Holiday, Written and illustrated by Wesley and 50 similar items

First Printing of the First Edition as signified on the copyright page by the date 1946 with the date 1946 on the title page and with no other dates or printings listed. Book has some rubbing to the bottom edge and the corners as is common with these fragile heavy paper stock covered boards, otherwise a Tight sound unmarked copy in Very Good plus condition. A very nice tight clean copy. Dustjacket is in Very Good plus condition with slight edgewear and slight dust soiling to the outer covers. $2.00 original price is still present and unclipped on the front dustjacket flap. Holiday the pony sees a dog win a blue ribbon at a show, and he decides he would like one too. After hurdling a fence in front of his owner, he starts a new career as a jumper. About the author John Wesley Dennis (1903–66) was born of an English father and an American mother in 1903 in Massachusetts. His father had come to America with a sporting team, met his mother, married her and stayed. Both their sons were artistic; Wesley Dennis dropped out of school at the age of 17, and went to live with his elder brother Morgan in Boston, where Morgan was working as an artist for the Boston Herald. Wesley went to the New School of Design, and managed to make something of a living from his drawing, doing fashion advertising sketches. Unlike his brother, who eventually made his living drawing dogs, Wesley Dennis’ interest was horses. He had a horse of his own as a child – Bob – which he was only allowed to keep if the horse earned its living. Bob was trained to harness, and helped cultivate turnips. As an adult, Dennis joined the Massachusetts National Guard Cavalry so he could be with horses. The Government would keep members’ horses free of expense, as long as they could be called on in an emergency, so he bought two polo ponies, and gained more experience of the equine form by getting a job grooming the horses at the Camp. Although he was earning a successful living with fashion illustration by this point, he found the process immensely dull. In an attempt to move into equestrian illustration, Dennis contacted Lowes Dalbian Luard, a well-known animal and landscape artist, who lived in Paris, to ask if he could be taken on as a pupil. Luard replied that he did not take pupils, but would help, and so Dennis set off for Paris, where he was taught to draw from memory, and studied carcasses in the butchers to learn anatomy. When he returned to America, he earned money by sketching race horses and selling the pictures to their owners. Whilst on honeymoon with his second wife, he met the juvenile editor for the Viking Press, May Massey, who suggested that he write and illustrate a book. Flip was the result. When Marguerite Henry was searching for an illustrator for her first book, Justin Morgan Had a Horse, her first choices, Will James and C W Anderson, were not available. She found Flip in a local library, and so began her collaboration with its artist. Although Wesley Dennis wrote several titles of his own for younger readers, he is probably best known for his work with Marguerite Henry, for whom he illustrated 15 titles. The combination of the two was hugely successful and many of their titles are still in print now. Dennis was a prolific illustrator, and there are over 150 books illustrated by him. All the books Wesley Dennis wrote and illustrated are easy to find. First editions in very good condition can be expensive. The books Dennis illustrated vary in price considerably; very good first editions of the Dorothy Lyons and Marguerite Henry titles can be very expensive