Raymond Sheppard and Birds of Moorland, Hill and Sea by Elizabeth Gould

 

Birds of Moorland, Hill and Sea - Front and back cover

This is the third book alphabetically in the series by Elizabeth Gould, but fourth in order within the single volume My Little Bird Book, (1952). This title was published, like the other three, in 1950 - before the combined book of 1952. The book, published by Blackie and Son, came out in November 1950 at 1/6d. 

I've also previously mentioned there are no title pages to each individual volume.  The cover to Birds of Moorland, Hill and Sea shows seaside birds - thankfully, Sheppard ever the professional knew it would be really difficult to show all three types covered by the title!

So let's look at the Raymond Sheppard full colour artwork for this book

BIRDS OF MOORLAND, HILL AND SEA

Rock Pipit 

 

Herring Gull

Jackdaw

Oyster-catcher

Common Tern

Cormorant

Puffins

 

Gannet

Golden Plover

Redshank

Ring Ouzel

Curlew

Dunlin

Black-headed Gull

Linnet

Wheatear  

So that's the third book done, 

NEXT: Birds of Woodland and Hedgerow 

Raymond Sheppard and Birds of Meadow and Stream by Elizabeth Gould

Birds of Meadow and Stream

We've been looking at Elizabeth Gould's 'bird' books starting with My Little Book of Birds (1952). Birds of Meadow and Stream (1950) is the second book in the Blackie and Son series (all 4 of which make up the 1952 book) we see birds in their natural environment plus the occasional look at their eggs. As I've already stated the size of these books (7.5 x 5.5 inches) means some of the art is not as clear as it could be, but I would love to see any originals of these pieces!.

The cover shows five species of bird unlikely to be together in one spot but beautifully illustrative of the book's content.

 BIRDS OF MEADOW AND STREAM 

Meadow Pipit

Skylark

Cuckoo

Lapwing

Spotted Flycatcher

Pied Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

The Dipper

The Moorhen

The Coot

Kingfisher

Little Grebe

Heron

It's interesting to me to note that of all 64 images produced for this series, this Heron image is the only one which has two parts - adding to the page drama.

Sand Martin

Reed Warbler

 

Sedge Warbler

Notice the signature mark - for bookbinding identification - "G. 462" as this is the last page of 16. 

NEXT: We look at Birds of Moorland, Hill and Sea

Raymond Sheppard and Birds of the Garden by Elizabeth Gould

 

Birds of the Garden - Front and back cover

In my previous article introducing My Little Bird Book, (1952) I mentioned this book was made up of four books in one. The first I wish to cover is Birds of the Garden by Elizabeth Gould.  The book, published by Blackie and Son, came out in November 1950 at 1/6d (with the other 3 titles - which I'll cover in due course) at the same time.

I also mentioned previously there are no title pages to each individual volume. If I didn't know better I'd say My Little Bird Book came first and then the four parts were sold separately - but the invaluable Bookseller tells me the reverse - 4 titles published in 1950 and combined in one book in 1952!   

 

Birds of the Garden -half an endpaper and no title page!

As Blackie printed this book, on the last page, we see the usual "Printed in Great Britain by Blackie & Son Ltd, Glasgow" along with the signature mark "(G 461)" but no title page! Looking in the combined edition the signature marks are exactly the same running from "G461" through to "G464" - very strange! I think the "G" might mean printed in Glasgow as opposed to London, but that's a guess and the number - could it be a sequential publishing number? Some publishers use initials of long titles with a number to assist the bookbinding process. 

Also I noticed, for the first time, that some of these appeared in the comic Swift, published by Hulton Press as a junior Eagle.  If you look at the link to the reprinted "Birds and their nests" - itself a reprint of the Swift birds by Sheppard, you'll see the Wren depiction is similar to the one at the end of this article!

The cover of this book shows a garden bird feeding table  and six species of birds who I wouldn't normally see in one place. But it certainly works as a cover

 So let's look at the Raymond Sheppard full colour artwork for this book

BIRDS OF THE GARDEN

The Two Robins

Robins

Robins

Mistle Thrush

Song Thrush

Blackbird

House Sparrow

Hedge Sparrow

Chaffinch

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Starling

House Martin

Swift

Swallow

Brown Wren

Next: we look at Birds of the Meadow and Stream