Elizabeth Sprigge

Jane Badger Books

Elizabeth Sprigge

Elizabeth Sprigge wrote several children’s books. As far as I have been able to work out, only two of them are pony books. Both were published by Eyre & Spottiswoode. Pony Tracks was illustrated by Lionel Edwards, and he does his usual excellent job.

Elizabeth Sprigge was a linguist: she spoke at least three languages, and translated several Swedish works, including those of the Swedish dramatist August Strindberg, as well as those in French (Jean Cocteau), and German. She is probably best known now for her biographies. She wrote on Gertrude Stein, which proved to be contentious. Alice B Toklas, though initially happy that Elizabeth Sprigge was writing the biography, very soon changed her mind when she found out that Elizabeth Sprigge wanted to include personal details as well as information on Stein’s works. Sprigge, she said, would produce a biography that was “vulgar and mistaken.” Nevertheless, the biography was completed, although reviews for it were mixed.

Finding the books: Pony Tracks is reasonably easy to find, but very difficult indeed to find with its dustjacket. Two Lost on Dartmoor is harder to find, but again, doesn’t tend to have survived with its dustjacket.

Sources:
Linda Simon: The Biography of Alice B Toklas

Pony Tracks
Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1936, illus Lionel Edwards

Many thanks to Lisa Catz for the picture.

Georgina and Nicholas live with their grandmother in the New Forest. Their grandmother tells them they have a
visitor coming to stay: Pat, who is the daughter of an old friend of their father. First impressions aren’t good,
but after Pat falls into a bog, they all thaw out. They form a fellowship with some other friends who live in
the Forest, and have various adventures, including rescuing Georgina’s pony Endless, and her foal Little
Scarlet, from pony rustlers.

Other works:

Faint Amorist

A A Knopf, 1927

A Shadowy Third
A A Knopt, 1927

The Old Man Dies
Heinemann, London, 1933

Castle in Andalucia
Heinemann, London, 1935

Children Alone

Heinemann, London, 1935

The Son of the House
Collins, London, 1937

The Raven’s Wing

Macmillan & Co, 1940

The Strange Life of August Strindberg
SI, 1947, Hamish Hamilton, 1949

Gertrude Stein - Her Life and Work

Hamish Hamilton, London, 1957

Jean Coctea - The Man and the Mirror
Gollancz, 1968

Sybil Thorndike Casson

Gollancz, 1971

The Life of Ivy Compton Burnett

Gollancz, 1973

Two Lost on Dartmoor
Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1940, illus Greenshields

Many thanks to Muskoka Bookhouse for the picture.

Bibliography - Pony Books Only