From the Book Jacket:
Lassie, the prize dog of a humble household, is sold to a wealthy family when hard times befall her original owners. Taken hundreds of miles away, she does what many collies have done before her, she starts for home so that she can be faithful to a duty - that of meeting a boy by a schoolhouse gate.
There is something epic in Eric Knight's story of this dog and the saga of its weary trek, guided only by instinct. It is told with profound understanding, in moving prose. Marguerite Kirmse's illustrations blend into the spirit of one of the most poignant and best-loved dog stories in the world.
ERIC KNIGHT
was born in 1897 to Quaker parents in Yorkshire, England, the countryside that was the background for Lassie Come-Home. He was quite young when his father died and his mother left England to become governess to Princess Xenia's children in Russia. When his mother married an American and was living in the United States, he left Yorkshire to join her. Later, he graduated from Cambridge Latin School in Massachusetts.
Eric Knight and his wife Jere settled on a farm in Pennsylvania, where Lassie Come-Home was written and where the collie which inspired the book is buried.
Out of deep humanitarian convictions, Eric Knight served in two world wars, but he spent even greater energy toward building peace. His writing career came to an untimely end when he was killed while serving in the U.S. Army during World War II.
MILLIONS OF COPIES IN PRINT
"This is more than a good dog-story; it may well be found, a long time hence, among the dog-stories that do not go out of print" So wrote May Lamberton Becker, reviewing the book in the fall of 1940, when it was published for the first time. Her prediction has been borne out.
The outstanding dog classic of all time, Lassie Come-Home has since appeared in twenty-five languages throughout the world. In 1942 an M-G-M movie based on the book launched the career of Elizabeth Taylor.
In the spring of 1978 a new movie version was released, starring James Stewart, Alice Faye and Mickey Rooney and the best-loved dog of all time, the collie Lassie.
The book has been in print continually in various editions since the time of its first publication. The publishers are pleased to accede to popular demand and reissue the original Lassie. Here is the book as it appeared in print for the first time.
