A Pony for Jean

About Estate of Joanna Cannan

Joanna Cannan (1896-1961) Joanna Cannan was the author of thirty-eight books in a variety of genres. Brought up in Oxford she was proud of her Scottish ancestry and spent holidays in the Highlands where she came to love a life more adventurous than usual for girls of the time. During WWI she was a nurse and met and married Captain Harold Pullein-Thompson. He was wounded in the war and she shared in supporting their family of their son Denis - who became a playwright - and their daughters Josephine Christine and Diana. It was their life in the Oxfordshire countryside that provided the background to the family's well-loved pony books. Illustrator Anne Bullen was born in Hampshire but grew up in Somerset amongst horses and ponies. In 1933 Anne married and moved to Dorset where she brought up six children with her husband Jack. Her romantic and versatile illustrative style caught the eye of Joanna Cannan who gave Anne her first commission in illustrating A PONY FOR JEAN. Other authors followed suit and Anne illustrated over forty books as well as three of her own. Anne and her husband also ran a very successful stud farm (The Catherston Stud) and although Anne very sadly died aged 51 she was able to watch her son compete at the Rome Olympics the first of three Bullens to ride in seven consecutive Olympic Games.