Black Beauty

6C Anna Sewell. London: Jarrods & Sons, ca. 1899.

Description

Black Beauty, written by Anna Sewell and published in 1877, is a novel told from the perspective of a horse, chronicling his life from carefree foal to working animal facing both kindness and cruelty. Through the voice of Black Beauty, Sewell exposes the harsh realities of 19th-century treatment of horses—overwork, harsh bits, and neglect—while advocating for compassion, humane care, and ethical responsibility toward animals. The book was groundbreaking in giving a non-human narrator a fully realized, empathetic voice, and it became an immediate moral and social success, influencing public attitudes toward animal welfare. Today, Black Beauty is recognized as a classic of children’s literature and a seminal work in the genre of animal fiction.

Notes

Blue fabric binding with black and white image of a horse on front cover and red lettering to cover and spine. Sun fading to spine. Cocked spine. Presentation pastedown to preliminary endpaper. Fine condition.