EXTRACTS: Illustrators Issue 4 © 2013 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

78 Leslie Ashwell Wood’s speciality was the cutaway, and his work was so well informed, and so fascinating it would defy all but the most jaded of readers not to be drawn into his world. Wood’s background was, it appears, well suited to his passion for revealing the workings of mechanical marvels. Born in 1903, and exhibiting a passion for science and engineering as well as art, his subsequent career was not really that unpredictable, and in terms of timing, there couldn’t have been a more auspicious moment for someone of his talents to embark on the world of work when he left full time education at beginning of the 1920s. An era where young people with drive and determination could gain worthwhile employment and build on their skills whilst working on the job rather than digging themselves into debt in the halls of academe. Although much of Wood’s life remains shrouded in mystery, it appears that the experience that ABOVE TOP: From the days when you were lucky if you even knew someone with a telephone; an illustration by Wood of ‘The Manual Telephone’ from Odhams Modern Wonder circa 1938/39. ABOVE: Illustrations depicting wing and wing flap design. ABOVE RIGHT: The August 2nd 1930 edition of Modern Boy , shows railway engineers testing a steam locomotive’s “heart-beats”. FACING PAGE: The newly christened ‘Duchess of Gloucester’ as it appeared on the cover of Modern Wonder in 1938.