ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF was born in Surrey, England, in 1920, the daughter of a British naval officer. She was the author of four works of nonfiction, an autobiography, four novels for adults, and more than fifty books for children, including the eight volumes of the Eagle of the Ninth series. Sutcliff won many literary awards, including the Carnegie Medal for The Lantern Bearers, and received an OBE and a CBE for her services to children's literature. She died in 1992. CYRIL WALTER HODGES (1909-2004) was an English book illustrator at the height of a distinguished career in the 1950s and '60s when he illustrated some of Sutcliff's early works. Hodges was a leading scholar of the Elizabethan theater and himself the author of a number of books including Columbus Sails and Shakespeare's Theatre, which he also illustrated.