About this Item
First edition hardcover in red paper covered boards with sharp tips and bumped spine ends. Boards are bright, clean and square. No names, tears or soil within the 158 pp text. A few light foxing marks on edge of page block. Inner hinge papers are fine. Book has no weird smells. Original dust jacket and book illustrated by Peter Beigel. Salmon background jacket shows two horses jumping neck-and-neck over a water jump, a black line drawing by P.B. on frt panel, plus four full page black & white line drawings within. Spine ends, and both ends of dj panels show chips but all the cover and spine titles are is present and legible. Crescent shaped closed tear on age-toned cream colored rear panel that offers more titles by Kathleen Herald plus three other authors. Jacket is age toned, brittle and shows light handling soil but is now in new mylar and well protected going forward. Exceedingly rare in any jacket. Very English in detail, very knowledgeable in horsemanship, Kathleen Herald's books have a rather special audience, but they are marked by an intensity of feeling, spiked by a wry, dry humor which appeals to those girls who want something more than the average, hackneyed horse story. To Anna falls the task of caring for the horse used by her father's employer to drive round his estate. The lovely chestnut, China, who performs this duty, is sold by his owner and replaced by an animal both old and ugly whose appearance horrifies Anna. Scornfully she christens him Crab, to suit his action (movement), and spends her time comparing him unfavorably with China and lamenting her loss. However, the ugly duckling has hidden depths, and how Anna finds out about his illustrious past and works to restore him in his old age to something of his former prowess is the story of this book. When, at the end, Crab and China are matched together in a point-to-point race, Anna realizes that it is Crab who takes first place in her affections and not the chestnut; and another happy surprise awaits her after the race. Seller Inventory # 46883
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