Black Beauty

The only adult edition of Black Beauty (1877), this most celebrated of animal stories sold over 100,000 copies by the time of Anna Sewell's death in April 1878. "Translated from the equine" as the title page of the first edition announces, Black Beauty is the account of a horse's experience at the hands of many owners. Dramatic and compelling, this story also effectively fulfills the author's original humanitarian purposes as an admonishment to horse owners among whom cruelty to there animals was commonplace. _