Cyrus Leroy Baldridge

Raised largely by his mother after a difficult early family life, he spent part of his childhood traveling from town to town with her. He began studying art young, trained at Frank Holme’s Chicago School of Illustration, and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1911 with a degree in English literature.

During World War I, he worked as a war correspondent and illustrator in Europe, and his drawings helped build his reputation. In the 1920s and 1930s, he traveled widely through Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, turning those journeys into books, prints, and magazine illustrations. He became especially known as a New York illustrator before retiring to Santa Fe in 1952 with Caroline Singer, his longtime companion.

For audiobook listeners, he is an appealing figure because his writing grew out of direct observation. He was not only telling stories about faraway places; he had spent years sketching, reporting, and living on the move, which gives his work a vivid, traveled quality.