Dorothy Lyons

Jane Badger Books

Dorothy Lyons

Dorothy Lyons is one of those authors whom you are surprised no American pu

blisher has thought of re-issuing. Like Marguerite Henry, she covered many different disciplines, but unlike her, the disciplines she covered weren’t ones that would necessarily read easily elsewhere. Several of her books are about equine events which simply don’t happen in the UK. Harlequin Hullabaloo, for example, is about Saddlebred 5 gaited showing. The practice of breaking a horse’s tail, which is part of preparing a Saddlebred for showing, means this book is controversial, and would be highly unlikely to read well in the UK, where docking, the only thing nearly equivalent, has been illegal for years. All her other books, though, such as Bright Wampum, which is about stock and rodeo, are much more accessible, and well worth seeking out.

Unfortunately for the collector, many of her books are difficult and expensive to find. Most only ever made one appearance and even as ex-library editions, are very, very hard to source. Some titles (Dark Sunshine, Blue Smoke and Golden Sovereign) did appear in paperback, and are therefore easy to find. Try Abebooks: all three are there and cheap. The editions illustrated by Wesley Dennis are often more expensive than first editions..

Dorothy Lyons graduated from the University of Michigan, and worked for the American Red Cross before writing full time, and breeding Connemara ponies. Only two of her books had UK publications, and they were about racing (Copper Kahn) and Western Pleasure (Golden Sovereign). These reprints are immensely difficult to find, and none of her books were ever picked up by more mainstream British publishers. This is a pity, as the very few I’ve managed to get my hands on were excellent reads, and it would only need a little research to work out what is going on in those books which deal with unfamiliar disciplines. The bibliography gives a little more detail of what the stories are about.

Critically, Dorothy Lyons received greater acclaim for her works during the 1940s and 1950s, but all her works are sought after.

Many thanks to Susan Bourgeau for all her help with this section.

Finding the books: the two Famous Horse printings are reasonably easy to find; the others are all more or less tricky. The British printings (Copper Khan and Golden Sovereign) are very difficult indeed to find.

Sources and links:
There is some information on Dorothy Lyons here, with biographical information and cover shots.
dustjackets of the books
Terri A. Wear: Horse Stories, an Annotated Bibilography, Scarecrow Press, 1987

Connie McGuire
Silver Birch
Midnight Moon
Golden Sovereign
Copper Kahn

Ginnie

Java Jive
Smoke Rings

Bibliography: horse books only

Red Embers
Harcourt, Brace, 1948, illus Wesley Dennis

A horse van breaks down near the Rancho San Felipe, which means Phil and her friends now have four
proper opponents to play polo with.

Golden Sovereign
Harcourt, Brace & Co, 1946, illus Wesley Dennis
Reprinted 1960
Scholastic Book Services, paperback, 1963 and 1968
UK printing (left): Museum Press, London, 1949, illus Wesley Dennis

Connie has her hands full training the son of Silver Birch, developing her stables, and
tracking down the background of a mistreated mare she’s just bought.

Midnight Moon
Harcourt, Brace & Co, 1941, illus W.C. Nims
Reprinted 1960, cover Wesley Dennis, internal illus W.C. Nims (illustrated right)

Connie bets that she will be good enough to win first or second place in a horse show
within a year. It’s a potentially costly bet: she could lose her mare Silver Birch if she
loses.

Silver Birch
Harcourt, 1939, illus John Austin Taylor
2nd edition: cover W C Nims, internal illus. John Austin Taylor
3rd edition: cover Wesley Dennis, internal illus. John Austin Talyor (illustrated right)

When Connie and her friends form a mounted Girl Scout troop, Connie decides to tame a wild white
mare rather than ride her father’s plough horse.

Harlequin Hullabaloo
Harcourt, Brace, 1949, illus Wesley Dennis (right)
Also published as Bluegrass Champion
Grosset & Dunlap, Famous Horse series, 1949, illus Wesley Dennis (left)
and in picture cover by Grosset & Dunlap

Hullabaloo is not the conventional colour for a Saddlebred, and Judy has trouble getting
him judged as the good horse he is, rather than as a skewbald oddity.

Java Jive
Harcourt, Brace, 1955, illus Wesley Dennis

Ginny hopes to catch a horse in her corral: she catches a Morgan called Sugar several times, and then
the Morgan’s owner allows Ginny to board the mare. The mare produces a foal, which Ginny is allowed to
keep.

Blue Smoke
Harcourt, Brace, 1953, illus Wesley Dennis

Reprinted as trade paperback

Pop, the first boarder at Andy’s ranch dies. He has said he has left his blue roan Quarter Horse to Andy, but
he’s only said it, not written it down. Andy hopes the horse is never claimed by Pop’s family.

Dark Sunshine
Harcourt, Brace & World, 1951, illus Wesley Dennis (right)
Reprinted as picture cover, Grosset & Dunlap, illus Wesley Dennis (left)
Paperback and as mass market paperback with revised cover art

Blythe needs to ride so that she can strengthen her weak leg, but she doesn’t want to ride:
that is, until she finds a wild mare who has become trapped.

Copper Kahn
Harcourt, Brace, 1950, illus Wesley Dennis
UK edn: Museum Press, 1952

Connie buys a Thoroughbred stallion with a broken cannon bone, and hopes that she will be able to get him
racing again.

Bright Wampum
Harcourt, Brace, 1958, illus Wesley Dennis ( cover and frontis), 190 pp.

Merry and her family ranch sit for an absentee owner and Merry decides she will break in some of the ranch’s
Appaloosa horses.

Autobiography:
The Devil Made the Small Town
Kimberley Press, 1983

Pedigree Unknown
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973, cocver Herb Steinberg

Jill’s fiancé is a terrible snob, but she finds solace in a horse.

Smoke Rings
Harcourt Brace, 1960

Ginny rescues a man on a runaway horse from being hit by a train. The man gives the runaway to Ginny,
who sees an Olympic prospect in her.