Obit: Leslie Shephard

Subject: Obit: Leslie Shephard
From: Folkiedave
Date: 04 Sep 04 - 07:22 PM

Copied from the Ballad List - original posting by Steve Roud.


"Sad to announce the death of Leslie Shepard, on 20th August, at his home in Blackrock, Dublin. He will be known to ballad scholars for his very important work on street literature, in which field he was a leading authority for so long that we all presumed he would always be there. People may not know that he was also an authority on various aspects of the occult (having edited a huge standard encyclopedia on the subject), on printing history, on documentary film, eastern religion, and Bram Stoker, of Dracula fame, and various other topics. I believe he ran the 'Fairy Appreciation Society' ('for those who really believe in fairies') but I may be wrong about that. His collection of books was legendary, and his small house was filled to bursting with the results of a lifetime of collecting. The last time I visited him, I took a few books off a huge pile on the floor of the 'living room', and discovered a coffee table underneath that I hadn't known even existed, as it had been hidden for so long. On another occasion, rummaging around trying to find some 17th century broadsides to show me, he casually handed me a "page from a book printed by Caxton". "A facsimile, you mean", said I - "Oh no, it's the real thing.."

But above all, Leslie was a really nice man - always willing to help younger scholars, to lend material, to support others with his considerable knowledge and collection, and reluctant to say anything bad about people, even those who had not treated him and his work with courtesy over the years.
He was one of the old school, and he will be sadly missed. ""


I loved his books -

Dave

Subject: RE: Obit: Leslie Shephard
From: Nerd
Date: 04 Sep 04 - 11:28 PM

So sorry to hear this. He was legendary in the US too, though I never met him.

Subject: RE: Obit: Leslie Shephard
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 05 Sep 04 - 03:16 AM

Interesting man, alright. What age was he?

Regards

Subject: RE: Obit: Leslie Shephard
From: wysiwyg
Date: 07 Sep 04 - 06:10 PM

refresh