About the author
Charles Joseph Finger (1869–1941) was born in Willesden, London. He went to King’s College, London but left without a degree, and went to Germany to study music. His parents emigrated to America, but Charles stayed in Europe and travelled. Between 1890–95 he moved around South America, doing various things to survive: working with gauchos; herding sheep and panning gold. Eventually he made his way north to the United States, and carried on herding sheep but this time in Texas. He became a United States citizen in 1896. He had been writing short stories and doing freelance work as a journalist, and eventually was offered a job on The Mirror, St Louis. The editor encouraged him to write.
Finger wrote many books, drawing on his earlier experiences. A children’s book, Tales from Silver Lands, won the Newbery Medal in 1925. He liked the romantically lawless; many of his books were about highwaymen, vagabonds and pirates. One (as far as I know) was about horses: Give a Man a Horse, which was appeared both in America and his native UK.
Finding the book
Easy to find in both printings.
Links and sources
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture
Bibliography (horse books only)
Give a Man a Horse
The John C Winston Company, Philadelphia, 1938, 340 pp, illus by Henry C Pitz
G G Harrap & Co, London, 1939, 318 pp
Bob has a job to do – he’s to pick up some mares in Seattle, and accompany them to South America. However, when he arrives in Seattle there are no mares to be seen. Horse thieves have got there first.
