Raymond Sheppard and the Children's Book of Games, Puzzles and Pastimes

 

Facing page 33

An advert appeared in the book trade magazine "The Bookseller" in the 18 September 1954 issue, for three Odhams books: Victorian People by Asa Briggs, First Interval by Donald Wolfit and the one that interest me here, The Children's Book of Games, Puzzles and Pastimes. The advert states:

An established favourite still in heavy demand:- 

THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF GAMES, PUZZLES AND PASTIMES 

Packed with hundreds of wonderful ideas and suggestions for putting the leisure hours of children from 7 to 14 years to pleasant, practical, instructive use. Exciting contents include indoor and outdoor games, hobbies and pastimes, quizzes, conjuring tricks, problems and riddles, etc. Contributions from 19 favourite authors. Ronald Lampitt, Raymond Sheppard, F.Z.S., and Norman Meredith, A.R.C.A., are among the 25 well-known artists who provide nine beautiful full-colour plates and over 200 black and white drawings. 202 pages. 8s. 6d. net. 

The first instance of the title I could find was in the British National Bibliography (1953) and then 11 June 1954 and the last published advert was 1965, so a good seller for Odhams. Now, I can't say whether the contents stayed the same. The code at the rear of my copy is S.458.5R.R. If anyone knows whether this helps date the book edition I'd be grateful for an email. As I have the dustjacket, the price unclipped states 11/6d (8/6d in 1954 advert)

Pages 28-29
The shell bearing group covers a vast range
from snails and slugs to
giant octopuses and squids

So let's look at Raymond Sheppard's contributions.

"Life on the seashore", written by William Aspden covered pages 22-32. It begins with a page of 7 seaweed types - not by Sheppard - followed by a drawing of children enjoying the seaside - drawn by the excellent Lilian Buchanan - and then two of jellyfish and anemones by, I presume A. W. Darnell as s/he is listed in the contents page. Across pages 28-29 we see the various sea creatures: Smallest British cuttlefish,  Periwinkle, Sea Slug, Octopus, Squid or Decapod, Octopus on its back to show location of its mouth.

Pages 30-31
Shells vary enormously in shape.
Look out for the dog winkle which emits
a purple-coloured fluid when disturbed

Sheppard shows us Auger, Dog Winkle, Cowry, Mussel, Limpet, Common Whelk, Common starfish, and a Brittle starfish.

Page 32
You will notice that a lobster is blue and purple
in colour when found in a rock pool
and he only becomes bright red when cooked

The next page sits on the reverse of Sheppard's colour page (see the top of this article) and is painted by "Chater" - listed as Chater in the contents. I did some searching but came up blank. I know I have seen his/her name before.

The next article, written by Edward Armstrong, "Birds and bird-watching" appears between pages 33 and 45. 

"Some Gaily coloured British birds" is the title of the colour plate by Raymond Sheppard and shows a Green Woodpecker, Jay, Goldfinch, Blue-Tit, Wren, Magpie, Song Thrush, and Grey Wagtail. Sheppard does a small title illustration to the article too - on page 33.

page 33

Across pages 34-35 we see four birds. 

Pages 34-35
The two songsters above are the gay chaffinch and the brown hedge-sparrow
You can always recognize a thrush by its characteristically speckled breast
The wagtail is so named from the wagging of its long tail and its walk.

Pages 36-37
The outstanding characteristic of the woodpecker is its switchback flight
The snipe is easily recognizable by the zigzag process of its flight
The white-throat shoots up into the air and warbles as it flutters

I would love to see how Sheppard would have illustrated the crazy up and down and all about flight of the lapwing!

Pages 38-39
The best way of attracting a variety of birds is to provide them with a bath.
You will enjoy watching the tit's antics with cheese rind and nesting-box

We once had a magpie splashing about in our sunken pond and one of the best things is watching birds on the feeders whilst washing up. Right now we are seeing juvenile sparrows, goldfinches and starlings a lot.

Pages 40-41
An owl requires a special nesting place.
A barrel placed high up in the the trees with an end entrance is best for brown owls.
Here a baby owl is peering for food.

Page 40
An old jar placed in a forked branch makes an excellent nest for this wren

Page 41
This robin looks pleased with his nest made out of a can fixed onto a branch

Now where do I get a barrel? I wouldn't want to put a glass jar in the tree as if it broke, the cats and hedgehogs wouldn't be happy!

 

Pages 42-43
The best way of watching birds without disturbing them
is to make a 'hide' out of old sacking

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Page 44
A pleasant seashore scene taken from a 'hide' showing avocets and rare birds.

If I had to name two birds that I love watching at RSPB Frampton Marsh (near me) it would be the lapwing and also the emblem of the RSPB, the Avocet, who Sheppard illustrated in the book Avocet Island.

Page 45
You will enjoy visiting the cliffs where gannets and guillemots have their haunts

I love the appearance of shadows on this cliff-side image.  You can see how some of these birds look in colour as published in the Swift comic here