London: The Religious Tract Society, 1893. ‘“I saw a great deal of trouble amongst the horses in London”: Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty and the Victorian Cab Horse.’ In Transport in British Fiction: Technologies of Movement, 1840–1940. ‘“eeling is believing”: Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty and the Power of Emotion.’ In Affect, Emotion, and Children’s Literature. ‘Miss Sewell of Norfolk.’ East Anglian Magazine 15:10 (August 1956): 542–47.ĭickens, Charles, Jr. ‘Anna Sewell’s “Black Beauty.”’ Book and Magazine Collector 132 (March 1995): 14–25.ĭent, A. London: James Nisbet and Co, 1889.ĭalby, Richard. To judge by her biography, she was one of those rare people who are as good as they implore others to be, and though the book is mostly based on historic horsekeeping practices, its message about the value of kindness has not aged.Bayly, Mrs. Sewell’s determination to appreciate and better the world, despite the difficulties she faced, puts her firmly on my list of admirable authors. This is a book I will definitely reread, if I ever have children of my own. There is gentle pleasure in digesting Sewell’s writing, however, and the story’s moral weight is not spoiled by sanctimony. Overall, I did not find this book offered much for discussion, and there is limited character depth – really, we can characterise Beauty simply as a good, pure soul. I think it a shame I missed this one at that time, because I am sure it would have had a special magic that I could not benefit from as an adult reader. I just loved them, from My Secret Unicorn to C.S. Horse stories were a big part of my reading when I was a young girl.
My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt. Faith is not a prerequisite, however, when it comes to enjoying the read. Devoutly Quaker, Sewell frames kindness towards animals as a Christian duty. There is no denying that the writing rings with devotion to the author’s morals. In Sewell’s eyes, Black Beauty was less an entertaining story, and more a fervent plea for the betterment of animal welfare. She died shortly after Black Beauty was published, living just long enough to see her work surge to commercial success.Īnthropomorphism is seldom found outside of children’s fiction, so I found it strange to think that this book was actually written for an adult audience. Sadly, it is Anna Sewell’s only published work, as she was seriously ill for most of her life. Though the book is almost 150 years old, the easy, personable prose remains suitable for children in the 10-12 bracket, and the text is a good resource for teaching the value of empathy, as well as encouraging respect towards animals. The sweet, simple narrative is the ‘autobiography’ of a London horse, whose mixed experiences of humanity as he is sold from owner to owner are used to explore the treatment (and mistreatment) of horses in Victorian society. Black Beauty is a Victorian children’s classic.
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