Anna Sewell (1820–1878)
Author of Black Beauty
About the Author
Anna Sewell, March 30, 1820 - April 25, 1878 Anna Sewell was on March 30, 1820 in Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. She was raised a Quaker by her father a bank manager and her mother, a children's novelist. At the age of fourteen, Sewell hurt her knee during a fall and the injury never healed right. show more Even though she could not walk well, she could still ride horses and drive a horse drawn buggy. It was this form of freedom that sparked her concern for the welfare of horses. She wrote "Black Beauty" when she was in her fifties, but died a year after it was published in 1877. While she never earned much from the book while she was alive, after her death, the novel snowballed into a something extraordinary. The book was about the abuses horses sustained in their lifetimes, but was told from the unique viewpoint of the horse. Even though the book was intended for children, it impacted all generations and caused everyone who read it to take a look at the inhumane treatment horses received. In the one hundred plus years since "Black Beauty" had been published, over 30 million copies have been printed. At least eight motion pictures have been made based on the novel and it is a well known children's classic. Anna Sewell died on April 25, 1878 in Old Catton, Norfolk. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Anna Sewell
Illustrated Classics - Black Beauty: Abridged Novels With Review Questions (2020) 50 copies, 1 review
DK Classics: Black Beauty 18 copies
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell from Young Reader's Classics (Young Reader's Classics, Black Beauty) 10 copies
"Van Gool's" Black Beauty 6 copies
IIC BLACK BEAUTY, NULL 3 copies
الجمال الأسود 2 copies
Lucile 2 copies
Black Beauty [abridged - Vance] 2 copies
Apple Classics: Black Beauty 2 copies
Black Beauty 1 copy
Black Beauty: Autobiografía de un caballo: Convivencias entre hombres y animales (Spanish edition) (2010) 1 copy
VIDEO Black Beauty 1 copy
Black Beauty 1 copy
Black Beauty and a guide 1 copy
Černý hřebec 1 copy
Fagri Blakkur 1 copy
Zwarte Prins 1 copy
Černý krasavec 1 copy
Sewell's Works (20 vols.) 1 copy
Black Beauty (Condensed) 1 copy
SWART GLORIE 1 copy
Black Beauty Audiobook 1 copy
Black Beauty-CD 1 copy
Black Beauty 8th Book in The Boston Gloe Series (Black Beauty in Boston Globe Family Classics, 8) (2005) 1 copy
Snug Corner Series 1 copy
Associated Works
The Illustrated Treasury of Children's Literature, Volumes 1-2 (1955) — Contributor — 520 copies, 4 reviews
The Big Book of Favorite Horse Stories: Twenty-Five Outstanding Stories by Distinguished Authors (1965) — Contributor — 167 copies, 1 review
The Children's Treasury: Best Loved Stories and Poems from Around the World (1987) — Contributor — 164 copies, 2 reviews
Courage of Black Beauty [1957 film] — Original book — 2 copies
A Wind in the Willows / A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court / Black Beauty (3-Volume Set) (1984) 1 copy
Classic Children’s Stories 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1820-03-30
- Date of death
- 1878-04-25
- Gender
- female
- Education
- at home
- Occupations
- novelist
editor - Relationships
- Sewell, Mary Wright (mother)
- Short biography
- Anna Sewell was the daughter of popular English poet and children's writer Mary Sewell and her husband Isaac, devout Quakers. Anna was disabled as the result of a childhood injury and was confined to home for much of her life. She helped edit her mother's works. In 1845, the family moved to Lancing in West Sussex, and it may have been here, with the acquisition of a pony chaise, that Anna developed her love of horses. Her only published novel was Black Beauty (1877), but its lasting fame and popularity is so great as to make her one of the all-time bestselling writers. It was published when she was 57 years old, and she died five months later.
- Cause of death
- hepatitis
tuberculosis - Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Wick, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Dalston, London, Middlesex, England, UK
Lancing, West Sussex, England, UK
Brighton, Sussex, England, UK
Buxton, Norfolk, England, UK
Stoke Newington, London, Middlesex, England, UK (show all 9)
Abson, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Bath, Somerset, England, UK
Old Catton, Norfolk, England, UK - Place of death
- Old Catton, Norfolk, England, UK
- Burial location
- Quaker Burial Ground, Lammas, Norfolk, England, UK
- Map Location
- England, UK
Members
Discussions
Possible Children's Story From Horse's Perspective in Name that Book (January 2017)
Reviews
I have just re-read this after many, many years. What a marvellous book. Miss Sewell wanted to give Victorian society a wake-up call about how it treated its horses, then so necessary for commerce and travel. She succeeded perfectly.
The story flows realistically, the characters and their ways of speaking are natural and believable, and we can even suspend our disbelief easily and hear horses talk. I was shocked and harrowed all over again at the cruelty though.
"There is no religion without show more love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham -- all a sham, James, and it won't stand when things come to be turned inside out and put down for what they are". show less
The story flows realistically, the characters and their ways of speaking are natural and believable, and we can even suspend our disbelief easily and hear horses talk. I was shocked and harrowed all over again at the cruelty though.
"There is no religion without show more love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham -- all a sham, James, and it won't stand when things come to be turned inside out and put down for what they are". show less
Black Beauty is a well told, heart-wrenching story. No wonder it’s a classic. I think it was read to me as a child, so I knew I would shed tears. At times it’s almost too heart-wrenching to read. Yes, it’s very Victorian in its concerns (but not sententious) and utterly anthropomorphic in the telling, but it works as well as it did in 1877. If it was just a didactic piece condemning the bearing rein, it would probably have faded into oblivion. It is about our approach to the world in show more the face of economic pressure and the importance of calling out what is wrong when we see it. This is a great story that cleverly enfolds other stories (Ginger’s story and the Old Captain’s story) with profound consequences as to how animals (all creatures) are perceived by humans.
Somewhere I kept a newspaper clipping about how the men of the Australian Light Horse were ordered to shoot their horses after WW1 ended because the army could not afford to bring them back from the theatres of war in Europe and the Middle East. Most of the cavalry men found this harder and more tragic than anything they’d encountered in the fighting. show less
Somewhere I kept a newspaper clipping about how the men of the Australian Light Horse were ordered to shoot their horses after WW1 ended because the army could not afford to bring them back from the theatres of war in Europe and the Middle East. Most of the cavalry men found this harder and more tragic than anything they’d encountered in the fighting. show less
One of my all-time favorite books as a horse-mad girl, even though my riding days were cut short by family dynamics. I loved getting into the mind of a horse as best one can, and to see what good treatment vs. unkind treatment yields. I often thought of Ginger and her views on humans, and how many adventures Black Beauty had throughout his long years.
As an adult reading this book I was struck by many things that I didn't notice at the time: the cause of Black Beauty's accident that ruined show more his knees being caused by the evils of drink. And there were many instances of lectures against alcohol, what was called in the US "Prohibition," together with many instances of an effort for more humane treatment of animals.
The story of Old Captain in what was probably the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War is now something I have historical reference to; then, it was just simply a horse charging into battle. The care of horses' injuries being warm bran mash points out the strides in veterinary medicine since this book was written. But I was glad to read the many instances both animal and human characters advocated for the better treatment of the horse. I just wish there were more of them around! show less
As an adult reading this book I was struck by many things that I didn't notice at the time: the cause of Black Beauty's accident that ruined show more his knees being caused by the evils of drink. And there were many instances of lectures against alcohol, what was called in the US "Prohibition," together with many instances of an effort for more humane treatment of animals.
The story of Old Captain in what was probably the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War is now something I have historical reference to; then, it was just simply a horse charging into battle. The care of horses' injuries being warm bran mash points out the strides in veterinary medicine since this book was written. But I was glad to read the many instances both animal and human characters advocated for the better treatment of the horse. I just wish there were more of them around! show less
"John had many stories to tell of dogs and horses, and the wonderful things they had done. He thought people did not value their animals half enough, nor make friends of them as they ought to do." (pg. 72)
I'm always pleased when a book surpasses my low expectations and presumptions, so I enjoyed Black Beauty more than its objective quality ought to suggest. Often dismissed as a children's book because it is written in simple prose and concerns animals, Anna Sewell's short novel works on that show more level but also proves to be much more.
Sewell died just a few months after the book's publication, after a life of sickness and disability, and her modesty and intuitive compassion towards suffering gives Black Beauty a genuine heart. Sentimental but never syrupy, and simple but not simplistic, her book was intended for an adult audience and designed to raise awareness of the proper care of animals. Society at that time revolved around the work-horse, and "ninety-nine out of a hundred [people] would as soon think of patting the steam-engine that drew the train" (pg. 200) as of treating a beast of burden with affection. We follow the titular horse Black Beauty throughout his entire life, in a collection of events that each illustrate some moral message about the proper treatment of and behaviour towards horses – or, to Sewell's credit, towards other people.
The effect is rather like Aesop's fables, and though this approach may often seem childlike, the book is rather an affecting one for any age. The moral lessons are told with a humility and clarity that would not be possible nowadays without seeming preachy or cynical. In Sewell's hands, they come across as entirely proper and are heightened by her attention to the horses' characters: there is a level of detail and accuracy about how horses behave, love and feel pain that, even with the anthropomorphism, comes across as realistic, and there are many well-drawn moments of both happiness and sorrow. It shows Sewell's sincerity where modern "children's" books often seem commercially manipulative or committed solely to inflating self-esteem.
You might be thinking why you ought to read a book that, even if not solely a children's read, is concerned primarily with moral instruction regarding horse husbandry – more of a niche concern in our mechanical and electronical age. It is, first of all, interesting, from a literary perspective, to observe a society that did rely so much on the horse, and the legacy of that today. Secondly, Black Beauty is a good example of how literature, however unassuming, can encourage you to stop and look at things from a different perspective, and to a greater purpose. Horses are "used to bear[ing] their pain in silence" (pg. 138), but they "do not suffer less because they have no words" (pg. 237). It's easy to scoff at the earnest pastoralism of Black Beauty, but giving voice to incommunicable suffering is one of the most admirable things a story can do. show less
I'm always pleased when a book surpasses my low expectations and presumptions, so I enjoyed Black Beauty more than its objective quality ought to suggest. Often dismissed as a children's book because it is written in simple prose and concerns animals, Anna Sewell's short novel works on that show more level but also proves to be much more.
Sewell died just a few months after the book's publication, after a life of sickness and disability, and her modesty and intuitive compassion towards suffering gives Black Beauty a genuine heart. Sentimental but never syrupy, and simple but not simplistic, her book was intended for an adult audience and designed to raise awareness of the proper care of animals. Society at that time revolved around the work-horse, and "ninety-nine out of a hundred [people] would as soon think of patting the steam-engine that drew the train" (pg. 200) as of treating a beast of burden with affection. We follow the titular horse Black Beauty throughout his entire life, in a collection of events that each illustrate some moral message about the proper treatment of and behaviour towards horses – or, to Sewell's credit, towards other people.
The effect is rather like Aesop's fables, and though this approach may often seem childlike, the book is rather an affecting one for any age. The moral lessons are told with a humility and clarity that would not be possible nowadays without seeming preachy or cynical. In Sewell's hands, they come across as entirely proper and are heightened by her attention to the horses' characters: there is a level of detail and accuracy about how horses behave, love and feel pain that, even with the anthropomorphism, comes across as realistic, and there are many well-drawn moments of both happiness and sorrow. It shows Sewell's sincerity where modern "children's" books often seem commercially manipulative or committed solely to inflating self-esteem.
You might be thinking why you ought to read a book that, even if not solely a children's read, is concerned primarily with moral instruction regarding horse husbandry – more of a niche concern in our mechanical and electronical age. It is, first of all, interesting, from a literary perspective, to observe a society that did rely so much on the horse, and the legacy of that today. Secondly, Black Beauty is a good example of how literature, however unassuming, can encourage you to stop and look at things from a different perspective, and to a greater purpose. Horses are "used to bear[ing] their pain in silence" (pg. 138), but they "do not suffer less because they have no words" (pg. 237). It's easy to scoff at the earnest pastoralism of Black Beauty, but giving voice to incommunicable suffering is one of the most admirable things a story can do. show less
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Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 213
- Also by
- 17
- Members
- 27,032
- Popularity
- #766
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 261
- ISBNs
- 1,195
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- Favorited
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