Newnes Pictorial Knowledge: Volume Nine

The contents of this volume (of the ten volume set) :

VOLUME NINE: The story of the early civilisations in the world’s history – how learning and understanding spread from the Mediterranean; How Britain and other countries of the world are governed – concerning Parliaments and people: Local government and courts of law; A children’s treasury of verse – Little masterpieces of to-day and yesterday; Your own special corner: Reading, writing and arithmetic – a helping hand for tiny folk; First steps in drawing, “How to make” and geography – a helping hand for tiny folk; Familiar things and how they are made – industries that serve our everyday needs; The secret of man’s supremacy – about the mental equipment of the human being; Questions and answers on things that interest you and me

H. M. BROCK

I’ve not written about H. M. Brock as I feel he is too well known to worry about and placing these images here helps others who are interested to investigate further. In case you want more information on Henry Matthew Brock, try The Saturday Gallery, and of course Wikipedia. The University of Reading has an archive of around 2000 books in which his work appeared.

ELLIS SILAS

I feel the Shambles in York may have been an inspiration for the first piece above. Silas, of course has work in almost every volume of the Newnes Pictorial Knowledge, and I’ve said a lot about him already.

TREYER EVANS

Treyer Meredith Evans (1889–1958), was most famous for cartoons in Punch and illustrating some of Enid Blyton’s books. In this book, he does quite a few illos. He contributed to Girls’ Realm, The Humorist, Little Folks, London Magazine, Punch, Scout, Sketch, Strand, and Tatler. But despite this, his biography is sparse on details. There are From: Alan Horne, Dictionary of Twentieth Century British Book Illustrators [with additions I found that Horne omitted]

EVANS, Treyer Meredith
b.1889
Born in Chichester, [the son of a dentist]. Evans worked as a commercial illustrator for Pearson [1909] and Hulton [1910]. “He was a bright, stylish illustrator who worked in pen and ink or pencil, often with broad expanses of shading.” (Peppin, 1983.) [He lived at Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire]
Books illustrated include:

A. Brazil: Loyal to the School (Blackie, nd),
A Fortunate Term (Blackie, 1921),
Monitress Merle (Blackie,1922);
F. Inchfawn: Will You Come As Well? (Ward Lock, 1931),
The Verse Book of a Garden (Ward Lock, 1932);
E. Blyton: The Christmas Book (Macmillan, 1944);
A. Armstrong: England Our England (Dakers, 1948);
G. Trease: The Hills of Varna (Macmillan, 1948);
E. Blyton: The Mystery of the Strange Bundle (Methuen, 1952), The Mystery of Holly Lane (Methuen, 1953), The Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage (Methuen, 1954);
M.E. Procter: Three Wise Men (Blandford Press, 1958).

Having had a look at his work in various books and magazines online, I think I can see why Peppin and Micklethwait mention his changing style according to the work he was doing. Some is almost Art Deco; others are pure pen and ink work typical of the day and yet others have a designer quality.

MARJORIE M. THORP

If it hadn’t been for eBay and those wonderful sellers who list properly, I might have had another blank on my hands. But a copy of News Chronicle’s Boy’s & Girl’s Story Book No.5 by Enid Blyton (1937) shows clearly this is the same person. Then of course I checked the marvellous Enid Blyton Society pages and found “The artist illustrated 66 magazine covers. Also credited with illustrating 156 magazine stories.” and in this context we are talking about “Sunny Stories”. She does a few more illustrations in this volume.

I wonder if she is Marjorie Marie Thorp who was born on 17 March 1911 in Kingston, London, as her Father is listed as a Draughtsman in the 1921 Census and she married in April 1933 in East Sheen, Surrey to Roy Charles Bloomfield, where her father is now “Artist” and she has no occupation listed. In 1939 she is living with her in-laws’ extended family at “Story Patch”, Stanners Hill Manor, Mimbridge – i.e. Chobham, Woking. Her father-in-Law is listed as having the occupation of “Service Station & Garage Proprietor” and her husband was also involved unsurprisingly in garage work. She died in October 1993 in Kingsbridge, Devon. Let’s hope I’ve got the right Marjorie!

DENNIS ADAMS

The Aboriginal dance (top) is a nice colourful work as is the Barrier Reef (shown here in an earlier volume) by Australian artist Dennis Adams (1914 – 2001). His biography can be found on the Naval Historical Society of Australia website.

Coincidentally for me, he was stationed at Thorney Island (as was my Dad later). The photo below shows Adams in 1944 painting “a motif on the Mosquito aircraft flown by Wing Commander Peter Panitz, Commanding Officer of 464 Squadron RAAF. Panitz then had the squadron sign writer print ‘Bash The Plurry Hun Boss’ under it. The painting was completed a few days before Panitz and his navigator were killed in action over Dijon, France.” – thanks to the Australian War Memorial site. If you wonder what ‘plurry’ means, it’s a euphemism for “bloody,”

HELEN JACOBS (1888-1970)

Does Helen Jacobs need any introduction? Well Chris Beetles has covered that for me here.

NEAVE PARKER (1909-1961)

Lastly for this volume we have an interesting illustration which is credited to Illustrated London News. I’ve obtained a copy of that version as the reproduction is better than that of the image on page 392 of this volume.

*Illustrated London News* 5 February 1955

NEXT: VOLUME TEN!

Newnes Pictorial Knowledge: Volume Eight

Oct21

Volume Eight of this set has the following contents:

VOLUME EIGHT: The freedom of the seas – the story of our ships and the sailors who man them; The wonders of the heavens – the story of astronomers and their work; The magic art of writing; A guide to good manners for boys and girls; The story of the human body – a marvellous machine and what it does; Favourite hobbies – Pastimes at home and out of doors; Favourite hobbies – Things to make and do: Models and model making; Favourite hobbies – Things to make and do: Handcrafts of many kinds

ELLIS SILAS

I did wonder, when I have completed my run through these ten volumes, whether I should go back and space out some information about artists. For example in this volume we have a lot of Ellis Silas. But I must simplify my habits, so below you’ll find a mini-biog.

“SILAS, Ellis, U.A. (born 1883).
Marine and landscape painter in oil and water-colour; stained-glass artist. Born in London, son of Louis F. Silas a decorative artist and founder member of the United Artists, and grandson of Edouard Silas a composer. Studied art under his father and Walter Sickert. Exhibited at the R.A., R.I., R.O.I. He was a war artist for the Australian Government 1914-18, and spent three years in Papua painting and collecting curios which he described in his book A Primitive Arcadia. President of the London Sketch Club 1930. Lived in London for many years.” ~Taken from: Grant Waters, Dictionary of British Artists working 1900-1950

In the Daily Mirror of 22 May 1916, I found “On Saturday their Majesties received at Buckingham Palace Signaller Ellis Silas, an artist attached to the 16th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force”. This publicity could have done him no harm at the time and indeed his work started appearing in The Bystander from 1920 and from 1925 The Sketch and the Graphic included his work. His three year ‘sojourn’ to the South Seas and the exploits he encountered were wonderful pieces for the post WWI public (from which he wrote “A Primitive Arcadia”and he wrote an article for Wide World in the same year). From October his work also appeared in Illustrated London News. For the Coronation issue of The Sketch, he drew a full page of Elizabeth I’s coronation.

A short bibliography

Crusading at Anzac Anno Domini 1915. Pictured and described by Signaller E. Silas, etc. London: British-Australasian, 1916
The Big Picture Book of Trains, Ships, Motors and Aeroplanes by E. Chivers Davies, London & Sydney: George G. Harrap & Co, 1920
The Story of the British Navy, by Harold Felix Baker Wheeler, London : G. G. Harrap & Co, 1922
The art of the Trobriand Islanders, London: Studio Publications, 1924
Catching fish with the hands : unique methods of the dusky fishermen of the coral seas, London: [Unknown], 1925
A Primitive Arcadia: an artist in Papua, London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1926
Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley, London: G. G. Harrap & Co, 1927
The iron pirate: a plain tale of strange happenings on the sea by Max Pemberton, London: Associated Newspapers, c.1930
Norman knights set out for the Holy Land, London: Evans Brothers., 1936
The Flying Pirates by D. E. Marsh, London: G. G. Harrap & Co, 1938
A picture map of the ancient world, London: Evans Brothers., 1939
Atlantic Adventure by Conor O’Brien, London: G. G. Harrap & Co, 1943
Living among Cannibals: An account of the author’s experiences on the island of Malekula by Thomas Harnett Harrison, London: G. G. Harrap & Co, 1943
North Wales, by British Railways, 1950
Orient Line to Australia : Sydney Heads [POSTER] [London: Orient Line?], c.1950

So Ellis Silas was certainly famous back then!

WILLIAM MCDOWELL

William John Patton McDowell (not to be confused with the Suffolk artist McDowall) was born 26 November 1888 and self-taught. Painter, draughtsman and commercial artist, born in the shipbuilding town of Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, who on leaving school was apprenticed in the drawing office of the engineering firm Vickers. In the 1921 census he is listed as “Artist Sketcher” for Vickers. By 1939 he was listed at “Novelist & Artist” He married Gertrude Evelyn Duerden in 1913, who was born in Burnley in 1889. McDowell was to become a member of the Institute of Naval Architects. Shortly after World War I McDowell left naval architecture to become a full-time artist, producing murals for the liner Mauretania and other vessels, eventually settling in Wallasey, Cheshire. Many of his own paintings were of historical or maritime subjects, shown at the Walker Art Gallery and elsewhere. In 1919, his picture “Stern all-strike!” was included in the RA Summer Exhibition and reviewed positively in The Globe (3 May 1919). During World War II he was commissioned in the Royal Naval Scientific Service. McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock, holds his work. His work appeared in many London weeklies and monthlies including Illustrated London News . He was Honorary Secretary of the Chelsea Arts Club and member of the Society of Marine Artists. He died in Surrey on 21 December 1950.

CYRIL COWELL

I’ve written about Cowell here, but couldn’t resist sharing this as an example of dated suggestions! That bed does NOT look safe! And the next image is of a sea I’ve never travelled on. For some reason my journeys tend to be on choppy water!

Raymond Sheppard also produced four colour plates in this volume which I’ve reproduced and written about on my other blog

ERNEST ARIS (Alfred Ernest Walter George Aris, FZS, SGA)

Search the V&A Collections and you’ll see quite a few artworks including posters. He has a Wikipedia page too

JOHN RIDDLE BURGESS

J.R.B. or JRB? I couldn’t find any likely candidates in Peppin (1983), Horne (1994) but my old standby (Kirkpatrick, 2019) has an entry for one “J. R. Burgess” and on further investigation I found that Robert J. Kirkpatrick had shared the information on my old friend Steve Holland’s blog – allowing me to link to it for you. And one image in particular shows the same initials written in the same way!

John Riddle Burgess was born in 1880 in Shepherds Bush, London, married Margaret Underwood on 3 September 1914 and J.R.B. died at St. Stephens Hospital, Barnet, on 20 July 1966. Thanks to Steve and particularly Robert J Fitzpatrick.

Newnes Pictorial Knowledge: Volume Seven

Oct14

I’ve now reached Volume Seven of this 10 volume set, the contents of which are:

VOLUME SEVEN: Great painters of all nations – how they lived and what they achieved; Literature through the ages – The lives of the great poets; The lives of the great composers – a story of music and musicians; Literature through the ages – Great books and their writers; Wonders of architecture – The story of the builder and his art; Great thinkers of all nations – From the ancient philosophers to the scientists of to-day

My aim, as usual is to show and chat about the artwork I find interesting or that may help fans of certain artists find their work in obscure places. I tend to avoid art that’s reprinted from other works unless it’s particularly striking!

Christopher Gifford Ambler

We’ve talked about Ambler in depth when looking at his work in Volume Five. In this volume, besides the image above he also contributed several full page scenes of scientists, like the one above between pages 367 and 395.

Richard Howard Penton (RHP)

Page 169 – Artwork by Richard Howard Penton

You can read about Penton in Volume Two‘s entry. I scanned this as I thought it stood out as atmospheric – and a bonus was the signature!

UNKNOWN ARTIST – again!

I think – and am willing to be corrected – this is the same artist whose work appears in Volume Five who I described as an early Joyce Mercer – for want of a better indexing/search term! I’m hoping one day to find out who she is (and I feel it is a ‘she’) and then amend these entries with her name.

ELLIS SILAS

Silas is mentioned in Volume Four and this image is added here as I always liked the fictional character of Long John Silver. There is other work by Silas in this volume.

ERNEST ARIS (Alfred Ernest Walter George Aris, FZS, SGA)

Aris is so well known, I need say nothing, but search the blog and you’ll trip over lots of examples of his wonderful work.

“B LACK” = Barbara Lack??

Why have I written B. Lack? I tried to search for “Black” and even in Buckman’s Dictionary of artists in Britain since 1945, there are 10 artists listed with that surname. Even eliminating those born too close to the (guessed at) publication date of these illustrations, we still have too wide a field. But then, I looked more closely at the signature. Why does the ‘l’ look so cursive? Is it perhaps that this is “BLack” as in B. Lack? Buckman lists a Barbara Dacia Lack

Barbara Dacia LACK fl. from 1940s— Artist in many media including textile design who attended Perse School in Cambridge, then the College of Art there, followed by Royal College of Art. Showed at RA, in the provinces and abroad. Continued to live in Cambridge for many years, latterly at Temple Sowerby, Penrith, Cumbria.

Wikipedia have a project called “Women in Red” where there are links to -as yet – non-existent wiki pages on women artists who are mentioned in at least 2 art biographical dictionaries. They have this entry with these cited works:

Barbara Dacia Lack or Barbara Lack, 1907–2004 – cited in

David Buckman (2006). Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 1, A to L. Art Dictionaries Ltd. ISBN 0 953260 95 X.
Sara Gray (2019). British Women Artists. A Biographical Dictionary of 1000 Women Artists in the British Decorative Arts. Dark River. ISBN 978 1 911121 63 3.

Unfortunately I can’t seem to track down the latter to borrow but assume that’s where the date of Lack’s death came from. Their artwork appears very competent and interesting and I’d love to know more.

***UPDATE******UPDATE******UPDATE******UPDATE******UPDATE***

Checking Findmypast – a gift from my wife for my recent birthday -I see she might have been spelled “Dacea” – one would have to check the writing on her birth certificate to check. But thanks to Andy Mabbett, I went searching. She was born near Cambridge (Chesterton) on the 10 December 1906 – and that might explain why her birth registration appears in the first quarter of 1907. In 1911 she is living at home aged 4 ( Millfield, Cambridge Road, Impington). Her father is Charles Tibbit Lack, born 1873 in Cottenham and is listed as and “Engineer consulting in Jam manufacturing” – I could always smell the Chivers Jam factory when studying at Impington Village College – and that was in the 1970s!). His wife is Florence Daisy Welch, born 1882 in Barnston in Essex. At this point they had Eric Charles Lack, born in 1906 in Chesterton, Barbara Dacea (note again the spelling – and I checked the original record which was filled in by her father, so he should know!) and interestingly they had a 16 year old Nursery Governess, Yvonne Anna Layton and a servant, 19 years old, Florence Emily King.

The Eastern Counties Times of 1 September 1932 include Barbara under “National Union of Teachers Advanced First Class” listing of names. I’m not clear on who is awarding what here, as the NUT is unlikely to award any certificates.

In 1939 we learn that Barbara and her widowed mother (Charles died on 30 September 1932, aged 59) are living in 12 Richmond Road, Cambridge and Barbara is now an “Art Teacher & Designer” and still single. Her parents appear to have had another daughter (Joyce Marian, born 1911) and another son (David J D Lack born 30 July 1923).

Barbara appears to have died in the first quarter of 2004 in the Penrith district – and double checking subscriber’s family trees it looks like she died on 28 January 2004.

Raymond Sheppard

Two pieces by Sheppard here: Pages 251 and 254 – the former a full page labelled “Raiders in the Poultry Run” and the latter “Tarka The Otter”. I’ve shared them on my Sheppard blog

John L. Baker

John L. Baker has done 4 colour pages as a series (the first at the top of this article. The three others show the Forum at Rome; a Greek Theatre and the Agora or market place in Ancient Greece. I wrote about the artist in the previous Volume article.

HARRY RUTHERFORD

Harry Rutherford (1903-1985) drew many painting ans sketches and appeared on early TV in the UK before the Second World war! Born in Denton, Manchester and famously was taught by Adolphe Valette, and was a ‘disciple’ of Sickert. He moved to London in 1932 where he taught and freelanced for Fleet Street papers.

Have I identified his signature correctly? It’s certainly Rutherford but does that say Harry? I can’t another Rutherford to fit the bill – but that’s “arguing from silence” not proof.

GEORGE HORACE DAVIS – G. H. Davis

I talked about Davis when showing you contents for Volume Six. And again there are quite a few of his works in this volume, but I want to highlight two

Here’s another incidence of Davis’ work which I suspect appeared in earlier editions of Newnes Pictorial Knowledge as he’s signed this one 1945. If the forst Atomic Bomb was dropped and the world became aware of it in August 1945, this is an early atomic article showing “eventually the forecasts (of an atomic locomotive, house and liner) are likely to become realities”.

The management guru Peter Drucker said it best: Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window. And Davis’ next illustration shows this too. Obviously he is unlikely to have written the script for these images! Whoever did write it was right regarding the first satellite launch in 1957 but the only space station we got by 2000 was the International Space Station, which began its continuous human occupation on November 2, 2000. It doesn’t look quite as pretty, but it’s still there in 2025.

Page 447 Artwork by G. H. Davis, first published in the *ILN* – Artwork dated 1955

NEXT: We look at Volume EIGHT

Newnes Pictorial Knowledge: Volume Six

Oct7

Page 416, artwork by Terence Cuneo [Dated March 1952 – painted for Massey-Harris Ferguson Ltd.]

Volume Six of this 10 volume set has the following contents:

VOLUME SIX: Treasures won from the earth’s crust – The romance of coal, iron and steel; Treasures won from the earth’s crust – Metals that serve us in a hundred ways; magnetism and electricity – a great discovery and its many developments; Famous inventions and how they were evolved – What master minds have done for the good of man; Services we maintain for the common good – the work they do and how it is carried out; The world and its work – The story of some great industries; The world and its work – Agriculture – producing food from the land

Most of this volume is photographs with few illustrations. But there are some interesting pieces as can be seen above. Terence Tenison Cuneo CVO OBE RGI FGRA (1 November 1907 – 3 January 1996) needs no introduction from me!

Cowell, who I mentioned in more detail in this article, seems to have been a very competent technical illustrator. Further down this article we have another technical drawing.

This is the same Ellis Silas mentioned in Volume Four but this time in colour. And for good measure here’s a later illustration in this particular volume by him.

Page 128, artwork by – I suspect by the initial – Clifford Ambler

Clifford Ambler’s work also appeared in Volume Five, but I loved this colour image of clothing through the centuries, so had to share it. The figurework is so competent and three dimensional.

With the image above (page 163) and the one below (page 255) we get more of the distinctive art by George Horace Davis, who was born in London in 1881 and died in 1963. Jeremy Briggs has written a lovely biographical article here Davis’ work also appeared in Volume Five, and here I wanted to show the two fascinating images – the first about dynamos and the second about “the electric eye”! Here’s an article on his cutaways – for which I think he is best remembered today.

There are three cutaways – which appear to be from something called “Farm Mechanisation” – the one above, a combine harvester, plus there are a pick-up baler and a modern tractor.

John BAKER (not to be confused with the American artist John Leo Baker 1927-2005) was born in 1922. His description in David Buckman’s Dictionary of artists in Britain since 1945 :

Painter, draughtsman, illustrator, writer and lecturer, born in Birmingham, where he attended the School of Art, then Slade School of Fine Art. Worked under the guidance of the prolific newspaper draughtsman Hanslip Fletcher and freelanced for various publications, also lecturing on anatomy at Sir John Cass School. During the 1970s showed at RP, portraying civic dignitaries and show business personalities, then developed towards animal painting, involved in the early days of the Society of Equestrian Artists. Baker from 1966 wrote and illustrated a series of articles in the Surrey Advertiser called ‘The Seeing Eye’, and gained a local reputation as a controversial critic on architecture. He published A Picture of Surrey in 1980. Latterly lived near Salisbury, Wiltshire. Guildford Borough collection holds his works.

He also contributed at least 18 posters for a Macmillan’s children’s school set and A Picture of Hampshire, 1986. His carriage artwork for LNER is popular showing scenes of London landmarks too. I can’t find when he died – if he has!

Lastly I was amazed to discover a piece I’d not seen before by Raymond Sheppard, which I shared on my other blog.

NEXT: VOLUME SEVEN

Newnes Pictorial Knowledge: Volume Five

Sep30

I’ve described in detail the contents and history of this 10 volume encyclopedic set of books – just follow the link . I’ve established my set was published after May 1957, whether individual volumes changed from previous editions is too hard to tell.

Today I want to look at Volume Five by itself. Its contents are:

Meteorology and what it means – the rain, the snow, the winds and the tides
Our engineers and their work
The stories that scientists can tell us – about heat, light and sound
How steam and petrol work for man
Fable, myth and legend

ARTISTS AND MY COMMENTS

If you follow this blog, you’ll know my mantra. I’m trying to make sure artists get their credit; I want to mention them so any researchers know they are in this work and lastly I’m sharing what I like or find interesting.

I searched quite a few reference works to find Cyril Cowell. His signature stands out and usually does not have his first name. Luckily we do know something about Cyril. He was born in Canterbury, Kent, in 1888. He drew illustrations for nursery comics from the 1920s to the 1950s, including the Pip and Squeak Annual (1933), and Mickey Mouse Weekly. In the 1940s he drew the weekly gardening strip ‘Adam the Gardener’, written by Morley Adams, for the Sunday Express. He drew a series of 6 cards for Bamforth, the postcard printer, “The Squirrelquins” in 1943. He also illustrated children’s books, including Enid Blyton’s Fourth Holiday Book and at least one poster for Blyton’s series “Two Years in the Infant School”. He died in Sutton, Surrey, in 1967. Cowell’s work here goes from page 85-114 (with some photos interspersed plus some work by “JHV”), and more of Cowell’s work will appear in later volumes of this series too.

Here’s a short list of his works:

The Red Magazine July 1909, May 15 1910, June 1 1910, June 15 1910, December 15 1911, July 1 1912, July 15 1912, August 1 1912, August 15 1912, January 1 1913, May 1 1913, October 15 1913 and front cover May 25 1923.
Gaiety [Magazine] May 1923
Sunny Stories for Little Folk: The Golden Hair and the Three Bears No1. [Magazine] by Enid Blyton, London: George Newnes, 1926
The Bumper Book for Children, by Various, Edinburgh & London: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., 1927
The Foundations of Reading. (Pupil’s Book B) by Richard Wilson, Edinburgh & London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1929
The Foundations of History, (Pupil’s Book B: Father Time’s Tales) by E.D. Hancock, (Colour illustration plates by Hugh Chesterman. Picture maps by Cyril Cowell), Edinburgh & London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, [c.1929]
British Legion Children’s Annual 1935
My first book of aeroplanes ships and trains, London: Thomas Nelson, 1935
Romp Time Tales, by J. F. Lipscomb, London(?): The Avenue Press, [c.1936].
Children of the Dawn, By E. Davis, (The Heritage Of History series, Book 1) London & Edinburgh: McDougalls Educational Company, [c. 1937]
Noddy Nibbler, By Cyril Cowell, London: R.A. Publishing Company, 1940
Top-All Book of fairy Tales, London: Frederick Warne, 1942
Robert the Cat in Blue by Mary Isabel Hart, London: Ornum Press Ltd.1944
Teeny and Weeny, London: P. M. (Productions) Ltd., 1944
Bill Bun, London: P. M. (Productions) Ltd., [c. 1944]
Tiggywigs of Sty Corner, By Cyril Cowell, London: R.A. Publishing Company, 1944.
Berty Bunkin and George Goosegog by Cyril Cowell, London: R.A. Publishing Company, 1945.
Larry Lop-Ear. by C. Cowell. London: Grout Publishing Co, 1945
Look at this!: A book of coloured pictures (illustrations by Frederick Parker, Rene Cloke, Frank Adams and Cowell). London: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd. [c. 1946]
Discovery on the Farm: Model & Story by May Sarson, London(?): Token Production, 1946
Adventures of Robert at the Circus with models to build by May Sarson, London(?): Token Production, 1946
Adam the Gardener : A Pictorial Guide to Each Week’s Work, with a Full Gardening Calendar and Plans for New Gardens, London: Published for the Sunday Express by Lane Publications, 1946
Larry laughs last. Written and illustrated by C. Cowell. London: Grout Publishing Co, 1946
Twitchy Whisker on the Track. Pictures and story by Cyril Cowell. London & Glasgow : Collins, 1948
Twitchy Whisker. Pictures and story by Cyril Cowell. London & Glasgow: Collins, 1948
Uncle Mac’s Own Story Book, by Derek McCulloch, (Uncle Mac), (Various illustrators), London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co, 1949
Running silver , by Major-General Stewart R. N., London: W & R Chambers Ltd, 1952 (with Raymond Sheppard)
Your Gardening Book, Illustrated by the author, London: Faber & Faber, 1954
Your Book of Animal Drawing. Written and illustrated by C. Cowell., London: Faber & Faber, 1955
Your Book of Figure Drawing. Illustrated by the author. London: Faber & Faber, 1964

Next is Kenneth McDonough with three beautiful pages of aircraft which I loved so reproduce here for you too.

Pages 228-230 by Kenneth McDonough

To those interesting in aircraft I doubt he needs any introduction. But his basic facts are Kenneth Alexander McDonough was born in Wandsworth, London, on 28 February 1921, and later produced many illustrations for Airfix model kits and Aeromodeller magazine, and wrote and illustrated the book Atlantic Wings (1966). He also drew the educational strip “Heroes of the Clouds” for the Eagle in 1950 and illustrated an article on “The lure of speed” in the first Eagle Annual. He retired to the Royal Star and Garter Home for ex-servicemen in Richmond upon Thames in 1995 following a collapse. He died peacefully on 16 January 2002.

Here’s a listing of his Eagle strips, “Heroes of the Clouds” which was a half-page page colour strip beginning in the first issue introduced by a father (early flight) and a son (the jet-age)

Vol. 1: 1, 14 April 1950 – Father (Brian Nicholson), Son (Dick Nicholson) and their Machines, the Farman-type biplane, and the “imaginary jet-propelled fighter”
Vol. 1: 2, 21 April 1950 – Montgolfier Brothers
Vol. 1: 3, 28 April 1950 – Hot air balloons (1783-1805)
Vol. 1: 4, 5 May 1950 – The Phantom (Test flight)
Vol. 1: 5, 12 May 1950 – Hendon and Stringfellow, (1843-1852)
Vol. 1: 6, 19 May 1950 – The development of DeHavilland 108
Vol. 1: 7, 26 May 1950 – Wright Brothers
Vol. 1: 8, 2 June 1950 – Wright Brothers: The saga of Kill Devil Hill
Vol. 1: 9, 9 June 1950 – Wright Brothers
Vol. 1: 10, 16 June 1950 – Bristol Brabazon

Pages 264-265 has a cutaway drawing of the Cunard liner Caronia by G. H. Davis dated 1949 which means this was reprinted during various subsequent editions.. On page 272 he also draws a feature page on the gyroscope.

Laurence Dunn (1910-2006) is so well known and so prolific I’ll leave this here for any fans of his. Dunn also drew cutaways in the Eagle comic and in the Eagle Annuals.

Saloman van Abbé (31 July 1883 – 28 February 1955) has appeared on my blog so many times I’ll leave you to search, but this Robin Hood page just appealed to me.

Again this is just here to mark that Aris drew illustrations (to page 318) to accompany the Brer stories and he does have a ghastly image of a person of colour, which even my thick skin couldn’t ignore. But those were different times. below is an illo to accompany Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Hardy Tin Soldier” story. I would guess it was done in colour and reprinted here in black and white and would love to see the original.

Cyril Holloway drew extensively and I’ve tripped over his work in many places when searching for Raymond Sheppard‘s work. It appears he was represented by Harford Stanton of London W.C.2 along with – amongst others, Edward Osmond, Stuart Tresillian and Gilbert Wilkinson.

The first reference I could find to his work was in The Red Magazine (October 17 1919) and he drew -inter alia- Lloyd’s Magazine, The Strand Magazine, The Detective Magazine, Chums, The Sovereign Magazine, The New Magazine (UK), Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, Cassell’s Magazine, The Premier Magazine, Pearson’s Magazine, The Happy Mag., Britannia and Eve, The Corner Magazine, The Windsor Magazine, Mine, The Novel Magazine, Modern Wonder, Holly Leaves, Collins Young Elizabethan (Thanks to Fictionmags website). His illustrations for “Wide World” magazine went from c. 1923 to about 1955. He contributed to a few Cowboy Comics by Amalgamated Press, and a single volume book Treasure Book of Comics Annual (c. 1952) and a series of half page colour strips in Eagle comic “For Bravery”. These were written by Alan Jason (aka Geoffrey Bond).

Vol. 5: 50, 10 December 1954 – The Polar Medal
Vol. 5: 51, 17 December 1954 – The Albert Medal
Vol. 5: 52, 24 December 1954 – Armada Naval Reward 1588
Vol. 5: 53, 31 December 1954 – The Stanhope Medal
Vol. 6:1, 7 January 1955 – The George Cross
Vol. 6:2, 14 January 1955 – Red Cross Special Service Cross
Vol. 6:3, 21 January 1955 – The Life-boat Medal
Vol. 6:4, 28 January 1955 – The Distinguished Flying Cross
Vol. 6:6, 11 February 1955 – The Cornwell Badge
Vol. 6:13, 1 April 1955 – The Victoria Cross
Vol. 6:16, 22 April 1955 – Croix de Guerre
Vol. 6:17, 29 April 1955 – The Waterloo Medal
Vol. 6:20, 20 May 1955 – The Medal of Honour
Vol. 6:21, 27 May 1955 – The Crimea Medal
Vol. 6:24, 17 June 1955 – The Distinguished Service Order

But I cannot find any birth, marriage or death dates for him. Can anyone help?

My second mystery is this rather nice artist

This artist illustrates the story of Rapunzel – pages 331 – 335 (and I think “How Aladdin lost the lamp” (pp319-332)). If the years between the artists’ work had been greater I might have said this is an earlier Joyce Mercer, but this is very unlikely. Any help gratefully received!

Thankfully we have a signature for the next artist.

Horace John Knowles ( 22 July 1884 – 21 August 1954 ) is most likely remembered best for his fairyland work or his bible illustrations. He also drew illos for two Blyton books: The Enid Blyton Book of Fairies and The Land of Far-Beyond. His archive still exists and is for sale at £135,000 from Jonkers! But fear not Chris Mullen’s excellent FullTable has two of Knowles’ books for you to view to get a better idea of his work. This story has 4 illos (pp336-339) and he also illustrates “Robin Hood” on pages 429-448.

I’ve already tried to guess who “Lance” was in the earlier article on their encyclopedia work. Any ideas anyone? Could it be Lance Cattermole?

Robinson needs no introduction.

I’ve talked about Francis Ernest Hiley (12 February 1878 – 20 December 1965) in an earlier article too.

Christopher Gifford Ambler (30 June 1886- 17 May 1965), specialised in dogs and horses, but here the illustrations are folklore-focussed. The story of the “Red Cross Knight” is on pages 409-420 and has many more illustrations. Ambler drew postcards and railway posters too. This postcard from the Front has heavy irony! The first appearance in a magazine I can find is Boy’s Own Paper April 1920, then his work also appeared in Hutchinson’s Magazine, The Detective Magazine, The Scout, The Crusoe Mag, Gaiety, The Red Magazine, The New Magazine, The Crusoe Magazine, Pearson’s Magazine and finally he is remembered for a run in The Boy’s Own Paper from October 1935 to September 1936.

Maxims of Marquis, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1937
Exmoor Rover by Cecil Russell Acton, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1938
The Cat of Pine Ridge by Phyllis Briggs, London: Hutchinson’s Books for Young People, 1944
Smiler, London: Hutchinson’s Books for Young People, 1945
Furred and Feathered Heroes of World War II by James Gilroy, London: Trafalgar Publications, 1946
The Diverting History of John Gilpin by William Cowper, London: P. M. Productions, 1947
Storm of Dancerwood by Jospeh E. Chipperfield, London: Hutchinson’s Books for Young People, 1948
Working Dogs. London: Oxford University Press, 1949
Greatheart, the Salvation Hunter by Jospeh E. Chipperfield, London: Hutchinson, 1950
Zoolyricks, London: Hutchinson’s Books for Young People, 1950

Ambler’s work appears in other volumes in this set too.

NEXT: VOLUME SIX

Newnes Pictorial Knowledge – Volume Two, Three and Four

Sep22

I’ve described in (too much?) detail what this encyclopedia set is about, just follow the link and there you’ll also find an outline of the contents for the 10+ volumes.

Today I want to concentrate on Volume Two (and Three and Four – although, here I’m cheating, see below)

The reason for sharing these images below is to highlight artists and illustrators whose work has been forgotten, or ignored for many years. I know for a fact that some examples of art I’m showing are reprinted from earlier editions of the work – some that were colour plates became black and white.

Francis Ernest Hiley was born on 12 February 1878, in Gloucestershire and died in Redhill on 20 December 1965, and was very prolific, his work appearing in The Strand magazine where he illustrated many of Conan Doyle’s stories. He drew images for books published by Blackie and Son, Jarrold and Sons and many others. A fuller biography by Robert J. Kirkpatrick appeared on Steve Holland’s blog.

Hiley’s work here covers stories from Ancient Greece – where he drew 8 illustrations and shared the limelight with others such as….

John Harris Valda (1874-1942) was born in Marylebone, London, his father had studied with John Millais but the son was no slouch, creating the first British school of art to teach illustration – and only aged 21 at the time! He went on to join Amalgamated Press illustrating for the text stories of Union Jack, Champion, The Bullseye and many others. I think he’s best remembered from his drawing Sexton Blake illustrations for 10 years. Read more at the Look and Learn archive and follow their link to many images by Valda.

The third artist to help provide drawings for this section on the Greeks and Romans was “Lance”

Could this be Marjorie Lance (1900-1967)? I am not all all sure as the only artwork by this Marjorie Lance, I can find, shows a long tail underlining the rest of her signature whereas the above shows a long tail on the ‘E’. And, of course, it could be the artist’s first name not their surname! Could it be Lance Cattermole?

You might have seen artwork by both C.E. Brock and H.M. Brock, but their brother Richard Henry Brock was just as prolific and talented. He was born in Friern Barnet on 21 July 1871 and died on the Bulstrode Road on 11 June 1943. His career covered many of the well-known early 20th century periodicals. Robert J. Kirkpatrick again has a fuller biography.

We then get T. H. Robinson

Thomas Heath Robinson (19 June 1869– February 1953 or 1954) was an English illustrator just like his younger siblings, Charles and W. Heath, who was born in Islington. After the death of his wife in 1940 he moved to St. Ives in Cornwall and passed away in February 1954, aged 84.

Project Gutenberg has a few books which you can download in which Robinson’s illustrations appear and Look and Learn have some pictures too.

The nice thing about a clear signature it does give me a chance to compare artworks identified with the same name. Thus I found Harry Wooley. Born in Lancashire in 1880, he died near Salisbury, Wiltshire, in 1959, aged 78. Gordon Howsden has written a sketchy biography – but that gets us started. In addition to Abebooks and the British Library, Stella and Rose’s Books can be helpful when they identify artists.

R. H. Penton (whose work is at the top of this article) is Richard Howard Penton (1882-1960). there are 254 hits returned in the London Metropolitan Archives catalogue of his work – mainly landmark buildings, but he was known – as here – as a marine and landscape artist.

Louis Ward (1913-2005) was a painter, illustrator and teacher, born in Bristol, where he settled in Clifton. He was an ordained parish priest who studied theology at Ripon Hall, Oxford. Also studied full-time at West of England College of Art, Bristol. He taught part-time at Bristol Polytechnic’s arts faculty. Showed RWA of which he was a member, in Bristol’s Arnolfini Gallery, Arts Council and elsewhere. Did a variety of book and magazine illustration. Member of Bristol Savages club. RWA and Bristol City Art Gallery hold his work (David Buckman, (1998) Dictionary of artists in Britain since 1945. Bristol : Art Dictionaries). Apparently his painting of Christ in Gethsemane hangs in the Lady Chapel of Bristol Cathedral

Stanley Reginald Harry Rogers (7 May 1887 – 21 January 1961) was a British and American writer, illustrator, and maritime historian. Born in Nottingham, raised in Washington, and educated in London, he was based in London and New York during his career.

Lastly an old favourite Edward Osmond

Edward Osmond (1900-1981) won the Carnegie Medal award for his 1953 self-penned and illustrated book “A Valley Grows Up” which has multiple double page colour plates showing the changes in a fictitious valley from Prehistoric times, Iron Age, Roman, Saxon, Norman, Early and Late Medieval, Elizabethan, Georgian and finally Victorian times. But Osmond started illustrating much earlier than that and the wonderful FictionMags Index shows he drew in the November 24 1920 issue of the The Illustrated London News and then more drawings for The Royal Magazine, Pall Mall Magazine, Nash’s Magazine and The Strand Magazine – and this was all in the 1920s! He continued – at least till the late 1950s, in such magazines as The Windsor Magazine, The London Magazine, The Passing Show, Pearson’s Magazine, Britannia and Eve, Everybody’s, The Wide World Magazine, and John Bull. He illustrated a version of Black Beauty in 1932 and produced drawings up to at least 1973. There’s a nice biography on ArtUK‘s site

EVIDENCE OF PUBLICATION DATE

Page 271 mentions the General Election of May 1955 “with the result that the Conservatives were returned to power”.
Page 424 states Doctor Alain Bombard’s Atlantic raft journey began “October 20th 1956 and ended St. Martin in the Lesser Antilles 72 days later” – i.e. December 31 1956!
Page 448 – the final page states “In May [1957] the Suez Canal was declared free from all obstructions and open again to the world’s shipping”

So it looks as if this edition of Newnes Pictorial Knowledge was published some time after May 1957

VOLUME THREE

This volume is not of much interest to me as it’s all photographs rather than illustrations. The contents are:

The story of the world and its people – Great Britain and Ireland
The story of the world and its people – Countries of the British Commonwealth and nations
The story of the world and its people – Lands near and far, of our colonial empire

VOLUME FOUR

This volume again has mostly photographs. But one artist that managed to squeeze in is Ellis Silas

Ellis Luciano Silas (13 July 1885 – 2 May 1972) was a British artist and draughtsman who served as an ANZAC during the First World War. On return from Australia to the UK, he drew magazine illustrations for Chums from 1925-1928 and also drew for Boy’s Own Paper and Blackie and Son.

Next: – VOLUME FIVE: Meteorology and what it means – the rain, the snow, the winds and the tides; Our engineers and their work; The stories that scientists can tell us – about heat, light and sound; How steam and petrol work for man; Fable, myth and legend

Newnes Pictorial Knowledge (Vols 1-10) – Introduction and Volume One

Sep15

The 10 volumes (minus atlas and dictionary) from c. 1950

INTRODUCTION

This encyclopedic set has a long history, beginning in June 1930 with 8 volumes. It was reprinted in January 1931 and August 1931 and again twice in 1932 and a Second Edition came out in May 1933 (reprinted a month later!) which was subsequently reprinted in February and December 1934. An advert in The Scotsman on 22 August 1930 was looking to hire sales reps for this new work.

By 1947 I found it was still composed of 8 volumes. It was still running in 1957 as The Bookseller of 10 August states “continues as a firm family favourite” with a special Australian edition in 1958. Newnes declared – somewhat prematurely – in the Belfast Telegraph (28 October 1931) it was the “most magnificent production of the 20th Century”! The first edition had a General Editor of H. A. Pollock, Associate Editor, Enid Blyton, Technical Editor, A. C. Marshall, and Art Editor A. H. J. Humphreys. Published by George Newnes in the “Home Library Book Company” imprint initially as “Pictorial Knowledge” and later with the publisher’s name in the title and was bound in black initially later becoming red – early red ones with a criss-cross pattern on the covers, then later with the oil lamp colophon on the spine, and still later a vertical stripe down the cover. At some point – and guessing based on print technologies, later versions also had transparent plates showing the interior of a bee, a flower and some buildings.

When exactly the new editions were printed with an editorial shake-up, I’m not sure, but based on the war intervening, I’d guess that 1951 is a likely approximate date especially as internal evidence mentions “at the end of 1949”. The General Editors were now R.H. Poole, Peter Finch, Walter Shepherd, and A.H.J. Humphreys. By the time the copies I own arrived, Cedric Dover was added to the list. My set has internal evidence for 1957 onwards which I’ll share in the overview of Volume Two.

VOLUME CONTENTS

Here are the breakdowns according to each volume of my set.

VOLUME ONE: The story of the world in the days of long ago; The story of animal life – creatures of the air, land and sea; The wonder of plant life in forest, field and garden
VOLUME TWO: The romance of history – tales of the Greeks and the Persians; The romance of history – Tales of Ancient Rome; The romance of history – England under the Romans, Danes and Normans; The romance of history – England in the Middle Ages; The romance of history – Britain’s struggles towards her days of greatness; True tales of high adventure – Pioneers by land and sea; True tales of high adventure – In the days of the great explorers; True tales of high adventure – The conquest of the Polar regions; True tales of high adventure – Some heroes of our time; From the dawn of time to the present day
VOLUME THREE: The story of the world and its people – Great Britain and Ireland; The story of the world and its people – Countries of the British Commonwealth and nations; The story of the world and its people – Lands near and far, of our colonial empire
VOLUME FOUR: The story of the world and its people – Our neighbours and friends across the Channel; The story of the world and its people – through the storied lands of the Middle East; The story of the world and its people – In the ancient empires of the Far East; The story of the world and its people – A great nation whose history began with the Pilgrim fathers; The story of the world and its people – Countries along the pan-American highway and in South America; Telling of the products we send to other countries – and about the goods they send us in return
VOLUME FIVE: Meteorology and what it means – the rain, the snow, the winds and the tides; Our engineers and their work; The stories that scientists can tell us – about heat, light and sound; How steam and petrol work for man; Fable, myth and legend
VOLUME SIX: Treasures won from the earth’s crust – The romance of coal, iron and steel; Treasures won from the earth’s crust – Metals that serve us in a hundred ways; magnetism and electricity – a great discovery and its many developments; Famous inventions and how they were evolved – What master minds have done for the good of man; Services we maintain for the common good – the work they do and how it is carried out; The world and its work – The story of some great industries; The world and its work – Agriculture – producing food from the land
VOLUME SEVEN: Great painters of all nations – how they lived and what they achieved; Literature through the ages – The lives of the great poets; The lives of the great composers – a story of music and musicians; Literature through the ages – Great books and their writers; Wonders of architecture – The story of the builder and his art; Great thinkers of all nations – From the ancient philosophers to the scientists of to-day
VOLUME EIGHT: The freedom of the seas – the story of our ships and the sailors who man them; The wonders of the heavens – the story of astronomers and their work; The magic art of writing; A guide to good manners for boys and girls; The story of the human body – a marvellous machine and what it does; Favourite hobbies – Pastimes at home and out of doors; Favourite hobbies – Things to make and do: Models and model making; Favourite hobbies – Things to make and do: Handcrafts of many kinds
VOLUME NINE: The story of the early civilisations in the world’s history – how learning and understanding spread from the Mediterranean; How Britain and other countries of the world are governed – concerning Parliaments and people: Local government and courts of law; A children’s treasury of verse – Little masterpieces of to-day and yesterday; Your own special corner: Reading, writing and arithmetic – a helping hand for tiny folk; First steps in drawing, “How to make” and geography – a helping hand for tiny folk; Familiar things and how they are made – industries that serve our everyday needs; The secret of man’s supremacy – about the mental equipment of the human being; Questions and answers on things that interest you and me
VOLUME TEN: Factual Index; Our world today
ATLAS (which I do not have)
DICTIONARY (which I do not have)

ARTISTS WORK IN THE ENCYCLOPEDIA

Here I want to mention artist’s works I can identify or that particularly attract me. I notice in wading through all 10 volumes that many images which are dated must have been reprinted from earlier editions of the encyclopedia and the caption under some “Specially drawn/ painted for this work by ‘Xyz'” makes me wonder if these are unique to this edition!

VOLUME 1 ARTISTS:

G. F. Morrell drew a layered geology diagram (p.5) which has been reproduced a lot as have the many diagrammatic maps of WWI. I suspect this page was reprinted from a colour late earlier in the 20th century
Neave Parker – a very prolific artists drew “Eighty Million Years Ago” showing giant crocodiles (p.9) and on p.28 two illos of dinosaurs (credited to Illustrated London News)
Alice R. Woodward – drew pages 13, 15 and 23 in delicate works showing the ‘ancestor of the shark’, marine life and ‘monsters of sea and river’. She lived from 1862-1951 so I suspect again this is a reprint from somewhere
Nina Scott-Langley‘s lovely red squirrel can be seen below. She illustrated animal life in various magazines and books upto c. 1950
Ernest Aris (Alfred Ernest Walter George Aris, FZS, SGA) is an old favourite that needs no introduction. He illustrated pages 201-204 with birds and 240 with fish
Roland Green – another prolific artists of the era, drew page 223’s ‘Titmouse family’
E. C. Mansell whose name I’ve seen elsewhere – with such a solid signature – but who is a blank to me – He (or she) illustrated a lot of natural history subjects and also drew in magazines of c. 1914-1924. Their books appear to have been published between the 40s and early 1960s.
Dennis Adams has a colour plate in this volume of “Barrier Reef waters” making me think he night be Australian.
Unknown – Take a look at the initials and see if you can help me say who this artist is below who drew “British Wild Flowers”.

These lovely clean images give no clue to who painted them. Any ideas? I wondered about Neave Parker

Both these are by Neave Parker and originally appeared in Illustrated London News of 28 March 1953, I believe

Page 201 One of four plates by Ernest Aris

Page 344 by ? Initials in bottom left corner – any guesses?

Volume two to follow in due course

BBC Children’s Annual [1960]

Aug6

I’m now going to look at the last of the BBC Children’s Annuals that hold my interest – the one which is labelled inside as 1960 – so I’m assuming published in 1959 if British labelling conventions apply here. It was edited by Ursula Eason (Assistant Head of Children’s Television) who also edited the previous annual. Published by Burke Publishing Company Ltd and the full title should be “BBC Children’s Annual Radio and Television” but that’s a bit cumbersome!

BBC Children’s Annual 1960 Cover, endpapers, title page

As we will see the artists in this annual are listed but I have had a hard time matching them up. But before we dive in here are the contents

CONTENTS

Duel In The Sun by Ronnie Noble [photographic feature]
Zodiac Quiz; Capricorn; Drawing by Leslie S. Haywood?
The Wings Of The Morning by Rosemary Sutcliff; Drawings by ‘Sax’ i.e. Frederick Roberts Johnson
Zodiac Quiz; Aquarius
The Importance Of Parliament by Commander Sir Stephen King-Hall [photographic feature]
Zodiac Quiz; Pisces
The Grey Monarchs Mystery by Angus Macvicar; Drawings by Mike Noble
Zodiac Quiz; Aries
Spies Museum by Bernard Newman [photographic feature]
Pan Beaters And Ping Pongs by Russ Henderson [photographic feature]
Captain Pugwash by John Ryan (written and illustrated by John Ryan)
Professor Foster Investigates Chinese Angels by John Foster [photographic feature]
The Organ Grinder of St. Pauli by Margaret Potter; Drawings by Terence Freeman?
Zodiac Quiz; Gemini
Wells Fargo – End of the Trail; Drawings by unknown , one photograph
Television: Before The Programme Begins [photographic feature]
Flight To Freedom; Drawings by Edward Osmond?, 2 photographs, one map
Filming Zoo Quest by Charles Lagus [photographic feature]
Jack Ford Finds Gold by Constance Cox; Drawings by unknown, one photograph
Zodiac Quiz; Cancer
Football by Danny Blanchflower; Drawings by unknown
Diving To Adventure by Hans Hass [photographic feature]
Zodiac Quiz; Leo
Courier by John Darran; Drawings by unknown
Zodiac Quiz; Virgo
Netball Notes by Rena B. Stratford; Drawings by unknown
‘Professor’ Stanley Unwin Explains Television by Stanley Unwin [photographic feature]
Candy Bar by Joanne Symons; one drawing by unknown, [photographic feature]
Up And Over by Rex Hays
Zodiac Quiz; Libra
Filming In Five Languages by Trevor Hill [photographic feature]
Zodiac Quiz; Scorpio
Man On The Move by Miles Tomalin; Drawings by Tony Hart?
Zodiac Quiz; Sagittarius
Answers To Quiz

“With Drawings by”:

PETER CHADWICK,
TERENCE FREEMAN,
TONY HART,
LESLIE S. HAYWOOD,
NORMAN C[lifford] JAQUES,
[Mike] NOBLE,
EDWARD OSMOND,
SHEILA ROSS,
SAX,
A[lfred]. BURGESS SHARROCKS,
E[ric]. TANSLEY,
GEOFFREY WHITTAM
and STANLEY SMITH

The acknowledgements in this title reflect the fact that photographs were being used more and more, just like in magazines of the late 50s (see Lilliput and Boys’ Own Paper for example) but we do have a listing of the artists represented in this Annual (see above). However I wish they’d been in alphabetic order – or even better – in the order of stories they illustrated. If they are in order of appearance, then the one after Mike Noble – whose identity I’m sure of, would be Edward Osmond – and he did NOT illustrate Captain Pugwash; if this is an A-Z, why is Stanley Smith alone and added as an ‘and’?

I can’t even begin to guess who drew the endpapers or the figures on the title page. So I’ll start with “Sax” – thankfully he signed one illustration here and that led me to discover the nickname was due to his love of “the American Essex automobile” (Thanks to the Court Gallery). He drew for Punch, Everyman and Time and Tide amongst others and here drew “The wings of the morning” story by Rosemary Sutcliff here, the famed historic novelist for children.

*BBC Children’s Annual 1960*, p.16 – art by “Sax”

However when I looked at his other images for this story I began to wonder if there are 2 artists at work here. What do you think? Page 11, the opening image, yes, looks like Sax. But page 13 looks cruder to me, but it’s unlikely two artists were given the same small story.

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, p.16 – art by “Sax”?

The next artist that’s easy for me to identify is Mike Noble, who I had the privilege to interview for a book. Here he is in full flow and must have created these images during his run on “The Lone Ranger and Tonto” in Express Weekly. Angus MacVicar was, among other things, the author of the “Lost Planet” series of boy’s sci-fi tales.

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, pp 24-32

Next, I think I can identify Edward Osmond as having drawn the two illos for “Flight to Freedom”. His washes are fairly typical of his work and I hope I don’t get caught out here with my identification, but having seen his work in many 50s magazines, I think I’ve got him.

Next I’ve scanned these Wild West illustrations, but who drew them? The figures are rather stiff.

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, pp 57, 59, 61

That leaves me with some other illustrations which are so hard to identify.

Tony Hart (1925-2009) was well known to children of my age in the late 50s and 60s -especially with his TV programme “Vision On”. I suspect his work here is the following four page article of which I’m showing two.

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, pp 121 and 124 – Art by Tony Hart?

Leslie S. Haywood (1902?-1977?) drew diagrams and maps for various publications including several for “The Sphere” magazine. Examples online show his linework to be confident without any distinguishing style that I can see, so which story did he illustrated here? The “Zodiac” quizzes mentioned in the Contents listing have illustrations accompanying some of them, and Haywood seems to use a linear stippling style on occasions and I can see this here. But…

Norman Clifford Jaques (1922-2014) has a John Piper look about him when I see his illustrations on the Internet. He was born, and lived in Manchester. He attended the College of Art and Technology from 1937-42, and was Senior Lecturer in Printmaking at Manchester Polytechnic from 1950-82. He won the Proctor Award and Giles Bequest Award for block printing in 1954 from the V&A. He was an illustrator and book designer and utilised woodcut, lithography, etching and linocut mediums in his expressive printmaking. (Thanks to PaperElephant for the details).

But I have no idea what he did in this title!

Sheila Ross, I am completely stuck with. I found that she illustrated The Children’s Pinocchio as retold by Roy Brown (published in 1960) but nothing helped identify her style

Alfred Burgess Sharrocks 1919 – 1988, was a painter, writer, ornithologist and teacher, born in Stockport, Cheshire. He attended Stockport College School of Art, 1933-7, the College of Technology in Manchester, 1937-9, then after World War II Naval service and a short period teaching at Stockport School of Art was at Royal Academy Schools, 1946-51. Held a number of teaching positions, including lecturing from 1967 at Llandrillo College of Technology. He was well known as a writer and artist concerned with birds and was in 1957 president of the Cambrian Ornithological Society, in 1962-7 being president of RCAmA. Mixed shows included RCAmA and NEAC and he had several solo exhibitions. National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, holds his work. Lived near Conway, Gwynedd (from David Buckman, Dictionary of artists in Britain since 1945). Of course one commission he is famous for in terms of children’s books is that between 1956-1963 where he drew illustrations for Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven adventures. But again I’d rather not hazard a guess as to which illustrations he drew in this book.

Eric Tansley (1916-1979) had work in lots of places where Raymond Sheppard’s work appeared. One example of which is in The Children’s Own Treasure Book (1947) where the ROUND THE YEAR articles (parts 1-4) are drawn by Eileen Mayo (In pond and marsh); Eric Tansley (In stream and river), Raymond Sheppard (In sea and on the seashore) and James Lucas (In field and hedgerow). Steve Holland has featured him on his blog – follow the link. If I’m pressed to state which artwork(s) he drew in the BBC Children’s Annual 1960, I’d say it was this one of a ‘candy-wallah’

*BBC Children’s Annual 1960*, p. 110, art by Eric Tansley?

Geoffrey Whittam (1916-1983) You can see from this first link that Whittam drew extensively and JaneBadgerBooks (specialising in pony books) state that his “horses and ponies are sometimes awkward, with oddly foreshortened necks and inaccurate legs. […] A Whittam pony will always have a thick thatch of mane […] be on the stocky side, and have an immensely wide forehead.” Does this help to identify which his work is in this book?

Stanley Smith (1893-1981) appears to have been a landscape painter from the results online – a few very much like Ronald Lampitt – in that they are almost orthographic in nature, and again I’m stumped.

Peter Chadwick’s work I found online shows a basic illustrator but competent at various subjects. Unfortunately that’s all I can say.

Terence Freeman has a style which matches a lot of this period’s artwork for children, using swirls for hairstyles and rather small eyes for characters. Could “The Organ Grinder of St. Pauli” be by him? All those curly figures and hairstyles, but the fourth illo here – the street scene – looks different in style once again. Can another artist have drawn this? It looks like Beryl Irving‘s work there, to me (she appeared in Swift Annual 1961, as did “Terry Freeman”) but she’s not listed here.

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, pp. 45-51

The next group of illos accompany “Jack Ford finds gold” and there’s a distinctive type of hair-do here plus heads seem to be drawn to minimise perspective difficulties. But who drew them? Is it Geoffrey Whittam?

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, pp. 82-85

Lastly for now a group of very stiff looking figures for the story “Courier”, but who is the artist from the names listed in the Annual?

That’s it for now – please let me know if I have missed someone obvious and I’ll correct this article

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, pp. 96-102

Jul16

Here’s another BBC Children’s Annual looked at in some depth to preserve primarily the artwork but I’ve also added authors so they can be found by searchers. The first three annuals ( ©1935-1937) annuals might have had the titles The Children’s Hour Annual 1936, 1937, 1938 if they followed the British convention of labelling for the new year. So these were published in 1935-1937.

The history of this first title is interesting in itself. The Bookseller magazine, used by…booksellers for 1935 shows the pre-publicity for Hutchinson’s title which was to be published at 6/-. By the time of 4 September, I would have expected sales to have started in anticipation of Christmas, with the title being pre-sold into the bookshops months before.

Various pages from The Bookseller 4 September 1935 – note the error in price (5/- sic) quoted under the photograph of Stephen King-Hall and “Uncle Mac”, but the increase from 5/- to 6/- explained in the advert shown here! Confused? Me too.

And here’s where it gets interesting as there was an alternative cover to the one shown above and we get an explanation as to why, but not why, if you see what I mean.

We see the advert is still priced 6/- but notice the cover – here’s this image cropped;

*Children’s Hour Annual* [1936, ©1935] – unpublished cover at 6/-

Then we get the explanation – of sorts – the price will be reduced to 3/6.

That’s a substantial change in my opinion and having been a bookseller myself I suspect I will have bought a lot more at the latter price. If you look at the other titles on offer from Hutchinson, that 6/- stands out.

*Children’s Hour Annual* [1936, ©1935] Front endpapers by Barbara Grace de Riemer Sleigh

*Children’s Hour Annual* [1936, ©1935] Back endpapers by Barbara Grace de Riemer Sleigh

So let’s get started on the book itself. Firstly we get a lovely image on the endpapers by Barbara Grace de Riemer Sleigh (B de R. S.) who I mentioned in the previous blog article. Here the pieces are signed very clearly and the artist and write appears elsewhere in the annual – see below. The endpapers run from front to back and suggest how good children should be – but confusingly, to my mind, they show the boy damaging the wireless set and the girl flinging her book in the air! The drawings are lovely though.

Foreword by Compton Mackenzie
The Naughty Traffic-Signal by Joyce Bissell Thomas; Drawings by “HMS”
Behind The Children’s Hour by Derek Mcculloch
Do You Want To Win A Book Prize? by Anon [Closing date: 31 Jan 1936]
The Tale Of The Woeful Whatnot by Barbara De R. Sleigh; Drawings by the author
Reminiscences Of A Midshipman by Commander Stephen King-Hall; Drawings by “F”
My Closest Call by H. Mortimer Batten; Drawing by Frederick Cockerton
Mr. Gianopoulos Keeps His Appointment by Major Sir George Dunbar; Drawing by Frederick Cockerton
The Faithful Kipper by Hugh E. Wright; Drawings by “HMS”
The Swan Of Avon by Dr. L. Du Garde Peach; Drawings by Barbara De R. Sleigh
The Floating Lamps by Major J. T. Gorman; Drawings by ‘Unknown’
Wild Life In Western Australia by David Seth-Smith; Drawings by L. R. Brightwell
Napoleon, The Walking Oak by Denis Vincent; Drawings by Joyce Mercer
In Quest Of A Monster by Lieutenant-Commander R. T. Gould; Figure by the author?
Dub And The Pot by Mary Grant Bruce; Drawings by Ernest Noble
The Great Air Race by Flight-Lieutenant Geoffrey Shaw; Drawings by Kenneth Brookes

“Uncle Mac”—A Photogravure Portrait Frontispiece
The River Avon – IN COLOUR
“Ye Red Lyon” – IN COLOUR
Costume Designs For “The Swan Of Avon” – IN COLOUR
He Held His Bound Wrists Over The Tiny Flame – IN COLOUR
Down Through The High Street He Slid – IN COLOUR
For Once He Roamed As A King – IN COLOUR
The Children’s Hour Studio – IN HALF TONE
“The Family Party” Rehearse – IN HALF TONE
Flight-Lieutenant Geoffrey Shaw With His “Eagle” – IN HALF TONE
Lined Up For The Start Of The Great Air Race – IN HALF TONE
San Feliu De Guixols – IN HALF TONE
David Seth-Smith With A Friend – IN HALF TONE
Commander Stephen King-Hall; David Seth-Smith; H. Mortimer Batten; L. Du Garde Peach; Compton Mackenzie; Flight-Lieutenant Geoffrey Shaw; Mary Grant Bruce – IN HALF TONE
Hugh E. Wright; Major J. T. Gorman; Major Sir George Dunbar – IN HALF TONE
Joyce Bissell Thomas; Denis Vincent; Lieut.-Commander R. T. Gould; Barbara De R. Sleigh – IN HALF TONE

DETAILS and Norman’s COMMENTS

I loved reading Compton Mackenzie’s introduction in which he bemoans “modern” youth’s lack of appreciation of reading! His reasoning is that in his day the youth read “Boy’s Own Paper” and other magazines and “it is significant that middle-aged people are now apt to complain that children do not know how to amuse themselves”! Yet he goes on to say he noticed the decline in the “Boy’s Own” during his own time! Lovely dated yet current words!

As I did with the 1936 annual I have scanned all the author information that appears added to the bottom of this article – plus photos! There may be some duplication but I felt you might want all the info provided! I have not shown all photos / drawings.

*Children’s Hour Annual* [1936, ©1935] – Art by “HMS”

I’ve added this image because it’s clearly initialled “HMS” but beyond that I have no clue who this was. I browsed all “S” entries in Alan Horne’s Dictionary (and other places) but got nothing matching. Let me know if you know who this was. Below I’ve added two more images if this helps!

*Children’s Hour Annual* [1936, ©1935] – Art by Barbara De R. Sleigh

The next example shows a signature clearly saying Cockerton. Looking around the Internet and some of my notes, I believe this is Frederick Cockerton who drew illustrations for the 1964 Girl Annual and The Third Enid Blyton Holiday Book (some of which are reprints from Sunny Stories nos. 45,170, and 179). His work also appears in Blackie’s Boys’ Annual, 1937. If searching on the Internet you’ll see a lot of horse and hunting oil paintings with the distinctive signature.

As you’ll read below ‘The Swan Of Avon’ by Dr. L. Du Garde Peach was just one of many plays he wrote for Children’s Hour and the illustrator here is again, Barbara Grace de Riemer Sleigh (B de R. S.) who drew the endpapers too.

*Children’s Hour Annual* [1936, ©1935] – Art by L. R. Brightwell

I’ve featured Brightwell’s lovely cartoonish work before on this blog, and I first discovered him in Boy’s Own Paper.

I know Joyce Mercer has a following for her wild and whacky art so enjoy the next two images from the Annual and in case you’re wondering that’s an oak tree leaning towards the house!

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] – Art by Joyce Mercer

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] – Art by Ernest Noble (1881–1958) – see the initials “EN” and compare to the next full colour signed image. famous for illustrating humorous postcards in WWI as well as ‘Larry the Lamb’

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] – Art by Ernest Noble

Before we move onto the author information provided in the annual, there are also photos which I thought might be of interest. I just wish artists were treated as well as I’d love to know more about “HMS” and “SBL” and all the other mysterious initials I trip over, let alone a photograph!

AUTHOR INFORMATION

That’s all for this annual. More to follow!

Jul8

Here’s another BBC Children’s Annual investigated and it’s a long one! Fortunately for me, when the first three (1935-1937) annuals were published, their dates are published within – thus saving any confusion (beyond the usual dating/naming of UK annuals). So normally the one dated 1936 might be labelled ‘1937’ so let’s call this The Children’s Hour Annual [1937, © 1936]

The Children's Annual 1936 — *The Children’s Hour Annual* 1937 – cover by Keith McKay Edmunds, or Kay Edmunds(?)

This annual was advertised in The Bookseller on 2 September 1936 at 3/6d for its 168 pages. The Blackie’s Boys’ Annual of the same year was 228 pages and sold for 5/- and D.C. Thomson’s Wizard Book for Boys was 2/6d, so as a friend said to me “you pays your money; you takes your choice”!

CONTENTS with artists added by me!

Hullo Children ! – Derek McCulloch
Foreword – A. J. Alan
The Secret Of Longwater -Franklyn Kelsey; Drawings by Norman Hepple (?)
Red Knight – Olive Dehn; Drawing by ‘PBL’
The Twisted Tale Of Mop And Mow – Hugh E. Wright; Drawings by ‘Sleigh’ and a colour illo by Jacynth Parsons
Steve Talks! – Commander Stephen King-Hall; Drawing by ‘Unknown’
Kimpie Plays For Tillingfold – Hugh De Sélincourt; Drawings by Raymond Sheppard
The Breaking In of Herr Rittmeister Bams – Olive Dehn; Drawing by Douglas Lionel Mays
Memories Of Mooween – H. Mortimer Batten; Drawings by Raymond Sheppard
The Common Tern – Olive Dehn; Drawing by ‘PBL’
At 5-15 – Derek McCulloch; Drawings by ‘Unknown / “The Stippling artist”
“Hey, Dittle Dittle” – Carey Grey; Draings by Jacynth Parsons
A Farewell To Flowering – Olive Dehn; Drawing by ‘PBL’
Joe Rabbit’s Party – George C. Nash; Drawings by Ernest Aris
Some Of My Hobbies – Lieutenant-Commander R. T. Gould; Drawings by author?
Queen Brigid’s Choice – Norah Holloway; Drawings by Gladys Peto
Bird-Watching In Australia – David Seth-Smith; Drawings by Harry Rountree
The Pirate Who Wept – L. Du Garde Peach; Drawings by René Bull
“The School Technician” – J. D. Strange; Drawings by ‘Unknown’
How To Practice Catching, Bowling And Fielding – P. G. H. Fender; Drawings by Thomas Heath Robinson
All Round The Bay – Barbara Euphan Todd And “Klaxon”; Drawings by H. M. Brock
The Duke’s Button – Peter Roberts; Drawings by L. Sterne Stevens

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS – i.e photographs and drawings

Derek McCulloch—Uncle Mac of the B.B.C. . . . Frontispiece (Photograph by courtesy of the B.B.C.)
“We tied them both up and sent for the local police” [COLOUR ILLO by Norman Hepple]
“Mop stopped opposite Jim, and Mow stopped opposite Jane” [COLOUR ILLO by Jacynth Parsons]
B.B. Studio (Dance Band), general view. (Photograph by courtesy of the B.B.C.)
Broadcasting House Dramatic Control Room No. 3, December 1934. The D.C. Panel showing Talk-Back Microphone (Photograph by courtesy of the B.B.C.)
P. G. H. Fender punishes a loose ball in the game, Middlesex versus Surrey, at Lord’s Ground, London (photo)
Zoo Broadcast—The Cockatoo (Photograph by courtesy of the B.B.C.)

“Uncle Mac” tells us on the flyleaf as well in his introduction that “In presenting the second Children’s Hour Annual, I find it difficult to realize that twelve months have gone by since “No. 1″ appeared.” thus confirming this is the second under his reign. Each story or article has an introduction – which I have scanned for you below as researchers might find this to be the only information on some authors etc. If only artists had had the same treatment, I’d be happier, but nevertheless as usual I’ll have a go at filling out as many details as I can in the hope search engines guide researchers here.

Let’s start with what the lovely drawings for the title, contents and illustrations pages. They are signed “Fitz” but I have no clues to follow who this is. Any ideas anyone?

*The Children’s Hour Annual* 1937 – art by Fitz

I think the next artist is Norman Hepple – and surely this must be Robert Norman Hepple (1908-1994). Take a look at the signature =- clearest in the first image from page 15

*The Children’s Hour Annual* 1937 Pages 15, 17 and 22 showing a signature “Norman “Hepple”?

Alan Horne (p.244) in his excellent The Dictionary of 20th Century Book Illustrators shows an illustration from “Gone to Earth” which has a very similar signature, so I think that corroborates my thinking!

Olive Dehn wrote a few verses in this book – illustrated by ‘PBL’ but who that is, I don’t know. The problem is I need somewhere to start. I like his/her illustrations and their initials are clearly present here. Anyone?

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937, pages 23, 68 and 84 – all drawn by ‘PBL’

The next artist is “Sleigh” which I guessed might be S. Leigh, but I can’t imagine it’s Stanley Howard Leigh of Biggles fame as he signed his name Howard Leigh, but stranger things have been known. The artwork has a woodblock look to it, in my opinion, and accompanies “The Twisted Tale Of Mop And Mow” by Hugh E. Wright, where ‘Sleigh’ does three illustrations. The earlier Children’s Hour Annual (more in a future article on this blog) has a story by Barbara Grace de Riemer Sleigh (1906–1982), the author of the Carbonel series about a king of cats but she didn’t illustrate any of her own stories to my knowledge. However there is an illo in the previous annual where she signs her work “B de R. S”, so ‘Sleigh’ remains a mystery. Coincidentally (or not?) her attached surname comes from her being the daughter of Bernarad Sleigh (the artist famed for “An Ancient Mappe of Fairyland, Newly Discovered and Set Forth”). I can’t see this work being his, but again, I’m putting this here in case others can solve the mystery.

*The Children’s Hour Annual* 1937 Page 26 by ‘Sleigh’, could this be Barbara Grace de Riemer Sleigh?

The next, by Jacynth Parson (1911-1992) is a lovely colour illustration to accompany the same story – which I found strange. Parsons was a renowned illustrator in her time and drew for various books – her father was an expert in stained-glass. Her art is easy to find on the Internet. and I’ve scanned two other illustrations below from the story “Hey Dittle Dittle!” It’s an interesting style which I like.

*The Children’s Hour Annual* 1937 Page 32 by Jacynth Parsons

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937 Pages 79 and 82 by Jacynth Parsons

The next artist I’d like to highlight is an old favourite – or at least I hope I’ve got this right. “The Breaking in of Herr Rittmeister Bams” by Olive Dehn, looks to be drawn by Douglas Lionel Mays. Look at the signature – his familiar spread lettering.

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937 Pages 52 and 55 by Douglas Lionel Mays

And then we come to another mystery artist. I love the excessive stippling in these illustrations which appear on pages 70, 72 and 75. The style is so familiar and distinctive but I can’t place the artist who I shall call “The Stippling Artist” until I find a name.

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937 Pages 70, 72 and 77 by “The Stippling Artist”!

The next artist conveniently signed their art: G. E. Peto (which rather looks like C. E. Peto to me!) Gladys Emma Peto was born in 1890 in Maidenhead and died at 86 in 1977 – an obituary appearing in the Times newspaper. Her first illustrations appeared in the works of Louisa M. Allcot in 1914 and her name became a brand in the 20s and 30s – with books like Gladys Peto’s Storyland, Gladys Peto’s Holiday Stories, Gladys Peto’s Girl’s Own Stories etc. She produced illustrations for The Sketch, many books on travel and posters etc. She moved to Northern Ireland in 1939 and had several successful exhibitions and as her obituary writer states: “in the twenties and early thirties it was the ” in” thing to wear a Gladys Peto dress.”

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937 Pages 105, 108 and 111 by Gladys Peto

The very well known Harry Rountree illustrates some animal pictures and I suspect Ernest Aris may also appear here illustrating “Joe Rabbit’s Party” but the next two I want to show are the very popular René Bull (1869 – 1942), who was born in Dublin on 11 December 1869 and died 14 March 1942 in Hampshire. He was known as a founder member of the London Sketch Club, and my interest was his wonderful children’s illustrations. The two here show his talent for pen and ink.

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937 Pages 124 and 127 by René Bull

Lastly I loved these three images by L. Sterne Stevens – surely not the same artist as the American who drew many artworks for science-fiction and adventure pulps in America? They both do lovely linework but I can’t see the similarity and my artists dictionaries have no clues. However the American pulp artist did live in Belgium in 1910 – is it too far-fetched to think he might have drawn for the BBC publication?