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.