About the artist
Elisabeth Grant did frontispieces for the last hardback edition of the Jill books. This edition was produced by the Brockhampton Press in the 1970s. The books were hardbacks with laminated boards and photographic covers.
I have only seen two of these editions, which are extremely hard to find. A Stable for Jill has kept its Bonar Dunlop illustrations, but has a new frontispiece by Elisabeth Grant. Jill Enjoys Her Ponies has no internal illustrations (possibly because Bonar Dunlop didn’t do any for this title, and the Caney originals were felt to be too dated). Elisabeth Grant produced a frontis for this title too.
I do like the Jill ones. She manages to make Jill look the right age and like a proper girl (even though Black Boy is, sadly, a piebald).
Elisabeth Grant illustrated other pony book authors as well: some of Gillian Baxter’s were done by her. She also illustrated Caroline Akrill’s I’d Rather Not Gallop – though managed to get the veil wrong which was something that irked Caroline for years. The JBB republication had to edit that cover.
Bibliography (horse books only)
Gillian Baxter: Horses in the Glen
Evans, 1962
Roberta Piper: Little Red
Methuen, 1965
Amanda Gavin: To Find a Golden Pony
Dent, 1965
Amanda Gavin: The Luck at Lonely Hall
Dent, 1967
Gillian Baxter: Pantomime Ponies
Methuen, London, 1969
Irene Makin: Ponies in the Attic
Hutchinson, 1970
Gillian Baxter: Save the Ponies!
Methuen, 1971
Frances Eagar: The Donkey Upstairs
Hamish Hamilton, 1972
Gillian Baxter: Ponies by the Sea
Methuen, London, 1974
Caroline Akrill: I’d Rather Not Gallop
Brockhampton, 1975
The Pullein-Thompsons: Black Beauty’s Clan
Brockhampton Press, London, 1975
Josephine Pullein-Thompson: Star Riders of the Moor
Hodder & Stoughton, 1976
Gillian Baxter: Ponies in Harness
Methuen, London, 1977
Gillian Baxter: Special Delivery
Methuen, London, 1977
The Pullein-Thompsons: Black Beauty’s Family
Beaver, London, 1978
Josephine Pullein-Thompson: Black Nightshade
Knight, London, 1978
Caroline Akrill: If I Could Ride
Brockhampton, 1979
Josephine Pullein-Thompson: Ride to the Rescue
Brockhampton, 1979
Gillian Baxter: My Book of Pony Stories
Dean, 1991
Books illustrated by Elisabeth Grant
Ruby Ferguson: A Stable for Jill
Brockhampton Press, 1974
(Grant provided a frontis)
Ruby Ferguson: Jill Has Two Ponies
Brockhampton Press, 1974
(Grant provided a frontis)
Ruby Ferguson: Jill Enjoys Her Ponies
Brockhampton Press, 1974
(Grant provided a frontis)
