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| Animals and Birds "page 5" |
So allow me to say it again.... ignore my ranting and enjoy the master at work....
I bought this hardback - and by that I mean 'board' book, i.e. solid boards all through the book - and found I already had the picture listed. But the other pictures are gorgeous enough for me to slide them over to my other blog where I post such things when time and inclination allows!
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| Animals and birds - unknown artist |
But back to Raymond Sheppard. Animals and birds was published Blackie and Son Ltd. The British Library received a copy in 1937 so let's go with that being the closest date we can get. Booksellers usually identify an undated book like this by the title of the first story, but here we only have picture captions, so "Parrots". The picture above appears as the fifth entry inside the book and shows the caption "Now you look lovely!" as a young girl ties a ribbon round a calf - with a hen and chicks in the foreground. What I love about this is the clear colouring and the strange attention to detail - what is the 'cage'-like object just out of sight? Why do there appear to be leaves hanging right by the door to the stall? And is the girl going to place her calf in a show?
Anyway, this picture also featured in Blackie's Children's Annual (33rd year as it says in the book, but based on an inscription in my copy "1936" - first story is titled "The King's Mail"). But let's go through all Sheppard's illustrations in this latter book
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| Blackie's Children's Annual #33 (Published 1936?) |
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| Blackie's Children's Annual #33 "Flitter-mouse" by Elizabeth Gould |
Elizabeth, Cynthia and Ted are in the garden when suddenly a bat swoops by. Cynthia had never heard the name flitter-mousie before so the others explain how Old Shepherd captured a bat once and showed it to them, feeding it insects and watching it comb its fur. The children are glad they don't need to hang upside-down when going to bed. I still have no further information on Elizabeth Gould even though she was so prolific at Blackie and Son.
Illustration reprinted in Tales about animals.
The next illustration is captioned "Now you do look pretty" and is the same as the one at the top of this article. It's placed between "The Runaways: An Eastern Play" and "Mrs Mulberry's Money-Box" neither of which is relevant to the illustration. I couldn't find a story to which it might belong.
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| Blackie's Children's Annual #33 "The Revolt of the Donkeys" by Clarissa Lorenz Over-loaded |
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| Blackie's Children's Annual #33 "The Revolt of the Donkeys" by Clarissa Lorenz The donkeys won't come down |
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| Blackie's Children's Annual #33 "The Revolt of the Donkeys" by Clarissa Lorenz "How glad I am to see you back!" |
"The Revolt of the Donkeys" is written by Clarissa Lorenz - the only thing I could find about this author was a mention of a Clarissa M. Lorenz who was married to Conrad Aiken, an American poet, whose correspondence to and from this wife is held in Harvard University. Some of these papers include translations from Spanish so I don't think it's too far-fetched to connect the two ladies. She was a musician and journalist. The Georgia Encyclopedia mentions "Aiken's second wife, Clarissa M. Lorenz, vividly described in her book Lorelei Two: My Life with Conrad Aiken the psychological difficulties the author had in the 1930s, when the couple was living in England. She wrote of having once saved the poet from suicide". At 11 Aiken's father changed personality suddenly and shot his wife and himself. We also learn that Aiken settled for a time in Rye on the Isle of Wight and met another woman with whom he later married and returned to the States. Lorenz's biography spans the years of 1926-1936 (they were married from 1930-1937) and a little beyond the end of their marriage. Clarissa died 16 May 1992. The reference to 'Lorelei' is the device Aiken used in his book Ushant when naming his three wives, Lorenz being 'Lorelei Two'. One other reason I'm associating this Lorenz with ours is a comment in the Horn Book magazine of in an article "Radio's Ugly Duckling." (Sept.-Oct. 1939: pp279-85) where she writes:
One cause of bad programs is radio's complete identification with the machinery of advertising, which limits it as an instrument for diffusing culture. In radio, culture and commerce have knocked heads together with a horrid bang. Since radio economy is based on advertising, the bank balance alone is dictator. One of the most powerful advertising agencies in the country chooses its programs by subjecting a highly cultured couple to a workout. If a program really makes them suffer, the manager promptly signs it up, for he knows it will go over big. The most popular programs today appeal to a child's sensationalism and are designed to bring in box-top returns, with nightmares and unhealthy emotions as a result, plus an avalanche of unused products on the pantry shelf.
This makes me thinks she has some association with children and the media they imbibe. If I'm completely wrong, I'd love to know.
Anyway the story claims to be an old tale of a village where the donkey-owners treat their animals cruelly and the donkeys, decide amongst themselves to go on strike and climb the highest mountain so they cannot be reached. Eventually the owners see the errors of their ways and the donkeys return.
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| Blackie's Children's Annual #33 'Father William' by Elizabeth Gould |
This is a two page story about a proud, possessive and competitive cockerel, by Elizabeth Gould. The last story Sheppard illustrates in the book is "The Grateful Stork" by E. L. Westmorland, another author I can't find any information on.
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| Blackie's Children's Annual #33 'The Grateful Stork' by E. L. Westmorland |
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| Blackie's Children's Annual #33 'The Grateful Stork' by E. L. Westmorland |
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