Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell 1.0

Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell

Black Beauty is Anna Sewells only novel, composed in the last years of her life between 1871 and 1877 while confined to her house as an invalid.
The story is told in the first person as an autobiographical memoir told by a horse named Black Beauty—beginning with his carefree days as a colt on an English farm, to his difficult life pulling cabs in London, to his happy retirement in the country. Along the way, he meets with many hardships and recounts many tales of cruelty and kindness. Each short chapter recounts an incident in Black Beautys life containing a lesson or moral typically related to the kindness, sympathy, and understanding treatment of horses, with Sewells detailed observations and extensive descriptions of horse behaviour lending the novel a good deal of verisimilitude.

About Sewell:
Anna Sewell (March 30, 1820 - April 25, 1878) was a British writer, the author of the classic novel Black Beauty. Anna was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, in a Quaker family, one of two children. Her brother, Philip (1822 - 1906) had an early career as a construction engineer in Europe, building railways. At the age of 14, Anna fell while walking home from school in the rain, injuring both her ankles. Possibly through mistreatment of her injury, she became lame for the rest of her life and was unable to stand or walk for any length of time. For greater mobility, she frequently used horse-drawn carriages, which contributed to her love of horses and concern for the humane treatment of animals. She never married or had children, but lived at home, and remained very close to her mother, Mary Wright Sewell. Mary was an author of evangelical childrens books, which Anna helped to edit. As Quakers, the Sewells, and her mothers family, the Wrights, were active in good works. While seeking to improve her health at European spas, Sewell encountered various writers, artists, and philosophers, that her previous background had not exposed her to. Sewells only publication was Black Beauty, which she wrote between 1871 and 1877. During this time her health was declining. She was often so weak that she couldnt get out of bed and writing at all was a challenge. She dictated the text to her mother and from 1876 began to write on slips of paper which her mother then transcribed. Sewell sold the novel to the local publishers Jarrold & Sons for £40 on 24 November 1877, when she was 57. Although now considered a childrens classic, she originally wrote it for those who worked with horses. Anna said "its special aim being to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses" (Mrs Bayly, 272). The books sales broke publishing records, it is said to be "the sixth best seller in the English language" (Chitty in Wells and Grimshaw, x).

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