David Grew (1887-1971)

American author. Most of his books featured animals within the wild, mainly wild horses, but also dogs and coyotes, and are mostly set in Canada. His horse books are mainly sympathetic to the plight of the horse rather than the human, perhaps ahead of their time in their empathy for the equine characters, and are now very well-regarded. Although not well-known to British readers, a few of Grew's books have been published here, in fact one of them, The Mare of Pandora, oddly appears to have only been published in the UK and never in the USA. It may possibly be a British edition of Beyond Rope and Fence

Thanks to James Keeline for providing correct nationality and dates.

Pony Books:

BEYOND ROPE AND FENCE
(BONI & LIVERIGHT [USA] 1922)
ILLUSTRATED (FRONTISPIECE) BY HAROLD SICHEL
Reprinted in hardback by McKay & Co
Reprinted in hardback by Grosset & Dunlap as part of their Famous Horse Stories series
Available in the UK as a 'print on demand' edition by General Books
EDITION PICTURED: Famous Horse Stories edition.
SUMMARY: Set in Canada. Story of the buckskin mare Queen who, released from captivity to over-winter in the wild, decides she wants to keep her freedom. But she is relentlessly pursued by man. Written from the horse's POV, although not in first person. The character of Queen was apparently based on a real-life mare called Dora.

THE MARE OF PANDORA
(HODDER & STOUGHTON [UK] 1925)
Very rare

THE SORREL STALLION
(SCRIBNERS [USA] 1932)
ILLUSTRATED BY PAUL BROWN
(1st UK edition HUTCHINSON 1933)
Reprinted in hardback by Grosset & Dunlap as part of their Famous Horse Stories series
British edition published by Hutchinson in 1933.
There was also a German edition published.
EDITION PICTURED: Famous Horse Stories edition.
SUMMARY: A stolen horse called Prince eventually finds his way back home.

THE GHOST MARE
(COWARD McCANN [USA] 1949)
(1st UK edition WARNE 1952)
Reprinted in hardback by original publisher
British edition published by Warne in 1952
EDITION PICTURED: 1st edition.
SUMMARY: The ghost mare is a mysterious wild white mare who 'steals' captive horses who then join her wild herd. The local people hate her as they think she brings bad luck and eventually a Mountie is detailed to shoot her. When he hears the news 16 year old Billy is determined to save the mare from being shot.

THE BUCKSKIN COLT
(McKAY & CO [USA] 1962)
ILLUSTRATED BY WILLIAM FERGUSON
Reprinted in hardback by Grosset & Dunlap as part of their Famous Horse Stories series
EDITION PICTURED: Famous Horse Stories edition.
SUMMARY: A young boy does not want to sell his buckskin colt.

Collector's Info:
The Mare of Pandora is a very hard book to find. It had only one printing, a UK one, and that is rarely seen. The others are generally fairly easy to find in the USA. The Ghost Mare is also not too hard to find in the UK, but the others can be quite hard to find outside of America. Beyond Rope and Fence is however available in the UK as a 'print on demand' title.