King of the Wind

Left - endpapers

Right - b/w illustraton

Far right - reverse of dj

Below - the colour plates

Other editions

Left - UK 1st edn

Right - USA pb

King of the Wind

Rand McNally & Company, 1948, illus Wesley Dennis

This book is the story of the Godolphin Arabian, Sham, one of the foundation stallions of the Thoroughbred.  It takes him from his difficult birth in Tunisia through to his eventual acceptance as an exceptional stallion, accompanied throughout by his Tunisian horseboy, Agba.  

How much of the book is actually historical fact is difficult to say (there doesn’t seem to be any evidence for Sham’s time as a baker’s horse in Paris, for instance) but Marguerite Henry tells a wonderfully absorbing story, and oh - those illustrations.  Once I was sent them, I had to get on the net and find a copy of the book.  Just beautiful (but make sure you buy a first or early edition: later editions were done in black and white).  

A film was made of the book, though as it was released at the time of the Gulf War it got little publicity.   

Links:

A little more about the film