ie They are NOT coming from overseas !!
THE COLT AT TAPAROO
- By Elyne Mitchell -
Illustrated by Victor Ambrus
ISBN: 0091300800
Publisher: Hutchinson of Australia, Richmond, Vic.Australia
Published: 1975
Binding: HARDcover with Dustjacket 127 pages
Condition: Carefully read by librarian & displayed condition! HERE in MELBOURNE! A retired display
copy as illustrated!
Edition: FIRST EDITION: 1st printing 1975
TIGHT, SCARCE HARDCOVER WITH DUSTJACKET ~ IN MELBOURNE ...
WHY do ebayers buy from US?
Because you KNOW what you're getting. My close up photos are of the actual item!!
Remains a carefully read display copy from a small community school library(handled by adults only). It is Tight - neat, no inscriptions - the marks just mostly erased library stamp mark on title page above the word 'Taparoo' & back endpaper within. Appears as in my photos - this is the exact copy!! A nicely preserved copy - superb!
No discernible shelf wear to the glossy illustrated dustjacket - and blue boards HARDcover itself is beautifully preserved too, the interior is tight and spotlessly clean with 127 pages. THIS copy is the FIRST EDITION: Only printing from 1975 - the Australian publishing by Hutchinson of Australia, Richmond, Victoria.
There are many black and white line illustrations by Victor Ambrus.
SCARCE title - this is an UNread copy!!
In original blue boards with gold spine titles HARDcover binding, in publisher's pictorial dustcover which is absolutely glorious - unclipped and in excellent as new condition. The cover illustration is the colt, Fire, in the Australian bush
(Stored with 2021!)
Measures approx. 9 x 6 inches or 22 x 15cms
SYNOPSIS ....
By the author of the Silver Brumby books and many others about the Australian bush and horses.
In this fabulous story Robin's favourite mare, Gay, gives birth to the beautiful chestnut colt, Fire.
From the dustjacket:
Of all the foals born that Spring at Taparoo, none was faster or more nimble than Gay's beautiful chestnut colt, Fire, whose birth was such a surprise to Robin and his family. During their adventures in the mountains and on the plains, Gay and Fire are often attacked by the bad-tempered mare Queen and her colt. No-one understands why Queen is so jealous until they solve the mystery surrounding the birth of Fire.
The fastest foal born that spring at Taparoo is Fire, Gay’s beautiful chestnut colt. When they ride out into the plains and mountains, they are often attacked by the bad tempered mare Queen and her colt, but can’t understand why. Then they remember the mystery surrounding Fire’s birth, and start to wonder just which horse was his father
About the Author
Elyne Mitchell OAM, was an Australian author noted for the Silver Brumby series of children's novels. Her nonfiction works draw on family history and culture.
Elyne Mitchell, was born 1913 in Melbourne, Victoria, and died 2002) is an Australian author best known for her Silver Brumby children's series, which tells the story of brumbies that roamed the Snowy Mountains in the Australian Alps, in particular a pale brumby named Thowra.
In 1988, she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her services to literature, as well as an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Charts Sturt University in 1993.
Elyne Mitchell (1913–2002) was a writer whose books were all based firmly in the Australian landscapes she loved. She started writing during the Second World War, when there was an upsurge in literature based in Australia as the threat of invasion by the Japanese threw Australians back on realising the beauty and strength of their land. Elyne Mitchell, in an interview with Jeff Prentice, said: 'we thought we might lose Australia...'
Elyne Mitchell herself lived in the Snowy Mountains area of the Australian Alps, which is where her most popular series, The Silver Brumby, is set. She started writing the Silver Brumby books to give her daugher, Indi, something to read: books were hard to get, and Elyne wanted her daughter to read books with a strong Australian content.
The early Silver Brumby books blend their descriptions of the wild Australian mountains effortlessly with the adventures of the Brumbies. Elyne Mitchell’s horses all talk, something which can often be an awkward literary device, but the horses do behave like horses, and their lives are portrayed vividly and realistically: Bel Bel’s bones bleach on the Ramshead. The Brumby series is a lengthy one. The fifth book, Silver Brumby Whirlwind, was described on its publication as the last of the series, as Thowra dies, but the following books are connected, with Thowra’s sons appearing. Moon Filly, whose action is chronologically after Silver Brumby Kingdom, does not involve the Silver Brumby horses, but is a connector, as Thowra meets the Moon Filly horses’ offspring in Silver Brumby Whirlwind. The later books, which move the Brumby history on after Thowra’s death, I found over-written and almost alien: instead of being effortless the writing seems uncomfortable and the horses peculiar. Not I know an opinion that many of my mailing list share, but I think her first four books, and Moon Filly, are her best.
The Silver Brumby has been made into both a cartoon series (1994), and a film (The Silver Brumby/The Silver Stallion, 1993), starring a young Russell Crowe. The film has had Elyne Mitchell and her daughter Indi written into it, so it’s rather a different thing to the book.
Very Entertaining read!
Reviews
Wonderful series .. A departure from the Silver Brumby books, this is a very fine story of growing up on an outback station and will be enjoyed by horse lovers everywhere.
Fire is a chestnut colt born to a new mare on young Robin's station. The mare however was guaranteed not in foal when she arrived, and the station's chestnut stallion, Sprite, was found dead in his corral without - as far as anyone knows - having been near her. Fire grows up and is trained by Robin as a cattle horse, and there are fantastic descriptions of this work as Mitchell herself lived on such a station. They have plenty of adventures and the tough way of life is well brought home to us.
The mystery of Fire's birth is only resolved at the end but it wasn't much of a mystery really, so don't hold your breath.
This tale is not so well known as the Silver Brumby series but the writing is equally good and it deserves to be read by any young horse lover.
A great read .. Another horse tale(!) for fans of Mitchell's Brumby stories – Fire is the new colt and we read of an adventure with Taparoo in the mountains.
Marvellous Reading!
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Because you KNOW what you're getting. My close up photos are of the actual item & form part of my description!!
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