Marjorie Reynolds

The Cabin on Ghostly Pond

Harper & Row, New York, 1962, illus Lorence Bjorklund

Keep a Silver Dollar

Harper & Row, New York, 1966, illus by Michael Lyne

Hamish Hamilton, London, 1967

Children’s Book Club, London, 1967

Marjorie Reynolds was born in Rochester, New York, and before settling there, lived in France, England and Quebec. She married Major- General R C Reynolds, a retired British Army officer. The family were always interested in horses; they lived in the fox-hunting country of Genesee Valley, and spent their summers on Nantucket Island. Marjorie Reynolds has written six horse books: all have a boy hero. Unlike most American horse book boys, none of her heroes come from the ranching or western worlds, but all feature English-style riding.

Only one of her books (Keep a Silver Dollar) was published in the UK. It appeared also as a Children’s Book Club edition, and is reasonably easy to find. In her books’ original American printings, they are unusual in having pictorial boards with matching dustjackets. Books were often produced this way as special library editions, but not generally for the public. This has meant that few survive with the dustjackets; presumably discarded when they became tatty. The books are however no more expensive with a dustjacket than without; just harder to find.

Many thanks to Susan Bourgeau for providing the information and pictures for this section.

Sources:
Cabin on Ghostly Pond, Sire Unknown

Dark Horse Barnaby

Macmillan, New York, 967, illus Peter Biegel