This specially produced bookplate is made from recycled sepia card. It features an original pencil drawing with white highlights  by Steve Teasdale of the famous Cockleshell Heroes. Underneath the drawing is the professionally mounted genuine signature of Bill Sparks, one of only two survivors of the raid. During the night of 7 December 1942, ten Royal Marines set out in five folding kayaks on Operation Frankton in Bordeaux, France. They caused considerable damage to five German ships, but six of the men were shot by the Germans and two died of hypothermia after their canoe capsized. The two survivors, Sparks and Major Herbert "Blondie" Hasler, made their way overland to the town of Ruffec, There, they met escape line leader, Mary Lindell, who arranged for them to be smuggled across the border into Spain from where they reached safety in Gibraltar.
The bookplate will fit most books.