About
Maurice Tulloch (1894?–1974) illustrated several pony books, and numerous books on sporting subjects. I have, as yet, found no biographical information on him, but I assume from the dates of his published work that he saw active service during World War II. It is probable that he spent some time in India; he was certainly commissioned to illustrate several books on Indian subjects.
The pony books he illustrated are mostly done in a bright, sunlit style, but I think his most successful illustrations are when he moves away from that to a more realistic portrayal. I particularly like his Jumping Jan, which emerged as one of the most popular of pony book covers when I ran a poll on the Forum attached to this site. Ponies in Secret is very unusual amongst pony books in having colour plates throughout, as well as a colour frontispiece. The book instantly conjures up a distant, fantasy world where the sun always shone.
None of his pony books are impossible to find, as long as you don’t mind paperback reprints. If you want the originals, with dustjackets, then The Impossible Horse, Four Rode Home and No Place for Ponies are all now expensive, and hard to find. Jumping Jan has increased in price over the last couple of years, but the other pony titles are still reasonably easy to find.
Links and sources
Mr Pollard, by Maurice Tulloch
Bibliography
WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY MAURICE TULLOCH
The All-in-One Shikar Book: An Everyday Guide to Field Sports in India
DB Taraporevala & Sons, Bombay, 1950
ILLUSTRATED BY MAURICE TULLOCH
Cecil Acton: Stories of the Saddle
Country Life, London, 1938
Primrose Cumming: Four Rode Home
Dent & Sons, London, 1951
Kathleen Mackenzie: Red Conker
Evans, London, 1952 (cover art only)
Kathleen Mackenzie: Minda
Evans, London, 1953
Monica Edwards: Such a Pony was Gipsy
(short story) in Collins Children’s Annual, c 1953
Isobel Knight: Surefooted
Pickering & Inglis Ltd, 1953
Catherine Harris: We Started a Riding Club
Blackie, London, 1954
Primrose Cumming: No Place for Ponies
Dent & Sons, London, 1954
D A Young: Ponies in Secret
Ward Lock & Co, London, 1955
Kathleen Mackenzie: Jumping Jan
Evans, London, 1955 (cover art only)
Christine Keir [Christine Pullein-Thompson]: The Impossible Horse
Evans, London, 1957
NON PONY FICTION ILLUSTRATED BY MAURICE TULLOCH
R S Summerhays: From Saddle & Fireside
Country Life, London, 1936
Lionel Dawson: Hunting Without Tears
Country Life, London, 1936
Martin Stephens: Novice’s Luck
Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1936
M E Buckingham: Argh, the Tale of a Tiger
Country Life, London, 1936
M E Buckingham: Rajah the Elephant
Country Life, London, 1937
Sir Henry de Lisle: Tournament Polo
Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1938
“Uncle Ralph” [Martin Stephens]: Letters to Young Shooters
Rich & Cowan, London, 1939
Enid Blyton: Six Cousins Again
Evans, London, 1950
Phyllis Hinton: It’s Fun to Have a Pony
Ward Lock, London, 1951
J K Stanford: Last Chukker
Faber & Faber, 1951
J K Stanford: No Sportsman at All
Faber & Faber, 1952
Henry Stuart Tegner: The Buck of Lordenshaw
Batchworth Press, London, 1953
R S Summerhays: All About Horse Shows
Pamphlet, undated, Moss Bros