The Mystery of Lorna Doone

Anita O'Brien, the director/curator of London's Cartoon Museum, contacted me the other day for information about the original art pages shown above, an adaptation of the romance novel Lorna Doone. Does anyone know who illustrated them, and where they were published? There's a reference on the back of the pages for 'Nine Star Press, London' but it's not a publisher I've heard of. (I did Google it but it led to a publisher of gay literature currently using the name, which is not the same publisher.) 

I'm guessing the art is from the late 1940's/early 1950's, and that Nine Star Press were one of the many small independent British publishers around at that time, but I've no idea of the artist or where it appeared. The instruction to the printer at the foot of the pages, to print it at a width of 6 3/8" suggests it was published in American size format (which was common for UK indie comics of the 1940s/50s). Equally puzzling is why the captions were re-lettered in upper case for page one. 

Can anyone out there help? Please leave a comment below or contact me at lew.stringer@BTopenworld.com if you have any info.

Thanks!