Born in Scotland, Margery Gill (1925 – 2008) was a prolific illustrator of children's books, who had specialised in etching and engraving at the Royal College of Art. Gill combined freelance work as an illustrator with motherhood and, from 1955, a teaching job at Maidstone College of Art. Her early work was for OUP, but she is most associated with her long tenure working for John Ryder at the Bodley Head.
She was much admired by fellow children’s author and illustrator Shirley Hughes, who observed: "I thought her work was terrific. It made me look to my laurels. It was modern - the children she depicted were less sweet. Margery used solid black line with tremendous fluidity and ease: the way her children stood and moved was very distinctive."
Alongside the rhinoceros, the stories feature ‘Upside-down Loris,’ ‘The Stamping Elephant,’ and ‘Terrible Tiger’s Party’.