the story called "The long net" on pages 71-73. The heading illustration shows the crux of the tale - rabbits caught in a long net. 

Lilliput Dec-Jan 1952 [sic 1953], p.71

Thanks to Christine Sheppard I can share an image of the original art, which shows the colour drawn was used. 

The original art by Raymond Sheppard

The reason I mention colour is because we have an image of the original art for one of the two spot illustrations further on in the story

Lilliput Dec-Jan 1952 [sic 1953], p.72

Lilliput Dec-Jan 1952 [sic 1953], p.73

 

Original art

Researching Michael Shephard, it looks like he led the popular programme on the BBC called "The Countryside" which was first broadcast Wednesday 4 April 1951 on BBC Home Service Midland. The broadcaster travelled Britain visiting various counties, fishing sites, talking on countryside issues (such as Myxomatosis). It looks as if his career for the BBC ended around 1956 after he also took part in "Along the river". One place he visited was the Welland Valley, and the Market Harborough Advertiser (12 November 1953) shows this photograph of the author himself

"HERE chairman Michael Shephard receives a cup of tea 

during the rehearsal for the broadcast. 

With him is Paul Humphreys, the producer 

of 'The Countryside' series.

I've made a start on a bibliography of his work, but can't pin down when he was born or further details. If anyone has anything to add I'd be grateful. 

This photo appeared on the back of his book A Concise Guide to West Country Fishing in 1991 and I know he lived in Tewkesbury but after that I'm stuck with guesses!

 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

BOOKS 

• What Fish is that? An illustrated guide to the freshwater fish of England, Scotland and Wales. [Field Sportsman's Library.]. London: British Field Sports Society, 1950
• "Inland marsh-Shooting" in Wildfowling.[The Lonsdale Library Volume XXIX], London: Seeley, Service & Co., Ltd., [1950].   
• Come and fish. [Sporting scene series]. London: Museum Press, 1952
• Ratcatcher Baronet. The memoirs of Sir Lionel Darell, Bart., D.S.O. Edited by Michael Shephard. London; Eastleigh: Sir Joseph Causton & Sons, 1952
• Come wildfowling. [Sporting scene series]. London: Museum Press, 1953
• Chub: how to catch them. [How to catch them series] Jenkins, 1954
• Happy valley . London: Museum Press, 1954
• Instructions to Young Anglers. London: Museum Press, 1955
• A concise guide to West Country fishing. London: Sportsman's Press, 1991

ARTICLES

• "Pursuit", Boy’s Own Paper December 1950
• “The surprising mayfish”, Field April 1951, p.597
• “Before the geese flew north”, Field May 1951 p.690
• “Fast water for the start”, Field June 1951 p.949
• "Vacant Possession", Lilliput November/December 1951 
• “The technique of using decoys”, Field, February 1953, p.196
• "The long net", Lilliput, December/January 1952 (sic, 1952/1953)
• "Summer Fishing", Boy’s Own Paper July 1954
• “A plan for better wildfowling”, Field September 1954 p.419
• "Sport on the Stubbles", Boy’s Own Paper September 1954
• "Pike Hunting", Boy’s Own Paper November 1954
• “The Canada goose population”, Field, May 1956, p.971
• "Through marshlands, dykes and rivers" Tewkesbury Register 19 September 1958
  
  

Raymond Sheppard and "Zoo"

 

Zoo Vol.1 No.6 November 1936 pp.12-13

Volume 1, issue 6 of "Zoo" was published in November 1936 and on pages 12-13 there's a single illustration by Raymond Sheppard. The day I found it, I think I went a bit mad, because I bought two bound volumes of the magazine to obtain that one illustration - of course, hoping there would be more. Unfortunately that was not the case! There are other artworks by Ronald Lampitt and others but this is primarily photographs accompanying articles. My copies are bound so rather hard to scan, as you can see.

The magazine was the "Official Organ of the Zoological Society of London" with Julian S. Huxley as Advisory Editor and Hugh Pilcher (F.Z.S.) as the Editor. Why the Editor chose to truncate the title from its American title "The Last Trumpeters" is not known. I've copied the contents below to show what sort of articles appeared and this particular issue has the following contents:

Articles

• When Reptiles Ruled the World, by L. R. Brightwell, F.Z.S.
• Children of the West Wind, by Seton Gordon
• Wings over the Sea by V. C. Wynne-Edwards
• A. R. Wallace Explores Malaya
• Fashions in Dogs, by Major Milford Brice
• The Open Book of Evolution, by Julian Huxley
• New Paradise for Old
• Protector of the Birds by E. A. Guest
• Rats—Their Life or Yours, by Margaret Shaw

Pages of Pictures

• Wild Kangaroos
• Black Bruin
• X-Ray Reveals Hidden Beauties
• Readers' Prize Photographs

Fiction

• The Last Trumpeter, short story by Elmer Ransom
• Beowulf, serial story by Ernest Lewis

Features

• Zoo Stars—the Kangaroos
• News from the Zoos
• Nature Parliament
• Frances Pitt's Nature Walk
• S. L. Bensusan's Countryside Chronicle
• Book and Film Reviews
• Zoo Club News
• Your Pets
• Jubilee's Jests
• Animals in Legend
• Animals in Art
• Zoo crossword puzzle

The Swans, a 1972 book, was written by Peter Scott and the Wildfowl Trust, published by Houghton Mifflin Company. The flyleaf:

There is a magic about swans that has persisted through the ages, in heraldry, art, myth, and ornithology. Now for the first time we have a truly comprehensive book about these noble birds. It covers all the eight species, including the Whistling Swan of our Atlantic seaboard and the magnificent Trumpeter Swan of the West, largest of North American waterfowl, whose recovery from the brink of extinction is one of the more heartening stories in the annals of wildlife conservation. In Great Britain, of course, the Mute Swan
has been the British Crown bird since earliest times, and has thus drawn a measure of protection.

For our purposes, I found a handy outline of "The Last Trumpeter" by Elmer Ransom in Scott's book. In the chapter on "Conservation",  by G. V. T. Matthews he wrotes:

Conservation is no longer the preserve of the ageing, desperate to retain something of the good earth they have known. There has been an upsurge of interest among the young, urgent to prevent the destruction of the natural world before they have had time to enjoy it. Education has at last become a more powerful force than experience. In my own case the dilemmas of conservation were first thrust home, in my early teens, by Elmer Ransom's story called 'The Last Trumpeter', published in the old Zoo magazine. In this tale the last breeding pair of Trumpeter Swans was migrating south with their three young. Ambushed by shooters, the young were destroyed but the parents flew on. Trapped on their roosting lake by a sudden overnight freeze-up, the male struggled free but the female was held in an icy grip and was about to be devoured by a ravening wolf. A field-biologist, who happened to be studying the decline of the Trumpeter Swan towards extinction, appeared on the scene and drove off the wolf. He himself was faint with hunger and exposure. However he cut her free, she rejoined her mate and the species' continuity was ensured. The story ended with the biologist drifting into numbing death. 

Daily Herald 27 May 1936

  THE AUTHOR

Elmer Ransom 1932

This handy biography appeared in the June 1934  of the Writers Digest:

ELMER RANSOM is forty-two years old and a graduate of the University of Georgia. He lives in Augusta, Ga., and writes when he isn't fishing or hunting. He served throughout the World War as First Lieutenant, six months of the time being spent in France. This experience was the background for a number of his stories. He is best known, however, for his animal stories and articles on the outdoors. His story, "Rack, Son of Ezekiel," was published in COSMOPOLITAN, and in "Favorite Stories of Famous Writers," the Cosmopolitan anthology containing the six best short stories published in the magazine during the year. COSMOPOLITAN stated that this story drew more fan mail than any other single story published in two years. Ransom has had fiction published in recent months in SATURDAY EVENING POST, FIELD AND STREAM, ARGOSY and articles in various trade journals. His Cosmo story was his first fiction entry into the slick paper field, aside from the Cosmopolitan book magazine of which he is a contributor. At this writing COSMOPOLITAN, OUTDOOR LIFE, and ARGOSY have Ransom stories on hand for which they have paid and which will appear shortly.

I found some of Ransom's work appeared regularly in Field and Stream from 1930 through to, at least 1937, Argosy 1934,  and in the same year he wrote articles for Writer's Digest including this lovely advice (January 1938)

"The Case Method", Writer's Digest, January 1938 

He also wrote for Outdoor Life (1934), Good Housekeeping (1936), The Popular (1937),  many articles began to appear in Atlanta Constitution, especially about local parks, mountains streams etc. The newspaper magazine supplement This Week contained stories by him from 1937-1940. In a letter appearing in the science-fiction pulp magazine Astounding (volume 19 no.5, July 1937) one Elmer Ransom praises a previous story and we see his address is Augusta, Georgia (USA).  Tracing stories reprinted in UK magazines I could only find the focus of this article Zoo plus Everybodys, February 1939.

In The Southerner: a biographical encyclopaedia of Southern people. (New Orleans: Southern Editors Association, 1945) we learn Elmer Inglesby Ransom, 1892-1942  was born in Augusta, Georgia on 25 February, 1892, son of George Mortimer Ransom and Susie Harker Ransom. He attended the local University and on August 30, 1916, married Lilliam Van Dyke Ransom and they had 2 daughters , Caroline Ransom Freeland and Sue Elmer Ransom Flater. Ransom served as 1st Lieutenant in World War I and later became a teacher of Physics, and then Guest Lecturer (appropriately, on the short story), at the School of Journalism, University of Georgia. Apparently he began writing short stories in 1928 and contributed to Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Country Gentleman, American Magazine, Field and Stream, Sports Afield, Liberty, etc.

BIBLIOGRAPHY of BOOKS ONLY

• "Rack, Son of Ezekiel" in  Favorite Stories by Famous Writers , New York: International Magazine Company, Inc. 1932
• The last trumpeters and other stories, University of Georgia Press, Athens, 1941
• Fishing's just luck : and other stories Howell, Soskin Publishers, New York, 1945
• The woodland book Howell, Soskin, Publishers, New York, 1945 - illustrated by Sabra Mallett contained reprints of short articles from "This Week" magazine 
• "Rack, Son of Ezekiel" in  Teen-age Companion, ed.Frank Owen, Grosset & Dunlap, 1946  

If anyone fancies creating a bibliography of his short stories and articles, a good starting place would be the Internet Archive

Raymond Sheppard and Unlawful Cargo

 

Unlawful Cargo, p.7

 I want to share the drawings from another children's book illustrated by Raymond Sheppard.  This time for Oxford University Press as part of a school reader scheme "Stories Told and  Retold".

The series, formerly known as Stories Retold, was extended to include newly-written adventure stories. As the South Pacific Commission reviewer in SPC Quarterly Bulletin.(Vol. 7 No. 4, October 1957) says:

Overseas students often wish to read material with a local background; they also often wish for something which is a little more up-to-date and faster-moving than the somewhat dull fare of bygone days which is so frequently served up to them. This series is now beginning to cater for this need, and these three titles provide well-written, fast-moving adventure stories which we feel sure will be welcomed in tropical areas by students who have completed six years of an English course.  

Unlawful Cargo is an exciting story about diamond smuggling in the Middle East and Africa. The Crocodile Dies Twice has Singapore and Malaya as a background and is about a school-boy’s discovery of a wartime treasure trove. Adventures at Dabanga School has an African background and comprises two short stories.   

Unlawful Cargo, p.28

The story tells of the Head of Police, Ronald Wilson's meeting with Sir George Leatherstone "one of the British Civil servants whose names do not get into the newspapers" in a "British West African colony". Sir George wants Wilson to find a suitable candidate to infiltrate a diamond smuggling gang.  He does and the adventure begins - with Sullivan being arrested and meeting the local lawyer - Mr. Amerilla (pictured on page 7). Sullivan manages to ingratiate himself with the lawyer who happens to be the organiser of the smuggling ring locally. he uses a beautiful woman to smuggle diamonds to the Middle East from West Africa and Sullivan tags along fooling the traffickers by not getting caught with the diamonds.

 In Khartoum Sullivan follows the woman and witnesses the swapping of handbags at a market stall. (page 28). He eventually lands in Beirut and meets the head of the organisation, whom he persuades, to organise an expedition to Nigeria to collect three quarters of a million pounds of raw diamonds Sullivan allegedly has hidden. In truth he wants the lawyer, Amerilla and the Boss, Mr Fuad, to cross the Nigerian border so they can be arrested. On page 49 we see the meeting between Sullivan and Faud - who wears sunglasses. He falls for Sullivan's plan and they head off. But trouble pursues them and someone recognises Sullivan's local accomplice as a police officer. (page 77). But just in time the French police arrive to arrest the smugglers and free Sullivan and his friend. What happens to the woman, is not mentioned.

STORIES TOLD AND RETOLD

The cover of Unlawful Cargo

On the back cover are listed other titles in the series - my copy of Unlawful Cargo is a 1958 reprint, the original was printed in 1955 with Sheppard's illustrations. 

Unlawful Cargo, p.49

• Stories from Shakespeare Retold by H. G. Wyatt
• More Stories from Shakespeare Retold by H. G. Wyatt
• Tom Brown’s Schooldays by T. Hughes. Retold by H. D. B. Harford
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Retold by E. Smith
• Treasure Island by R. L. Stevenson Retold by G. F. J. Cumberlege
• Beau Geste by P. C. Wren Retold by R. C. Goffin
• The Hound of The Baskervilles by A. Conan Doyle. Retold by B. M. Chester
• The Tale of The Bounty by H. G. Wyatt
• The War of The Worlds by H. G. Wells Retold by L. Brander
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe Retold by A. S. Hornby
• Adventures At Dabanga School by P. H. C. Clarke [Illustrated by Jack Matthew]
• The Crocodile Dies Twice by Shamus Frazer [Illustrated by Richard Walker]
• Unlawful Cargo by S. F. Stevens [Illustrated by Raymond Sheppard]
• The Message from The Tomb by F. J. F. Tingay [Illustrated by A. S. Douthwaite]

Notice the last four are the newer tales and are illustrated, I couldn't find any evidence whether the others are or not.

Unlawful Cargo, p.77

According to the British Library and others, S.F. Stevens is Sydney Frank Stevens. Now I assume as he has written for Oxford University Press school readers that he has an interest in simplified English - i.e. for non-native speakers. If this is the case we might assume too that he is the person mentioned in the Queen's Birthday Honours list of 1960, where we learn about "Sydney Frank Stevens, lately English by Radio Manager, British Broadcasting Corporation". The English language teaching department "English by Radio" within BBC World Service began in 1943 and listings in the Radio Times don't mention Stevens unfortunately.. Looking for other works by Stevens I think I have a basic list below in which I make the assumption this is the same person, several published in Florence, Italy.  

• The Missing Scientist, etc. (Illustrated by Raymond Briggs.), London: Oxford University Press, 1958
• Business in English [Audiobook] London: BBC, 1960
• The Odhams Series of Language Courses. [A series of text books with gramophone records in French, German, Italian and Spanish.], London: Odhams Press, 1960
• Twelve American-English conversations, Madrid: Omnivox, 1961
• A Christmas Carol, Firenze: Valmartina ed., 1963
• Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Firenze: Valmartina ed., 1964
• Arms for sale. Originally broadcast in the B.B.C.'s English by radio programmes as The past tense of murder [Published unknown] 1964
• Relaxed English, Firenze: Valmartina ed., 1965
• Spoken English Firenze: Valmartina ed., 1967
• Highlights of English history and Civilization , Firenze: Valmartina ed., 1967
• Treasure Island Firenze: Valmartina ed., 1968
• Business in English : a guide to English commercial practice and correspondence, London: Chatto and Windus Ltd Published in association with the British Broadcasting Corporation London, 1968

 

Raymond Sheppard and seaside sketches

 

Noah's Ark by Raymond Sheppard

In the UK we have seen so many rainy days in the last few months - with flooding everywhere and flood warnings being issued day by day. Living on the edge of the Fens we are very interested in those warnings. But we haven't yet had to buy a boat, but Raymond Sheppard's drawing of Noah's Ark doesn't seem to far-fetched!

I decided this time to take the theme of the seaside in order to remember that the rain will disappear some time soon - I hope!  All the images are photos taken by Christine Sheppard who kindly sent them to me. I have cropped some but generally left them as delivered.  

Lobster study in pencil

Lobster

Lobster study

Lobster

I always love looking at Raymond Sheppard's studies, imagining the hours of work he put in at London Zoo and other places. In "Drawing at the Zoo" Sheppard writes:

[The] next problem is [...] how to cope with an animal that is rarely still and often on the move. This latter is our most harassing and immediate problem. Most of us have learnt to draw from still objects. [...]. I need hardly say that a different approach is necessary when drawing from an animal who rarely holds any pose for more than a minute and is just as likely to disappear entirely into some inner den or sleeping box. This vanishing trick can be very exasperating. We must just exercise patience and hope he will re-appear. Now, no one can be expected to change his habits overnight, so to start with I think it a good idea to draw from the sleeping or seated animal whenever you get the chance. At first try to get the whole animal down on paper—then make careful studies of separate details; eyes, ears, paws, etc. Considered renderings of the difficult foreshortening of limbs outstretched in slumber; all these studies will increase your knowledge. Most important of all; when you get home draw it all again from MEMORY. 

 

Lobster

Lobster outline in profile

He certainly "practised what he preached" looking at the various angles of the lobsters above. Below is a finished pen and ink which I have not found to be published yet. For some finished drawings of seaside life, I've shared the images already from The Children's Own Treasure Book  and there's an image of a lobster also in The Children's Book of Games, Puzzles and Pastimes

Pen and ink of Lobster

The second set of studies are of seals - which will have been invaluable for the drawings accompanying Rowena Farre's Seal Morning - which I have covered five times on this blog as it's a favourite of mine!

 

Studies of a seal (x5)

Studies of a young seal

The upper image shows the principle of catching the outline, then trying to add depth to the figure followed by concentrating on one aspect. I also love the fact Sheppard has started with a finished drawing in the latter image and then focussed on the flippers. 

When I was a child, living in Malta in the 1960s I loved swimming and catching hermit crabs and racing them off rocks into the water. Hopefully I didn't traumatise too many! So here are some studies of hermit crabs and their shells by Sheppard - some in outline and some finished in pencil.

I recently bought a photo of sand eels on acrylic plastic and these images of seaweed make me want to see what the finished drawing, or painting might have been! But at least we can see Sheppard's work.

Sand eels in seaweed

Seaweed forms

 When I was a child I owned a budgie which loved cuttlefish. Here we see two studies by Raymond Sheppard of two live cuttlefish on the move! 

Cuttlefish

Cuttlefish 

Finally we have a starfish and a crab both drawn in colour.

 

Common Starfish

Crab

 

Raymond Sheppard and Birds of Woodland and Hedgerow by Elizabeth Gould

 

Birds of Woodland and Hedgerow - Front and back cover

 This is the fourth book alphabetically in the series by Elizabeth Gould, but third in order within the single volume My Little Bird Book, (1952). When this title was published by Blackie and Son, in November 1950 at 1/6d all four titles were simultaneously published and then in 1952 combined into My Little Bird Book 

I've also previously mentioned there are no title pages to each individual volume.  The cover to Birds of Woodland and Hedgerow shows a large pheasant in the foreground - normally a field bird, being squawked at by a jay and in the background are a tree creeper, nuthatch plus a woodpecker!

So let's look at the Raymond Sheppard full colour artwork for this book

BIRDS OF WOODLAND AND HEDGEROW

Wood Pigeon

Owls

Nightingale

Pheasant

Willow Warbler

Goldcrest

Green Woodpecker

Nuthatch

Tree Creeper

Jay

Rook

Magpie

Of all 63 images Sheppard drew for these books (plus covers) this is the only drawing which has his signature! Blackie were not averse to showing artists' signatures, so was this Sheppard indicating a favourite bird or favourite painting?

Yellow-Hammer

Long-tailed Tit

Goldfinch

Bullfinch