RED PONY by Steinbeck John - 1945

New York: Viking Press, 1945. First illustrated edition, First Printing, Rogers-Kellogg-Stillson imprint. Illustrated in colours by Wesley Dennis. Tall 8vo, original cloth decorated with a full colour pastedown on the upper cover, lettered on the spine in gilt on blue, housed in the publisher’s slipcase with the additional colour pastedown. 131 pp. A very fine copy, as nice as we’ve seen, even the slipcase is nearly pristine. THE FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION AND A VERY FINE COPY. The text of this story was originally published in 1937, but Wesley Dennis’ fine paintings make this by far the more appealing of the two editions.
THE RED PONY is an episodic novella featuring tales of a boy named Jody Tiflin. The book has four different stories about Jody and his life on his father's California ranch. Other main characters include Carl Tiflin - Jody's father; Billy Buck - an expert in horses and a working hand on the ranch; Mrs. Tiflin - Jody's mother; and Jody's grandfather - Mrs. Tiflin's father, who has a history of crossing the Oregon Trail, and enjoys telling stories about his experiences; Gitano - an old man who comes to die at the Tiflin ranch.
THE RED PONY was made into a motion picture in 1949 starring Myrna Loy and Robert Mitchum. The music for the movie was composed by Aaron Copland, who also arranged a suite for orchestra from the film score.