Raymond Sheppard and Biology for General Certificate

Biology for General Certificate, p.275

Biology for General Certificate  by J. T. [John Trevor] Hankinson, M.A. (Biology Master, Canford School) wrote this 344 page school book in 1955 and it was published and reprinted in 1958 and 1959 by Blackie and Son.This was by no means his only book.

•  A Public School Biology. with illustrations by  C. M. Heath. London: Blackie and Son, 1932
• Choosing a Public School. London: Heinemann, 1940
  
• Cricket for Schools. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1946 
• Rugby Football for Schools. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1946
• Hockey for Schools. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1947
• Soccer for Schools. London:  George Allen & Unwin, 1948 [with Alwyn Chadder)
  
• Squash Rackets. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1949 
• Lawn Tennis for Schools. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1951
• Boxing J. T. Hankinson with Richard George Butler Faulkner. London: Allen & Unwin, 1952
• Bowls -Technique and tactics, J. T. Hankinson with Walter Phillips. London:  George Allen & Unwin, 1960

• The Horse and His Rider by Major P.R. Goldingham, Edited by J.T. Hankinson. London George Allen & Unwin, London, 1948

Biology for General Certificate, p.277

Raymond Sheppard drew some lovely animal studies for the book.  They included the Herring, the Eel, the Robin, the Cuckoo and the Rabbit. This book had a forerunner in "A Public School Biology" with "Many of the admirable drawings by C. M Heath [having] been retained and others have been added by Raymond Sheppard, R.I. and B.C.Wood. The high standard has been maintained by contributions from two Canford boys, J.M.F.Mather and J.K. Owen"

Biology for General Certificate, p.284

Biology for General Certificate, p.285

Biology for General Certificate, p.287

 

John Trevor Hankinson's first title in 1932 includes this fact about the author "former biology master and medical tutor". He thanks C. Heath his former pupil, "Exhibitioner of King's College Cambridge" for the drawings. Interestingly, he was featured in 2 photographic articles on Stowe School (Buckingham) in The Graphic (12 December 1931) and the Illustrated London News (10 June 1933). In the book he edited for Major P.R. Goldingham, he states he knew the Major and saw him at Canford, Dorset - from which he resigned his post-war commission on 20 September 1946. The Birmingham Daily Post of the 15 July 1961 tells us that the Danish people were taught cricket by Hankinson who "devoted his summer holiday several times to touring Danish clubs and coaching the younger players". In 1960 the Bookseller magazine tells us with his eighth book ("Bowls") he achieves 70,000 sales for all his books" (25 June 1960, p.21).

 

I suspect he was born in 1904 and died on 31 March 1962, in Charminster, Dorset but can't confirm this.

 

 

 

 

Raymond Sheppard and Blackie's Boys' Annual 1940?

Blackie's Boys' Annual (1940?) p.174
"Beats me", he muttered

"The Great One" written by T. C. Bridges appears in the Blackie's Boys' Annual below. Raymond Sheppard has two illustrations in the story, the first at the head of this article.

Blackie's Boys' Annual (1940?) cover by D. L. Mays

SUMMARY

The story concerns Dick and Lawrence who are cousins staying near the Zambezi with Dick's Uncle who it appears is almost bankrupt. The two teenagers are always in competition until one day a native tells of a lion that swam across the half-mile wide river. Lawrence does not believe it but Dick volunteers to go and shoot it when it is discovered there are tracks on the other side of the crocodile-infested river, but Lawrence feigns a fever to stay behind.  Dick is accompanied by local men whose livestock are being attacked. Unfortunately the lion appears suddenly and Dick finds his ammo has been tampered with. Luckily the palm stems (see second illustration) give Dick time to recover and fire at the brute. In the midst of the adventure Dick falls down a pit and discovers something that will save his Uncle: gold! Lawrence is sent home to England in shame for nearly getting Dick killed .

DATING THE ANNUAL

Trying to date this book is hard (as are a lot of Blackie & Son plus Odhams' titles) but I feel it's 1940 (which is like predicting the future - prone to easy criticism). Stella and Rose's Books date it as 1924 - but there is no interior evidence and indeed it can't be as Sheppard would be 11 years old. Although he was prolific and did draw a lot around that age (see for example here) it's very unlikely he was employed by Blackie in 1924. I wonder if they, like me, looked through the stories to guess how old any historic stories were - and came to 1924 because, there's a tale of "Pasha Peake" and as Wikipedia tells us, 

During the summers of 1921 and 1923, Peake organised the 150-man Reserve Mobile Force, which formed the nucleus of the Arab Legion. 

A Galway bookseller says it's 1930 but I can see no evidence to be that certain and anyway they also state there are "42780 pages" here! There are in fact 208 pages.  I can just see an inscription in my copy - which sadly has been rubbed out - which looks to be 1940.

On the back cover Blackie advertise various titles. The Douglas V. Duff authored "Jack Harding Adventure Series" is one listing, 4 titles being available. Checking dates of these, I found, 

• Harding of the Palestine police 1938 [not on the linked list]
  
• Harding's Mountain Treasure, 1938
• Harding and the Screaming Mantle, 1939
• Jack Harding's Quest, 1939

So I'm going for 1940, but am happy to be contradicted.

THE AUTHOR

Here's the entry for the rather interesting author of the tale, T. C. Bridges, from Lofts and Adley's "The Men Behind Boys' Fiction". 

Bridges, Thomas Charles
Born in France 1868, the son of a clergyman and was educated at Marlborough College. In 1886 he went to Florida to work on an orange plantation, but after much hard work and many adventures he returned to England in 1894, almost penniless, and decided to try his hand at writing. His first two articles on fishing in Florida appeared in The Field, then, after contributing freelance items to many magazines, including Answers - where he joined the latter as a sub-editor - he resigned after about four years to concentrate on freelance writing.
In 1902 he wrote his first boys' story. Gilbert Floyd, who was the editor of Boys Realm, suggested that he write a serial for the paper, and the result was 'Paddy Leary's Schooldays' - the adventures of an Australian boy at an English public school. It was so popular that he wrote two further long sequels and several short stories about the characters.
He also wrote the first story in the new series of the Union Jack, 'With Pick and Lamp'. Apart from being a prolific contributor to many boys' papers, he also wrote books for boys, mainly adventure stories.
In the early 1900's, Bridges and his wife (whom he married in 1899) went to live at Dartmoor, only two miles from the prison. This, no doubt, is why he was fond of writing tales featuring prison life. He wrote Sexton Blake stories for the Union Jack and as late as 1939 he was still contributing to B.O.P., Scout, and Children's Newspaper, where he was affectionately known as T.C.B. In 1928 he published his autobiography 'From Florida to Fleet Street'. His recreations were fishing, golf and gardening, and he was a good friend of Sidney Gowing. He died in Torquay, where he lived during his declining years, in June 1944.

The second illustration by Sheppard is on page 177 and is the rather dramatic image of Dick and the lion.
 

Blackie's Boys' Annual (1940?) p.177
Dick flung himself sideways

Finally here are the contents page listings for this annual to help researchers.

"Pinnacle Ridge" is credited to the author "Hubert Walker" and the accompanying illustrations  to George R Day. Unfortunately someone has listed the colour illustration which is signed by Day as drawn by Walker for page 96.

Raymond Sheppard and Gibson Cowan

Original art for Lilliput April-May, 1952, p.61

I wanted to mention the stories and articles of Gibson Cowan, whose work I've shown previously (see the links in the list below). I mentioned he had a relationship with Elizabeth David the famous post WWII cookery writer and it's quite a story in itself.

Interestingly the General Fiction Magazine Index lists all Cowan's works as being in Lilliput alone, which in itself is unusual. I've looked through each of the copies I have and there are no further clues except that of internal evidence within the stories and articles. 

In the April-May 1952 edition of Lilliput (pages 61-63) we read about the author and his wife Judith (Fellows, according to Dixon Evening Telegraph (24 November 1951)) in a seventeen-foot canoe on the Mississippi. The trip looks to have taken place the previous year. The image above, from "What it Feels Like to Shoot a Rapid" shows the two people in the canoe just when a muskrat swims across their bow. A second illustration by Sheppard showed the pair actually shooting the rapids!

 

Lilliput April-May1952, p.62

Cowan appears to have been quite an adventurer - reflected in his writings. The second piece, an article on attempts to 'conquer' Niagara Falls. The November-December 1952 Lilliput sees the tale "Going over Niagara" with three accompanying illustrations by Sheppard. 

 

Lilliput Nov-Dec 1952, p.79

Lilliput Nov-Dec 1952, p.80

Lilliput Nov-Dec 1952, p.81

The next story illustrated by Sheppard, written by Gibson Cowan is "The Fire" in September 1955 with a nice single page illustration. I always love these images where text is set in an area left by the artist. Note that Lilliput is still using that single 'lozenge' text descriptor to tell us this is about "Adventure".

Lilliput Sept 1955 "The Fire", p.34

 

Original Art from Lilliput Sept 1955

"Jumping a crocodile" by Gibson Cowan appeared in Lilliput October 1955 and tells the tale of catching West Indian Cayman on the edge of mangroves in the dark!

Lilliput October 1955 "Jumping a crocodile", p.29

Lilliput October 1955 Original art, p.30

The last story by Gibson Cowan illustrated by Raymond Sheppard was  "Lost in a volcano" which appeared in April 1956. I suspect the author (or his fictitious creation?) had too much time on his hand, as he explores the idea of ice forming in a volcano. An editor's note after the article explains:

EDITOR'S NOTE:
A phenomenon similar to that described by the author occurs at Sunset Crater in the Arizona Desert, U.S.A., where at the height of summer, dews condensing on porous rock in a shallow cave are cooled to freezing point by rapid evaporation.
 

Lilliput April 1956, p.37

Lilliput April 1956 Original Art

 

Lilliput April 1956 Original Art, p.38

Leonard Gibson Cowan  preferred to be known as Charles Gibson Cowan and is described in  Elizabeth David: a biography by Lisa Chaney, (1998) as " actor, producer, journalist, tramp, con-man, beggar, reprobate - a man was to play a crucial part in Elizabeth's life" (p.72)

His actual working class life is quite a tale in itself and if you're interested his autobiography "Loud Report" is of interest but a shorter version can be read in Chaney's biography of Elizabeth David. Quite fascinating! This is the dustjacket version of David's life, including her "pacifist lover":

Born in 1913, Elizabeth David was one of four daughters of Rupert Gwynne, a Conservative MP. Although her childhood was conventional enough, the inferior quality of Elizabeth's childhood fare acted as a gauge against which she was to set her heart, her intellect and her pen.

At twenty-six, failure on the stage encouraged Elizabeth to abandon England in a yacht [the Evelyn Hope] with her pacifist lover on a voyage which would prove to be the defining event of her life. Stranded in the south of France when war broke out, she met the writer Norman Douglas, whose friendship helped clarify her style and objectives for much of the rest of her life.

Her escape from France led to capture, imprisonment and eventually life on a Greek island, until evacuation just in advance of the invading German army. In Egypt for the last four years of the war, as librarian for the Ministry of Information, work and socializing were hectic and Elizabeth became part of an artistic and literary set which included Lawrence Durrell, Patrick Leigh Fermor and Olivia Manning. On return to England via Delhi and a marriage destined to fail, the writing Elizabeth had thought about for so long finally crystallized as a reaction to her ration-blighted homeland in an outpouring of longing for the sun-drenched Mediterranean lands she had lost.

GIBSON COWAN  BOOKS

• The Last Plays of Maxim Gorki (adapted by Gibson-Cowan), London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1937
  
• Loud Report, London: M. Joseph Ltd, [1938]
• The Voyage of the Evelyn Hope, London: Cresset Press, 1946
• The Odyssey of Mister Man, New York:Norton, 1951
• The Log of the Pelican, London: Cresset Press, 1952 

GIBSON COWAN  MAGAZINES

• The Traveller’s Tale, Lilliput December 1951/January 1952 (illustrated by David Langdon)
  
• What It Feels Like to Shoot a Rapid, Lilliput April/May 1952 (illustrated by Raymond Sheppard)
• Coral, Lilliput September/October 1952 (illustrated by Reg Gray)
  
• Going Over Niagara (with Jean Lussier), Lilliput November/December 1952 (illustrated by Raymond Sheppard)
• Avalanche, Lilliput April/May 1953 (illustrated by Raymond Sheppard)
• Initiation, Lilliput January/February 1954 (unseen)
• On Your Own, Lilliput July 1954 (illustrated by Raymond Sheppard)
  
• The Fire, Lilliput September 1955 (illustrated by Raymond Sheppard)
• Jumping a Crocodile, Lilliput October 1955 (illustrated by Raymond Sheppard)
• Lost in a Volcano, Lilliput April 1956 (illustrated by Raymond Sheppard)
• Outlaws of Cyprus, Lilliput May 1957 (illustrated by Koolman)
• Why I Always Take It Neat, Lilliput July 1957 (illustrated by Thelwell)
  

Various newspaper articles were found too

Raymond Sheppard illustrates Lilliput stories

 

Lilliput September-October 1951
"The birth of a berg" by James Fisher

So here we are in the thirteenth year of this blog! Unbelievable, but I'm so happy to see Raymond Sheppard's name and work better known than when I started.

In August I showed you Brian Marks' fantastic artwork including the opening double-page spread for "The birth of a berg" written by James Fisher. If I had not been so excited I might have remembered to include the above illustration of two seal heads which completes that story's illustrations. So there that's that done.

Let's move onto  covering some more Lilliput illustrations. 

 "Half a ton of tail"

Lilliput April-May 1951 p.47
"Half a ton of tail"

Lilliput (April-May 1951) contains a story "Half a ton of tail" by Charles Osborne. the story's sub-title tells you all you need to know: "Hunting the Basking Shark off the coast of Galway". The two illustrations accompanying the story are 1) of a basking Shark and 2) three men in a boat with the Basking Shark bumping their boat.

Lilliput April-May 1951 p.49
"Half a ton of tail"

This looks to be the only piece by Osborne in Lilliput and looking at the General Fiction Magazine Index, their entry points to Charles Thomas Osborne - who the Guardian, in his obituary, called "Author, poet, biographer and theatre critic who was literature director of the Arts Council of Great Britain" (Wed 18 Oct 2017). The AusLit site has a piece on Charles Osborne, who 

"studied music in Brisbane and Melbourne and worked as a music and literary journalist as well as an actor. After moving to England in 1953, he became the assistant editor of London Magazine from 1958 to 1966, and was the literature director of the Arts Council of Great Britain from 1971 to 1986."

The Australian was born in 1927 in Brisbane and died at the age of 89 in 2017. Read more on Wikipedia. I do not often criticise Sheppard's artwork but when I think of a basking shark, I see a wide open mouth, gathering plankton. Knowing he visited London Zoo very often to sketch, I wonder if lack of material to draw from was the problem.  

Original art thanks to Christine Sheppard

 "Springtime in Alberta"

The next item from 1951, is this one page about prairie chickens.

Lilliput May-June 1951 p.86
"Springtime in Alberta"

 There's a paucity of information on the author Kerr Ritchie who wrote this short singular piece "Springtime in Alberta" in Lilliput. He doesn't appear in the Library of Congress or Library and Archives Canada!

Wikipedia can show you the mating ritual of prairie chickens and tell you more of the bird. But to make up for this lack of information here's the original artwork owned by Christine Sheppard.
 

Original Art

"The Whirling Dervishes"

Original Art (p.39) "an Oriental King Lear"

In the issue dated June-July 1951 J. Lavrin writes about "The Whirling Dervishes", a term I was very familiar with, but had to admit knew nothing! This was Janko Lavrin's only contribution to Lilliput - to my knowledge - even though the author was prolific from the 1920s all the way through to at least the 1970s with many of his works still in print and published in many languages. He was born 10 February 1887 in Krupa, Slovenia and died 13 August 1986 in Fulham, at the age of 99!. He is described as 

"a Slovene novelist, poet, critic, translator, and historian. He was Professor Andrej Jelenc DiCaprio of Slavonic Studies at the University of Nottingham. An enthusiast for psycho-analysis, he wrote what he called 'psycho-critical studies' of Ibsen, Nietzsche and Tolstoy." (Wikipedia)

His Who's Who entry tells us he began as a journalist in Russia, 1910; became a Russian war correspondent, 1915–17. During the War of 1939–45, he was attached to BBC (European service) as broadcaster and language superviser.

Original Art (p.40) The leader

Lavrin tells of wandering in Elbasan, in Albania

"Who is he?" I asked the Albanian who seemed to know everybody and everything in the town of Elbasan. "That fellow? He's a dervish. Chief of the Ruffai. There are a number of sects among our local Mohammedans, but the Ruffai...... 

Instead of finishing the sentence, he only closed his eyes and gave a significant whistle. "If you'd like to see them I could take you there."

Original Art (p.41) The 'victim'

Here the author witnesses the leader who begins a chant that is echoed by others who form a semi-circle around him. Then a bowl was passed from man to man and after smelling the brew the effects begin immediately. An energetic dance and wailing to Allah is followed by one dervish falling to his knees, kissing the leader's bare feet and lying down face upwards, only for the leader to wet his sword blade with saliva, and draw it across the dervish's throat, and "cut into the flesh. One saw the wound distinctly, but there was no blood". As the dance comes to a quieter spell, the leader bends, withdraws the knife, wets his finger and touches the eyelids of the 'victim' who blinks, kisses the leader's feet and rises and joins in the dance. 

Original Art (p.42)The Dervishes

These images are all from the original art which Christine Sheppard still owns. The angles and crops are mine based on my hurried photographs.