After the Gold Horseshoe edition of the 1990s (which you can see, along with the earlier editions, here), there were no completely new Jinny editions for another 20 years, but there were compilations, and a partial hardback series.
Hardbacks
The Jinny series’ true first editions were in paperback by Armada, so if you look for a hardback first edition, you will look in vain. Severn House, the library edition arm of Collins, did reprint some of the series in hardback with dustjackets, although some titles were issued with laminated boards. I don’t know if all titles appeared: I’ve not managed to trace them if they did. The Severn House editions used a mixture of photographs, mostly from from the white horseshoe editions. A Devil to Ride is a bit of a puzzle – I think it must be the Burnleys. The Summer Riders cover doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the story at all.
I have not been able to find any evidence of Severn House editions of Night of the Red Horse, Gallop to the Hills, Jump for the Moon, or Horse of Fire. Most of these laminated/hardback editions are not particularly easy to find.
Other hardbacks
Marks and Spencer made a foray into pony publishing, and published a collection of three Jinny stories. I’m not sure if they ever did any more, or whether they went straight in with Chestnut Gold, Jump for the Moon and Horse of Fire.
Other paperback reprints
Pavilion reprinted the series with two titles in each book. Some of the cover shots from the Gold Horseshoe edition were used, but presumably there were some unused photographs from the shoot, as these appear on some titles.
Other compilations
Armada published several compilations including various titles. It might well be that there are others I haven’t seen.
Boxed set
Armada published a boxed set containing five Jinny titles. In my experience of boxed sets, I have found that they can contain various titles: presumably whatever the publisher had most of hanging around at the time.
This one contained For Love of a Horse, A Devil to Ride, Night of the Red Horse, Ride Like the Wind and Chestnut Gold, all in the white horseshoe edition.
Catnip paperback reprints
Children’s publishers Catnip began republishing the Jinny titles in 2010 with For Love of a Horse. These editions are trade paperback format (i.e. larger than the original Jinnies) and are handsome books. The chestnut Arab featured on the covers is the chestnut mare owned by equine photographer Karen Budkiewicz. She originally posted pictures of her gorgeous horse on my old forum; members suggested she take them to Catnip and now she’s immortalised.
Catnip alas didn’t ever publish the twelfth book, Running Wild, in this edition.
Catnip did do cover designs for all 12 books for a new edition in 2020, this time including Running Wild, but as far as I can see, only For Love of a Horse, A Devil to Ride and Running Wild have actually appeared in this style.
Jane Badger Books
Jane Badger Books are reprinting the Jinny books throughout 2024/2025. For the first time, the books have illustrated covers. The artist is Jennifer Bell, and the model is Karen Budkiewicz’s Amira.
When I was thinking about the covers, I wanted to do something different to what had gone before, and what kept on coming into my head was that Jinny was an artist, so why not try to covers as if Jinny might have painted them? I always think of her having a swift, almost sketchy style as she’s painting, so that’s what we went for. Here are the covers so far.
The books will be available in eBook and paperback format, and you can see what’s available so far on my sales website.
So that’s Jinny up to date: she still maintains her hold in the hearts and minds of many who love horses. Long may she ride.
If you’d like to read more about Patricia Leitch, she has her own page on this website.
Leave a Reply