Welcome to Old Children's Books, selling children's literature and picture books online since 1994. We stock more than 10,000 scarce, collectible and out-of-print books, for readers, teachers and collectors.
Horse Books
Picture books and juveniles about horses, both realistic and imagined. We try to mention breed if this is clear. Because we love horses and horse books we'll sometimes list ones here that have a few more condition flaws than usual, usually jacket issues.
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The sequel to Riding Lessons, an enjoyable equine read, with some odd details about the horse world but interesting characters. (flying changes as in dressage and, perhaps, emotions).
London: Arlington, 1985, 1st printing.
CONDITION: Fine in Fine jacket; no flaws, unclipped 8.95 pounds.
4025
$24.00
/CWA, illustrator.
"When the eye and mind have dwelt too long on treachery, cruelty, and brutality it is good to see in a fine horse those qualities so essential in times of stress - courage, strength, and unconquerable pride." CWA 1942 . Heart-wrenchingly beautiful drawings that show the unique character of each horse. Getting hard to find with a jacket in this condition.
New York: Macmillan, 1942, 1st printing; 9x11.5 oblong, 64 pp.
CONDITION: Fine in Very Good jacket; no names, light wartime paper with very nice spine and corners, in jacket with shadow of adjacent books, with light wear to corners, two half inch tears; unclipped 2.50.
18939
$90.00
/CWA, illustrator.
The story of Man o' War, in retirement when this book was written, and his children and grandchildren. A lovely copy of this book, with a nice dustjacket of fragile wartime paper that is becoming hard to find in this condition
New York: Macmillan, 1943, 1st, sd "published September, 1943"; brown cloth with black titles, endpapers with portraits of famous racehorses from his line, in red jacket with portrait of Man o' War with floral winner's wreath; 9x11.5 oblong, 64 pp.
CONDITION: Near Fine in Very Good jacket; 1943 gift inscription on endpaper, very slight bumps to extrems, all else tight and clean; in unevenly darkening jacket with very light (1/32") edgewear all around, 3/8" chips to bottom corners, and some small thin white scrapes on the back about 1/4" long; unclipped 2.00
19447
$65.00
/anon, illustrator.
Simply beautiful animal chromolithographs. In German. Such lovely horses that we had to put it with the horse books. Note This Book Has Been Sold.
Nurnberg: Theo. Stroefer's Kunstverlag, #1073, lithographs and printing by E. Rister, Nurnberg. circa 1900; illustrated paper boards with a gray and a bay pony gazing over a wooden fence while pigeons look on, four full colour lithographs of animals, facing sepia drawings and poems in script.
CONDITION: Good Plus; no names, spine, top left corner and bottom right corner are chipped, boards soiled, foxing throughout; pages flat with some page soil.
19082
$165.00
Author/illustrator presumed.
Not for sale, from our own collection. I am listing this in the hope of finding out more about its illustrator. Wonderful swift sketches of horses in the field and stable, this essay on the hunt begins quoting Jorrocks and ends with English, "May you hunt forever." Several pages are addressed to women riders. Lovely paper and coloration. This book is available from archive.com in Kindle, with not quite the same ambiance! In French, its original language. A copy, inscribed in 1916, exists as a contribution to the biodiversity library by the Webster Family Library of Veterinary Medicine (archive.org) Veterinary Library's copy part of the John A. Seaverns Equine Collection. Additional jpgs available.
Establisssements d'imprimerie Seringe Freres, Noailles, Boullon; et ?emeoud Reunies, Leon Echegut, Directeur Geront, 1. Places de Caire 2. C. des Miracles;Fondes en 1806; no other data, cloth boards, probably linen, with green margins and horseman and dog, plain endpapers, same title page, followed by pages of watercoloured pen and ink lithos of fox hunting, interspersed with handwritten text, riders leaning back, Edwardian clothes, French signage, women sidesaddle, 10.25x9.8", 27x24.6cm" (In French)
CONDITION: Good; boards faded but clean, badly bumped in top spine corner, pages clean, unwrinkled, bright, and flat.
19058
$0.00
/EB, illustrator.
Elmer and Einer saved their pennies for a horse, good old Kristie. But Kristie had a mind of her own and it took many weekly consultations with Axel before everything was just right, and they could finally go swimming. Told with the cadences of a folk tale and many humorous drawings in text. The first Kristie book.
New York: Knopf, 1942, stated 1st; brown cloth boards with portrait of Kristie, endpapers with full illustration of Kristie pulling a carriage; frontis and 7 coloured lithos, single sided; in jacket with wrap-around painting of Kristie and the children outside the house and barn, wide 8vo; 84 pp.
CONDITION: Near Fine in Very Good Plus jacket; straight clean, in deacidified jacket with a bit of fading on spine; unclipped 1.75.
20284
$65.00
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Plato Chan illustrated this very charming book at the age of 12, blending the forms and images of his Chinese heritage with the free wheeling action of Western art. His father was a diplomat in Paris and was captured during World War II, while he and his mother were sent to London. Plato gave several exhibits, raising money for war relief, and continued to do so when he moved to the United States in the year prior to the publication of this book. Not much is known of his later years. An unusual CALDECOTT HONOR BOOK. This book belonged to Caroline Thorn Binney, an international dancer, director, and choreographer, who founded the New York Folk Ballet.
New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Whittlesey House, 1943, 1st, nap; green cloth boards, black illustration and titles, endpaper spread with many little orange horses in a green pasture with brooks and a waterfall, in jacket with close up of horses in the same landscape and a picture of Plato and his mother on the back; oblong 9x6"; np.
CONDITION: Very Good Plus in Very Good jacket; neat name on half title, top corners slightly bumped, otherwise boards and paper are very nice; in jacket with rubbed edges and a few small closed tears, and 2-3" rubbed tears on spine and a 2" wrinkled tear on back, repaired on the inside some time ago with moderate success so there is no loss of paper; unclipped, no price.
19895
$110.00
/Stanley Lloyd, illustrator.
Jenny, a little girl who longs for a pony, and Tattles, the son of an elegant hunter who pulls a junk cart, both walk through The Dark Corner of the stable to fulfill their dreams at the Extraordinary Riding School. (password: Silver Snaffles) This school is run by the ponies themselves, who are superb instructors: in one week Jenny is able to ride off on to rescue a pony from the snobbish Jostlepots and take part in a glorious hunt ! A classic, gentle fantasy, not just for pony book lovers.
New York: M. S. Mill Co., Inc., 1937 stated 1st issue (US, preceded by the 1937 UK 1st); blue cloth with dark blue titles and Mill logo, blue top edge; 25 full page charcoal drawings blank on verso, as issued; 6.5x9.25; 160 pp.
CONDITION: Very Good; without jacket; no names; slanted 1/8" but tight, extrems worn through at all tips, one small light spot on lower top and uneven fading on back and spine; very clean and unwrinkled plates and text.
19835
$195.00
/PD, illustrator.
Edward, a French donkey with style, managed to pass as a man until he swept off his hat before Mademoiselle Olive. "Edward," she said, "You're a donkey!" His secret had been discovered. Note: This Book has been sold.
New York: Parents' Magazine Press, (1977/1976 as Flammarion Histoire d'Edward); boards with knitted pattern and Edward enjoying his meal on the front, pink endpapers with design of grey donkey head and Bachelor Buttons; 8.9x6.1; 48 pp.
CONDITION: Very Good without jacket; extrems rubbed and bumped, a little loose.
20554
$14.00
/MHE, illustrator.
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New York: 1961, 1st, yellow cloth with pink circus drawings; 7.9x10.9"; 64 pp.
CONDITION: Very Good without jacket; erased child's name, straight tight, clean boards and pages.
21167
$10.00
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Lyle, 14, eagerly accompanies his grandfather into the Nevada hills to stalk a mustang stallion.
Lothrop, Lee, & Shepard, 1981, 1st printing; 160 pp.
CONDITION: Very Good in Very Good jacket; some tape stains where owner has taped dw, clipped, w half inch tear.
9793
$15.00
/Al Savitt, illustrator.
An interesting book by a lifelong horseman and judge. Fear and what to do about it; Beware of anthropopathism; Stable manners___ Yours, that is, and more.
New York: G. P. Putnams' Sons, (1970); gray boards in tan jacket with eight horses' heads, all with something different going on; 6x8.2"; 123 pp + catalogue and author page, including index.
CONDITION: Very Good in Good Plus jacket; child's bookplate, spine ends pushed, otherwise clean and straight; in darkening jacket with cracks or rubs on all creases, 1.5" tear, damage to both spine ends to 3/4"; unclipped 4.50.
20828
$12.00
/Victor Ambrus, illustrator.
Kodi, a Navajo boy, was sent away to the mission school, leaving his beautiful horse Willow with a cruel master. How he ran away to try to save her. With many sensitive drawings by Ambrus. (For photos of a better copy, see 15635)
New York: Criterion, 1973, 1st printing nap; 107 pp.
CONDITION: Very Good in Very Good clipped jacket; ex-lib, few marks.
15635
$10.00
/photos taken from the film and by Denys Colomb.
Large, beautiful photos of wild horses, a wild boy, and the Camargue. There is something nostalgic about seeing the horse and boy galloping along the shore as seen through the veil of the glassine wrap. Quite a treasure if you love this film.
Paris: Hachette, October 15, 1953, Imprimerie Pigelet; No. d'Imprimarie 590, depot legal, 4e trimestre 1953, presumed 1st publication after Cannes in the spring of 1953; large softcover/wraps with folded flaps and separate red bande "Grand Prix International/Festival de Cannes 1953" (short film; replaced by Palme d'Or in 1955); photo of Folco galloping White Mane , and of two stallions fighting on the back, black and white photos with many spreads, heavy coated paper; glassine wrap; 8.5x12", 22x30.5cm; no page numbers.
CONDITION: Very Good in Very Good stiff dustwrapper around clean paper block; no names or other marks, top corners lightly bumped, bottom corners lightly creased throughout text, pages clean, dustwrapper flaws as with block, with rubbed creases, red band paper faded on spine ow very nice; all in glassine wrap with upper corners and most of spine missing but nice front and back panels, stored and sold in protective toploader.
21576
$110.00
/RL, illustrator.
Episodes in the Career of Paul Revere as revealed by his horse. Lawson's illustrations of this large, roman nosed horse are probably pretty accurate!
Boston: Little, Brown Co., 1953/1953, 5th printing, in year of publication; 8vo, 152 pp.
CONDITION: Very Good Plus; neat inked name on half title, tight, clean, slight rubs to extrems, very light soil on back.
21126
$10.00
/Jos. A. Smith, illustrator.
Boy learns to take care of horse.
Greenwillow, 1966, 1st printing; 168 pp.
CONDITION: Fine in Fine jacket; no flaws, unclipped 15.00.
9739
$25.00
/Richard Kennedy, illustrator.
Their holiday trip from Stockholm to Copenhagen with dear Auntie becomes even better when Annelie and Nicklas secretly win a miniature pony at the zoo. But how to smuggle Ben back to Sweden? Just barely plausible and very funny! Note: This book has been SOLD..
New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968/1965, stated 1st Am. translated from the Swedish by Anne Parker, beige cloth boards with pony head, red endpapers, in white jacket with a funny but inaccurate picture of the pony standing a trunk stuffed with clothes; 8vo; 130 pp.
CONDITION: Near Fine in Very Good jacket; no names or other marks, straight, tight, sharp corners, in white clipped jacket with light even soil, 3 half inch tears and some light edgewear.
20100
$18.00
/Ian Amour-Chelu, illustrator.
Bill, orphaned early, goes from Wellington to Wairarapa or the Wydrup, a rough ranching community in the foothills, and makes his way on his own through his persistence and his horsemanship. Vivid scenery and horses.
London: Epworth Press, New Zealand: Whitcombe and Tombs, 1963 1st printing; brown boards, green yellow and white jacket with Bill Campion on a horse; 8vo; 153 pp.
CONDITION: Very Good in Near Fine jacket; foxed edges, wrinkled ep gutters; unclipped 12/6.
16888
$14.00
/Margaret Lefranc, illustrator.
An excellent introduction to the Plains Indians, with chapters on how they made things, cookery, sign language, etc.
Crowell, 4th, c.1948; 136 pp, biblio, index.
CONDITION: Very Good in Good jacket; slightly caved, red clipped dw spine sl fade.
4633
$8.00
/Helen Stone, illustrator.
When Brownie, the fancy NY police horse who has had his picture in the paper, moves into the stall next to Joey's, Joey begins to wish for fame. If Joey could have his picture in the paper, his owner could afford new shoes for his six children. After a string of funny adventures, he achieves his heart's desire. Lively, stylish, though not particularly equestrian, drawings illustrate this sweet tale. A new story about Joey, "The Horse Who Lived Upstairs" by the same author/artist team.
Philadelphia and New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1951, stated first; green paper boards with gilt horse and titles, plain endpapers, in pink jacket with the horse reading the newspaper over the shoulder of Mr. Polaski, the vegetable man, 7.5x9.75"; 48 pp.
CONDITION: Very Good Plus in Very Good jacket; no names or other marks, clean boards, sharp unrubbed extrems, a few light reading wrinkles on clean pages, in crisp, very clean, darkening jacket with light wear to extrems and half inch closed tear; unclipped 2.00.
19499
$58.00
/Ella Dolbear Lee, illustrator.
Mowie's life in the circus and later with his child friends told in clear, bright watercolor and ink lithos on every other opening. A charming item in an earlier style than the 20's.
Whitman, Wig Wag Series, (1920), cloudy gray paper boards with Jim the clown in a white suit with red spots gently holding Mowie's head; 4.75x6.5"; 32 pp.
CONDITION: Disbound (almost); no names or other marks, very light rubs and bumps to extremities and spine crease, clean, flat pages, appearing unread; would be Very Good but the book is bound with one signature stapled to a continuous pasted down endpaper, which has pulled away on two staples; however, block itself is very tight.
19417
$15.00
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Jenny falls in love with a racehorse and has to figure out how to board and train him. Note: This book has been sold.
London: Doubleday (Transworld Publishers), (1989) dark blue boards in jacket with horse and rider, 8vo; 252 pp.
CONDITION: Fine in Fine jacket; no names or other marks, straight, clean; in nice jacket; unclipped 7.95 pounds.
20643
$14.00
/Victor G. Ambrus.
Christina Parsons, an orphan, goes to live with her Uncle Russell and cousins Mark and Will at Flambards, a rambling and decaying mansion in rural England. Here pre-WWI values, the hunt, the class system, meet modern life, airplanes, informality. Guardian Award.
London: Oxford University Press, 1967, 1st printing (sd); red cloth binding, white jacket with Christina on horseback watching a small plane; 8vo; 193 pp.
CONDITION: Very Good in Very Good jacket; small woodblock owner plate, no written names, tight, clean, pale offset from laid in article on endpaper, visible dent on top edge of board, in jacket rumpled above dent, water damage on bottom corner and flap, no damage to book; unclipped17/6.
19098
$28.00
A collection of stories and poems about horses through history by the author of good horse books.
Leicester: Brockhampton Press, 1973, 1st printing; jacket with photo of two riders, tall 8vo; 128 pp.
CONDITION: Good in Very Good jacket; name has been cut out of free endpaper in 1.5" strip, otherwise tight and crisp; in clipped jacket with light rubs to edges and extrems.
17448
$16.00
/GR, illustrator.
At the rodeo.
Holiday, 1956, 1st printing; 90 pp.
CONDITION: Very Good in Very Good jacket; corners sl bump, dw corners rubbed; unclipped 2.25
5004
$16.00