SHEPARD, E. H.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Original artwork for Punch: a Cricket-themed masthead. Published on 9 June 1954 as the masthead illustration for Punch, Vol. CCXXVI, issue number 5934, and appearing on page 681. This was Punch's celebration of the cricket test match, between England and Pakistan which was played at Lord's Cricket Ground on 10-15 June 1954. The match was drawn.In June 1921 Shepard was invited to join "the Punch table" and "regarded it as a high honour to be admitted to the brotherhood" (Knox, p. 100). Each number of the periodical was compiled by 12 to 15 members of staff who met every week at dinner with the managing director. As noted by Rawle Knox, "too often, after the dinner, editor, cartoonists and the rest of the staff seemed to have differing recollections of what they had decided". Shepard's appointment to the table secured a regular income for the artist, but it would also introduce him to E. V. Lucas, who first suggested that Shepard should illustrate some children's verses that had been written by A. A. Milne.H. F. Ellis, an assistant editor at Punch, noted that Shepard was relieved of the duty of providing a weekly political cartoon in 1949 and this set Shepard "free for the illustrative work that seemed his natural bent, supplying month by month new head-pieces, of admirable invention and quality, for the opening page" (Knox, p. 194). The present illustration is one such example.

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.