About the author
Joseph Wharton Lippincott (1887–1996) wrote numerous animal stories, amongst which was one horse story: The Red Roan Pony. The astute reader of the American section of this site will have noticed the Lippincott name coming up frequently as a publisher: the firm saw its origins in 1792, as a Philadelphia bookstall. Joseph Wharton Lippincott was the son of J Bertram Lippincott and the third generation to work at the family business. Joseph Wharton Lippincott served the firm for fifty years, until his retirement in 1958, as president from 1928–1947, and as chairman of the Board after that.
In 1937, he founded the Joseph W Lippincott Award for Outstanding Librarianship. It is an annual award, presented to a “librarian for distinguished service to the profession of librarianship”.
Finding the book
Both versions are reasonably easy to find. The book wasn’t published in the UK.
Links and sources
Terri A. Wear: Horse Stories, an Annotated Bibliography, Scarecrow Press, 1987
Wikipedia on Joseph Wharton Lippincott
Bibliography (horse books only)
The Red Roan Pony
The Penn Publishing Company, Philadelpia, 1934, 320 pp, illus Lynn Bogue Hunt
Revised edn: Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1951, 218 pp, illus C W Anderson
A circus mare has escaped: Jimmie tames her red roan colt, and calls him Reddy. He wants the horse for his own, but when he sees how healthy the little girl Bess becomes when she rides the colt, he gives him to her. Reddy becomes a show horse, but after he is injured and can no longer compete, Bess sends him back. Jimmie then has to decide whether to keep him or let him roam free again.
