Edward Streeter

Mr. Robbins Rides Again
Harper and Brothers, New York,1958, illus Marc Simont, 155pp.

Hamish Hamilton, London, 1958, 155 pp.

Best in Books, with Night March, Doubleday, NY, 1959

Paperback Library, New York, 1962

Mr. Horace Robbins, suburban New Yorker, goes to a dude ranch to get to know his grandson
better.  There are many forces ranged against him, however.  Once they get to the ranch,
Bobby, the grandson, is swallowed up by the younger element.  Mr Robbins’ problems are to
work out a way of co-existing with the mare he rides, buckskin Dolly, and also fight against the
fact that everyone else except him seems to be an expert at fishing.

Edward Streeter (1891-1976) was an American author,   He was educated at Harvard, and served in the First World War, during which time he wrote his Dere Mabel letters, the letters of an illiterate soldier writing home, published in the Buffalo Express.  When he returned from the war, he worked in the financial sector in New York, though he still published short stories and articles.  His first novel, Daily Except Sundays, appeared in 1938, and he continued to write humorous novels, most notably Father of the Bride, which was filmed in 1949, starring Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor.  His one horse book, Mr. Robbins Rides Again, is dedicated to Judy, model for Dolly:  "To Judy (alias Dolly); stubborn ingrate that she is, I love her still".  It’s unusual in that the book was actually illustrated - something which never happens in adult books now, alas.

Finding the book:  easy to find, though very good first editions can be expensive.  The British edition isn’t particularly common, but is not generally expensive.

Links and sources:

Edward Streeter’s papers are in the Fales Library

Bookrags on Edward Streeter

Bibliography - horse books only