C.W. Anderson

I have decided to do a series of posts related to my favorite horse books and authors. I am starting with C.W. Anderson. He is not only a great author, but also an excellent illustrator. Maybe my favorite?

C.W. Anderson was born in Wahoo, Nebraska. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago, then moved to New York, where he worked as an author and illustrator.

He published "Billy and Blaze" in 1936. Anderson wrote an entire series of Billy and Blaze books. They are wonderful. They are very easy reads, maybe a paragraph of text with an illustration on each page. The illustrations are what makes this series so special.
Here are the Billy and Blaze books I own...

- Billy and Blaze
- Blaze and the Forest Fire
- Blaze finds the Trail
- Blaze and the Mountain Lion
- Blaze and the Indian Cave
- Blaze Shows the Way
- Blaze finds Forgotten Roads *this may be Blaze and the Gray Spotted Pony (I haven't seen this title anywhere else, so I am assuming so)

I am looking for the following, to complete my collection:
- Blaze and Thunderbolt
- Blaze and the Lost Quarry
- Blaze and the Gray Spotted Pony (?)
- Blaze and the Gypsies (I really badly want this one)

Here is an example of one of his illustrations (hard to get a good picture of a page out of a book!)

Most of his artwork seems to be pencil or pen and ink drawings. I would die to have one of his originals (which are impossible to find, it seems!)

He also wrote several young adult novels, non-fiction, etc. Here are the other books I have by him:

- Bobcat
- C.W. Anderson's Favorite Horse Stories
- C.W. Anderson's Complete Book of Horses and Horsemanship
- The Crooked Colt
- Afraid to Ride (This is one of my top 20 favorite horse books ever, published in 1957)
After a bad fall, Judy lost her confidence. Her old riding instructor later sees a mare he used to know at a horse show. She used to be a lovely mare, but is now ring sour and refusing jumps. He buys her with the idea that "a bad horse took your confidence away, but maybe someday, a good horse can give it back." Judy rehabs the mare "Fair Lady" and they get their confidence back together. :)

Anderson wrote many other horse books, but I would really like to find the following:
- A Pony for Linda
- The Blind Connemara
- A Filly for Joan
- Heads Up, Heels Down
- Deep Through the Heart

Here is a final picture of my C.W. Anderson collection (thus far!)

Books by CW Anderson:
And So To Bed (1935)
Billy and Blaze (1936)
Blaze and the Gypsies (1937)
Blaze and the Forest Fire (1938)
Black Bay and Chestnut (1939)
Deep Through the Heart (1940)
Salute! (1940)
High Courage (1941)
Thoroughbreds (1942)
Big Red (1943)
Heads Up, Heels Down (1944)
A Touch of Greatness (1945)
All Thoroughbreds (1948)
Bobcat (1949)
Post Parade (1949)
Blaze Finds the Trail (1950)
Horses Are Folks (1950)
A Pony For Linda (1951)
Horse Show (1951)
Linda and the Indians (1952)
Turf and Blue Grass (1952)
The Crooked Colt (1954)
The Smashers (1954)
Grey, Bay, and Chestnut (1955)
Blaze and the Thunderbolt (1955)
Colts and Champions (1956)
The Horse of Hurricane Hill (1956)
Afraid to Ride (1957)
Pony for Three (1958)
Blaze and the Mountain Lion (1959)
A Filly For Joan (1960)
Lonesome Little Colt (1961)
Complete Book of Horses (1963)
Blaze and the Indian Cave (1964)
The World of Horses (1965)
Before the Bugle (1965)
Great Heat (1965)
Twenty Gallant Horses (1965)
Blaze and the Lost Quarry (1966)
Another Man ‘O War (1966)
C. W. Andersons Horse Stories (1967)
The Outlaw (1967)
Blaze and the Gray Spotted Pony (1968)
Blaze Shows the Way (1969)
The Blind Connemara (1971)