Before she wrote Misty of Chincoteague, King of the Wind and Justin Morgan Had a Horse, Marguerite Henry wrote picture books for kids. The author who would make a name for herself in the world of horse books, penned twelve short books about the world in the Pictured Geography Series.
I've collected some of the Marguerite Henry books in the Pictured Geography series. Each small book illustrated by Kurt Wiese with vivid imagery of the country's people and places, is around 30 pages long. My book on Argentina was published in 1941by Albert Whitman and Company, a Chicago publishing house. This particular copy has a rubber stamp marking on the interior: "Lake Bluff School."
While researching for my memoir Marguerite, Misty and Me, I learned that Marguerite was paid $25 per book. She wrote that her housekeeper at the time was making more money than she was, but that she (Marguerite) was having more fun.
My Pictured Geography Series book about Chile, also published in 1941, shows the price was 50 cents. I find it interesting that Marguerite Henry's name was already familiar with teachers and librarians because of these instructional geography books. So by the time she embarked on her career writing dozens of horse books for Rand McNally, she was a known author.
The photograph of my copy of Argentina, in front of the DuPage County Historical Museum was snapped the day I picked the book up after it had been on display for a local authors exhibit.
