Illustrations and captions from The Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor

 

After a lackluster voyage the chief mate gives the prince some advice: "A man's mouth saves him."

 

The chief mate tells of his experience in a great storm, in which he alone survived. He relates how, "I was cast on an island by a wave of the great green."

 

The chief mate said, "I found figs and grapes there, . . . there was nothing that was not in this place."

 

Basilosaurus

 

Loren and Jane pictured at the Museum of Paleontology at the University of Michigan. They are standing at the head-end of a specimen of the fifty million year-old whale (Basilosaurus) found in Egypt west of the Nile in the Fayyum.

Professor Philip D. Gingerich of the University of Michigan found this whale and has an ongoing project in the area. This whale had four small limbs and measures sixty feet long. Ancient Egyptian storytellers, seeing such fossils, probably thought they were serpents. In The Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor (c. 1800 B.C.E.) such a giant "serpent" of thirty cubits in length ruled on a fictional island.

Pictured at left is a specimen of the skull and jaws of Basilosaurus. It is large enough for the ancient storyteller to imagine the "serpent" picking the sailor up in his mouth.

In the ancient Egyptian story noted above, the Sailor says, "He placed me in his mouth. He brought me to his lair. He sat me down without hurting me."

John Fisher, Illustrator

 

John Fisher lived with his family in the northern region of Tuscany, Italy from 1987 to 2005. There he worked as a figurative marble sculptor and still continues that work. Although while in Italy, there was a geographical distance between father and son, the Internet enabled them to work together by quickly sharing ideas and images. He has nurtured his interest in illustrations for children's books through numerous series shared with his daughter Allegra.

Visit John's website and see some of his other work and that of his wife, Sandy Oppenheimer.

 

Loren and His Family

 

Loren with life partner and soul-mate Jane, who brings her editing skills to this work.

 

The illustrator as sculptor: John Fisher in his studio in the small village of Querceta, just 3km from Pietrasanta in northern Tuscany.

 

Loren Fisher and daughter Rachel at the cabin in 2002.

 

Loren and Rachel in San Francisco on November 21, 2008.

 

Loren, Jane, and Loren's son, Daniel Fisher, who is Professor of Paleontology at the University of Michigan and has been helpful in several projects.