Octavo. x, (2), 431, (2)pp. James's original pen-and-ink drawing at the front flyleaf is particularly appealing, depicting horses kicking up dust as they gallop across a plain. James is one of the premier modern artists of the American West, alongside Maynard Dixon and Harold Von Schmidt. In 1927 he won the Newbery Medal for children's literature for Smoky the Cowhorse. The present volume, in which James uses his own personal vernacular to describe his coming of age as both horseman and artist, was a bestselling Book-of-the-Month selection, no doubt as much for its sense of autobiographical adventure as for James's evocative illustrations throughout. James's contemporary public appeal made this special edition of the book especially collectable, hence its scarcity in the present. Bound in green cloth over boards backed in brown with leather spine label. Some scuffing to label, else a delightfully clean and fine copy in toned and rubbed slipcase.