Mary Elwyn Patchett

Born in Sydney on December 2nd 1897. Her childhood amongst a number of animals in the Australian bush is reflected in much of her writing.. She also lived for a time in the Caribbean. In 1946 she moved to England and lived in London. Ms, Patchett also wrote under the name of  David Bruce.

Her many children's books reflect her interests, in particular history, space travel and animals. The animal ones are probably the best known and most well-loved of them all, and show the author's empathy for and understanding of living creatures. These books are not fluffy and sentimentalised however but are realistic and sometimes harsh, reflecting the reality of nature. Her books are also notable for their authentic Australian settings.

Brumby Series:

1) THE BRUMBY
aka BRUMBY, THE WILD WHITE STALLION (USA title)
(LUTTERWORTH PRESS 1958)
ILLUSTRATED BY JULIET McLEOD
Reprinted in paperback a number of times by Puffin.
Published in the USA by Bobbs Merrill in 1959 and re-titled.
EDITIONS PICTURED: 1st edition, Puffin paperback.
SUMMARY: Joey is a lonely boy who has a deep love for the wild brumbies near his Australian home. But to the stockmen the brumbies are just vicious untameable animals...only there to be hunted. Joey is determined to prove them wrong by capturing a brumby to start a breeding programme.

2) COME HOME BRUMBY
aka BRUMBY C0ME HOME (USA title)
(LUTTERWORTH PRESS 1961)
ILLUSTRATED BY STUART TRESILIAN
Reprinted in hardback by Lutterworth.
Reprinted in paperback.
Published in the USA by Bobbs Merrill in 1962 and re-titled.
EDITION PICTURED: Lutterworth 2nd impression hardback, Puffin paperback.\
Many thanks to Ron Weld Books who provided the photo of the hardback edition.
SUMMARY: Joey's horse Florian has disappeared, taking off after the wild Brumby and his herd. Joey sets off after them...

3) CIRCUS BRUMBY
(LUTTERWORTH PRESS 1963)
ILLUSTRATED BY STUART TRESILIAN
Rare.
EDITIONS PICTURED: 1st edition.
SUMMARY: Joey and Florian learn 'high school' riding at a circus.

4) STRANGER IN THE HERD
(LUTTERWORTH PRESS 1964)
ILLUSTRATED BY STUART TRESILIAN
Republished in USA by Duell, Sloan & Pearce in 1964. This edition is by far the easier to find than the first UK ed.
SUMMARY: Mandy the filly foal, now running with a wild brumby herd, is sought for by Joey. But she is used to freedom. Will Joey be able to tame her and bring her home?

5) BRUMBY FOAL
(LUTTERWORTH PRESS 1965)
ILLUSTRATED BY VICTOR AMBRUS
SUMMARY: Joey's Lipizzaner mare Amanda is stolen and escapes to join the wild herds where she gives birth. Joey is then injured when searching for the lost mare and her foal.

6) THE LONG RIDE
(LUTTERWORTH PRESS 1970)
ILLUSTRATED BY MIKE CHARLTON
Reprinted again by Lutterworth in 1978.
Not sure if there was an American edition.
Rare.
EDITIONS PICTURED: 1st edition.

7) REBEL BRUMBY
(LUTTERWORTH PRESS 1972)
ILLUSTRATED BY ROGER PAYNE
Rare.
EDITIONS PICTURED: 1st edition.
SUMMARY: The wild brumby herd and their rebel leader are in danger - can Joey help?

Collectors info:
There is a little bit of a mystery attached to this series. It has been suggested that there may be another book in the series but from my research I have found nobody seems to know what it is, or indeed if it actually does exist!
Although the books are all set in Australia and written by an Australian author, they were first published in the UK when the author was living there. I think only the first two were reprinted in paperback and indeed these paperbacks are by far the easiest ones to find, both in the UK and in Australia and also in America. The other editions and titles are harder to find and some are rare and expensive.

Other Horse & Pony Books:

TAM THE UNTAMED
(LUTTERWORTH 1954)
ILLUSTRATED BY KIDDELL-MONROE
Reprinted by Lutterworth in the 1960s.
Reprinted in USA by Bobbs Merrill
There was also a German edition entitled TAM MEIN SILVERHENGST
EDITIONS PICTURED: 1st edition, German edition.
SUMMARY: A girl on a lonely cattle station forms a bond with a beautiful but savage silver horse. Part of a longer series about the dog Ajax and his mistress, which is based on the author's childhood. It is the only one of the series  to feature horses as central to the plot, though they are peripheral characters in some of the others (I may add the full series when time permits)

SUMMER ON WILD HORSE ISLAND
(BROCKHAMPTON 1965)
ILLUSTRATED BY ROGER PAYNE
Reprinted in paperback by Beaver
Reprinted in the USA by Meredith Press in 1967.
EDITIONS PICTURED: 1st edition, American edition, paperback edition.
SUMMARY: Daniela and David Delaney spend the summer near the Great Barrier Reef and discover  a nearby island which has a small herd of wild horses. But one of these horses is vicious and could be a killer...

QUARTER HORSE BOY
(HARRAP 1970)
ILLUSTRATED BY ROGER PAYNE
Reprinted as a paperback by Corgi.
EDITIONS PICTURED: Paperback edition.
SUMMARY: Stable boy Tod works on a ranch in Australia. Horses are his life and when the ranch owner brings in some Quarter Horses to start a new breeding line, he loses his heart to a beautiful palomino foal. He thought of the foal as his own, but when he finds out he is to be separated from his beloved foal he runs away with the pony into the outback!

Collectors Info:
As with the Brumby series, these were all first published in the UK. Quarter Horse Boy and Summer on Wild Horse Island were also reprinted as paperbacks, I am not sure if Tam the Untamed was. Although not as common as the first two in the Brumby series, they are certainly easier to find than some of the later Brumby books, and can be tracked down without too much trouble in the UK, USA and Australia. There is also a German edition of Tam which is quite easy to find in Germany.

Short Stories in Other Books & Collections:

TAM AND THE BUSHFIRE
in PONY CLUB ANNUAL No. 4
(NALDRETT 1953)
ILLUSTRATED BY GEOFFREY WHITTAM
Also in
THE SECOND BOOK OF PONY STORIES
(Edited by Christine Pullein-Thompson)
(PAN PB 1977)
ILLUSTRATED BY RON STENBERG
Paperback original.
EDITIONS PICTURED: Pony Club Annual 4, Second Book of Pony Stories.
SUMMARY: A girl, her horse Tam, and dog Ajax must undertake a perilous escape route to avoid a bushfire.
Unfortunately the illustrator of the story in the Pan paperback has drawn the main character as a boy!
PONYMAD RATING: 2 HORSESHOES

Collectors Info:
The annual can be quite hard to find, especially outside the UK. The paperback book of short stories is easier to get hold of, but even that is not common outside the UK.