The Good Shepherd. Together with original draft artwork for the Jacket Design, and Printed Proof of a trial jacket

FORESTER, C.S. (1899-1966), [BIRO, Val (1921-2014), illustrator, and GREEN, Donald (1919-1983), illustrator]

Published by London: Michael Joseph, 1955

About this Item

[Naval fiction] FIRST EDITION, WITH ORIGINAL ALTERNATE JACKET ARTWORK. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.288. Publisher's black cloth with titles to spine, pictorial endpapers, illustrated dust-jacket priced at 12/6. Together with two pieces of art; an original unpublished design hand-painted by Biro (20 x 17cm), plus a proof-pull of an unused trial jacket by Green (24 x 19cm). The final/chosen design was by David Cobb. A very good copy of the book in like jacket with a few minor chips and tears. Artwork in lovely bright condition, reverse sides with minor residue from mounting adhesives. Second World War adventure concerning an allied convoy at the Battle of the Atlantic. Basis for the 2020 film, Greyhound, written, produced by and starring Tom Hanks. Stephen Balint ("Val") Biro was born in Budapest, Hungary, the son of a lawyer. He studied art at the Jaschnick School of Art and in 1939 came to England to study at the Central School of Art. After the War he worked for a number of publishers and printers designing over twenty-nine dust-jackets for the publishing house of John Lehmann. During his long career as an artist, Biro's illustrations have appeared in over 400 books, on the covers of some 3000 others, in the pages of BBC Radio Times and other periodicals, and he is one of the best-known author/illustrators of children's books. His many dust-wrapper designs include several of C.S. Foresters Hornblower novels, Daphne du Maurier's 'The Birds', Evelyn Waugh's 'Sword of Honour' trilogy, four Nevil Shute titles as well as work for Dennis Wheatley and the crime novels of John Dickson Carr. The Victoria and Albert Museum holds examples of his work. British illustrator Donald Green produced numerous dust-jacket designs, perhaps most famously for Graham Greene's 'Our Man In Havana' (1958). Others include John Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath' (draft, 50s reprint), Pat Frank's Alas, 'Babylon' (1959), Malcolm Bradbury's 'Eating People is Wrong' (1955) and P.M. Hubbard's 'The Tower' (1967). Horne, Alan. The Dictionary of British Book Illustrators: 106-107. Provenance; inventory of George Locke (Ferret Fantasy), c.1990s.

Seller Inventory # 74499

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Good Shepherd. Together with original draft artwork for the Jacket Design, and Printed Proof of a trial jacket
• Publisher: London: Michael Joseph, 1955
• Binding: Soft cover
• Dust Jacket Condition: dj
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literature