13 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT BLACK BEAUTY
1. BLACK BEAUTY IS NOT THE FULL TITLE.
It's actually Black Beauty, his grooms and companions;
the autobiography of a horse, "Translated from the original
by Anna Sewell'. You can see why everyone shortens it!
2. AUTHOR ANNA SEWELL'S MOTHER WAS THE WRITER OF THE FAMILY.
However, her daughter’s attitude to her one novel was quite different: Anna Sewell did not write Black Beauty specifically for children. Rather, she wished to
highlight the plight of animals and the way horses were treated in Victorian England, but did
not single out children as her readership. As she died young, Anna Sewell (1820-1878) was actually
survived by her mother, by six years. Though Anna would eventually eclipse her mother in both fame and book sales,
Mary Wright Sewell (1797-1884) was the more successful author for most of her life.
The elder Sewell wrote a number of juvenile bestsellers, and was a successful poet as well as
an author of Children's fiction. Among her biggest-selling works was Mother's Last Words,
'a story of two boys kept from evil courses by their mother's last words.' It sold over a million copies.
3. SEWELL WASN'T PUBLISHED UNTIL SHE WAS 57 YEARS OLD.
Anna honed her writing skills by helping her mother edit her books, but she didn't get her own
book published until she was 57. She started Black Beauty when she was 51, and it was her first
and only publication.
book published until she was 57. She started Black Beauty when she was 51, and it was her first
and only publication.
4. BLACK BEAUTY WAS INSPIRED BY A PET.
Sewell biographers believe that the title character was based on Bess, a spunky horse owned by her family. Though she was spirited, the Sewells loved her and considered her one of the family.
5. SHE WAS PAID JUST £20 FOR THE BOOK.
Sewell sold her masterpiece to Jarrold and Sons in 1877 for a single payment of £20 (20 British pounds).
Twenty British pounds works out to about $27 American dollars. However taking into account the rate
of inflation, that would be about $350.00 in today’s market. They published it the same year, and it
became an instant success. The book has sold over 50 million copies in total, making it one of the
bestselling books in English.
Twenty British pounds works out to about $27 American dollars. However taking into account the rate
of inflation, that would be about $350.00 in today’s market. They published it the same year, and it
became an instant success. The book has sold over 50 million copies in total, making it one of the
bestselling books in English.
6. SEWELL DIED JUST FIVE MONTHS AFTER IT WAS PUBLISHED.
It’s possible that Sewell could have made more money from the sales of the book once it
proved to be popular, but she never got the chance to negotiate with her publisher.
Sewell had been an invalid for much of her life; she was confined to her family home.
She died of hepatitis or tuberculosis in April 1878, just five months after the book came out.
She did live long enough to learn that she had written a bestseller.
proved to be popular, but she never got the chance to negotiate with her publisher.
Sewell had been an invalid for much of her life; she was confined to her family home.
She died of hepatitis or tuberculosis in April 1878, just five months after the book came out.
She did live long enough to learn that she had written a bestseller.
7. A SIGNED COPY IS QUITE VALUABLE.
The green, cloth-bound first editions of Black Beauty
are rare, but even rarer is a signed copy.
Because Sewell died so soon after the book’s publication,
she wasn’t around to make out a lot of inscriptions.
She did manage to sign one for her cousins that read:
“Mary and Catherine Sewell from their affectionate cousin
the author Christmas 1877.”
in June 2015—and that’s nothing.
In 2006, the copy she signed for her mother
(“Mary Sewell, from her loving child A.S.”) went for
£33,000 ($50,693).
8. THE BOOK WAS NOT INTENDED FOR CHILDREN.
Anna was an animal lover in general, but she was particularly fond of horses after
she sprained her ankle as a child and was forced her to rely on them for transportation.
When she wrote Black Beauty decades later, it was intended not to amuse children,
but to make adults think about what they were putting horses through.
9. BANNED IN SOUTH AFRICA?
she sprained her ankle as a child and was forced her to rely on them for transportation.
When she wrote Black Beauty decades later, it was intended not to amuse children,
but to make adults think about what they were putting horses through.
9. BANNED IN SOUTH AFRICA?
There is a story that the book was banned in South Africa during the Apartheid era.
The story goes that the South African government disliked the book’s title
because it placed the words ‘black’ and ‘beauty’ side by side. Robert Ross, in his
A Concise History of South Africa, states that Black Beauty was banned. Numerous
other histories of South Africa also repeat this fact. There appears to be some debate
about whether this is true, however. Claire Datnow, in her memoir Behind the Walled
Garden of Apartheid: Growing up White in Segregated South Africa, writes that this
fact was a ‘reigning joke’ among her circle of friends, invented to make fun of the
‘ignorance of the censors’ – the idea being that Black Beauty had been banned ‘because
the censors thought it referred to a black woman.’
10. TRANSLATED FROM THE EQUINE (anthropomorphic)
Black Beauty is described on its title page as ‘translated from the equine.’
Sewell’s unusual approach was to tell the story from the perspective of the horse
rather than have a human or impersonal ‘omniscient’ narrator. This makes it the ancestor of –
and a possible influence on – some notable later animal-narrated stories, such as Rudyard Kipling’s
The Maltese Cat (1895), which centers on a polo match told from the perspective of the ponies.
11. IT HAD A VERY REAL IMPACT ON THE TREATMENT OF HORSES.
The book was responsible for the cessation of the way people used to strap their horses heads
to their chests. This was called “bearing rein,” and it utilized a strap that pulled the horse’s
head down toward its chest to create an arch. The position was painful for the horse, causing
great pain and respiratory problems.
to their chests. This was called “bearing rein,” and it utilized a strap that pulled the horse’s
head down toward its chest to create an arch. The position was painful for the horse, causing
great pain and respiratory problems.
12. IT INSPIRED OTHER BOOKS ABOUT ANIMAL CRUELTY.
dog whose ears and tail were cut off by his master.Though it hasn’t turned out to be quite as classic as
Black Beauty, Joe was quite popular in the 1930s, becoming
the first Canadian children's book to sell more than
7 million copies.
13. IT'S ONE OF THE BEST SELLING BOOKS OF ALL TIME.
With more than 50 million copies sold in 50 languages, Black Beauty is one of the most popular
books in history. It was Sewell’s only novel.
books in history. It was Sewell’s only novel.
For reference, other books in the 50 million range include:
The Catcher in the Rye, Charlotte’s Web, The Da Vinci Code, Anne of Green Gables,
and all of the Harry Potters (except Philosopher’s Stone, which is up to 107 million).
The Catcher in the Rye, Charlotte’s Web, The Da Vinci Code, Anne of Green Gables,
and all of the Harry Potters (except Philosopher’s Stone, which is up to 107 million).
Sources:
https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1144&context=etd
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