Raymond Sheppard Illustrator

Monday 11 November 2013

Raymond Sheppard and The No Name Deer by J. W. Lippincott

Wikipedia tells us that the author of "The Phantom Deer" (or "The No Name Deer" as this UK edition is titled) is the father, Joseph Wharton Lippincott (February 28, 1887– October 22, 1976) who amongst other things founded, in 1937 the Joseph W. Lippincott Award for Outstanding Librarianship, which continues to be awarded by the American Library Association each year. His son Joseph Wharton Jr. was also a supporter of libraries in his time as head of the company his family founded "J. B. Lippincott & Co." which eventually merged with what we know as HarperCollins

The engraved cover

The dustjacket states:

This is a tale about one of the miniature breed of deer which are the pride of the Keys, a group of wooded islands off the coast of Florida. It is also the story of old Hickey, who lived amongst the wild creatures on Big Pine Key, of his young nephew, Jack, and of Jack's dog, Towser.
Hickey loved all animals, but grew especially attached to a motherless fawn which had come one night to his cabin door begging to be taken in. When Jack came to stay with his uncle, he and the fawn, which he helped to rear, became inseparable friends.
Together, the boy and the old man followed every exciting development in the fawn's career and, aided by the faithful Towser, joined in the battle against the greedy hunters who visited the Keys. One of them, Hickey's personal enemy, was so determined to kill the No Name Deer at all costs that he set fire to the forest. There were also natural hazards to be faced, including the dreaded hurricane.
The author, who is a naturalist as well as a prominent American publisher, has written a striking story of wild creatures and men in a setting that will be new to most English readers. There are four full-page illustrations by Raymond Sheppard.
No Name Deer is published in America under the title of 'Phantom Deer’.

A proof of the dustjacket

The No Name Deer illustrated by Raymond Sheppard was published in the UK by Macmillan & Co., in 1956. The picture of the proof copy belongs to Christine Sheppard and is the only copy of the dustjacket I have ever come across. My copy of the book is that illustrated above (with no dustjacket)

Frontispiece
The dog stood on his hind legs to sniff at the little deer in Jack's arms

Lippincott wrote quite a few books about nature and animals - these are the ones I have found:

Bun: a Wild Rabbit (1918)
Red Ben the Fox of Oak Ridge (1919)
Gray Squirrel (1921)
Striped Coat, the Skunk (1922) illustrated with photographs
Persimmon Jim the 'Possum (1924)
Long Horn, Leader of the Deer (1928) illustrated with photographs
The Wolf King (1933) illustrated by Paul Bransom
The Red Roan Pony (1934) illustrated by Lynn Bogue Hunt
Chisel-Tooth the Beaver (1936) illustrated by Roland V. Shutts
Animal Neighbors of the Countryside (1938) illustrated by Lynn Bogue Hunt
Wilderness Champion: The Story of a Great Hound (1944) illustrated by Paul Bransom
Black wings: The Unbeatable Crow (1947) illustrated by Lynn Bogue Hunt
The Wahoo Bobcat (1950) illustrated by Paul Bransom
The Phantom Deer (1954) illustrated by Paul Bransom
Old Bill, the Whooping Crane (1958) illustrated with photographs
Coyote, the Wonder Wolf (1964) illustrated by Ed Dodd

Sheppard shows strong compositions of deer in their natural setting here and they mirror other work in other magazines. But as usual Sheppard does not duplicate but uses his intimate knowledge of the wildlife he studied to produce fresh illustrations

Page 80.
He gave a bound, a beautiful, graceful leap, the last that he was ever to make

Here we see the deer's antlers are the focal point and we then realise he is swimming past mangroves (with a hind following) but then the warning note - a hunter in a boat can be seen taking aim