Raymond Sheppard and Round the Year Stories: Autumn

Round the Year Stories: Autumn - cover

We have covered Spring and Summer and today we look at Autumn! The first article included a biography but a very thin one. So let's rectify that here:

Maribel Thomson was born 23 April 1895, in Aberdeen and she was indeed the daughter of Sir John Arthur Thomson and Lady Margaret R Thomson. She married Charles Frank Edwin, 11 years her senior, (born 27 February 1884?) and they settled in Surrey after marrying in St. John the Evangelist, Blackheath in the summer of 1921 (when she was 26 years old). Charles' father was also Charles Frank born in Worcester. Charles (junior) was born in Guildford Surrey and his speciality later in life was electrical engineering - not surprising he was practical, as his father was a watchmaker. They were living at "Sunrays", Milton Avenue, Westcott, Dorking in 1952 according to the Electoral Register, - there was auction of contents of that house in 1950 so perhaps we have a date range for the move there. I suspect Maribel died at the Garth Nursing Home, Tower Hill Road, Dorking, Surrey, on 25 September 1985 which would make her 90 years old. If I've got the right Maribel, probate was £139,077.

Anyway let's look at Raymond Sheppard's images drawn for this book.

Round the Year: Autumn, p.15
"Down came the dagger-bill in a flash" 
Heron attacking underbelly of a rat

Round the Year: Autumn, p.23
"He landed on the one spot that was rather like home to him"
Skylark on ground

Round the Year: Autumn, p.29
"Over and over rolled the two little animals"
Two shrews fighting

Round the Year: Autumn, p.37
"There was a terrific clash and rattle as the two pairs of antlers meet" 
Two stags do battle

Round the Year: Autumn, p.41
"The leader of the herd"  - A stag bellows

Round the Year: Autumn, p.45
"They flew swiftly and steadily away towards Africa"
Swallows flying

Round the Year: Autumn, p.51
"Lintie began to beat himself against the netting"
A linnet on wire mesh

Round the Year: Autumn, p.59
"Down shot Seep, followed closely by his enemy"
A redwing pinned down by a hawk

Round the Year: Autumn, p.65
"There was no fear of starving in this place" 
An otter climbs on bank with fish

Round the Year: Autumn, p.67
"Gyppo followed the trout wherever it went" 
Otter chasing trout

Round the Year: Autumn, p.75
"Whiskers had leapt into the darkness of the hold"
A brown rat leaping

Round the Year: Autumn, p.81
"He all but collided with a swallow" 
A swallow crashes into a wren

Round the Year: Autumn, p.89
"Buff twisted the tip of his tail round a twig"
A dormouse climbing foliage

Round the Year: Autumn, p.95
"Away went Bunny as fast as his legs would carry him" 
A rabbit flees from a stoat

Round the Year: Autumn, p.97
"Black-Tip sprang at the crow- and he hung on"
A stoat grabs a crow in flight while a rabbit watches

Round the Year: Autumn, p.103
"Tawny was at once set upon by a mob of indignant starlings, tits and sparrows"
Starling, tit and sparrow attack a tawny owl

Round the Year: Autumn, Frontispiece
"Franky pushed himself off and flapped slowly away"
Grey heron takes flight

 In an earlier article on this series, I showed some proof printings and how they differed so much from what was printed. Today I can show you the Frontispiece illustration above, so you can compare them. This was  for sale a while ago and I captured the image from the auctioneer's site.

The grey heron flying

Here's a link to all four Edwin versions:

• Round the Year Stories: Spring with a brief biography and bibliography
  
• Round the Year Stories: Summer with a further biography
• Round the Year Stories: Autumn
• Round the Year Stories: Winter
• Round the Year Stories (all four seasons)