Folio Society – BLACK BEAUTY by Anna Sewell
Many writers spend a lifetime working towards literary recognition; Anna Sewell wrote a single book and it is still one of the best-selling titles of all time, having sold more than 50 million copies worldwide. Its longevity is testament to the simple yet enduring theme of animals’ interaction with humans, and children still laugh and cry with the equine protagonist as sincerely as when Black Beauty was first published nearly 150 years ago.
Black Beauty has an idyllic early life and spends his formative years living with his mother, Duchess, on a farm owned by a kindly man. However, at age four, it’s time for the colt to be sold: he must leave the only home he’s known to start his working life and it is now that Beauty learns of mankind’s propensity to maltreat animals. The mistress of the new house likes the horses’ heads to be pulled back high when drawing her carriage, a fashionable whim that constricts the windpipe and drags the bit back painfully into the mouth. While other horses rebel against such cruelties, Black Beauty retains his poise. As he moves from master to master and job to job, his compliant nature is both abused and embraced, but ultimately he knows that humans have the upper hand and their animal workforce must always be subservient or suffer the consequences.
Afflicted by a debilitating injury at a young age, Sewell spent much of her life unable to move freely and reliant on horses for transport. She grew to love and understand them, and her concern for their welfare planted the seed for the novel, which is unashamed in its condemnation of animal cruelty. Adapted for film and television on numerous occasions, as well as being translated into 50 languages, Black Beauty helped change perceptions of animal welfare through greater empathy and awareness.
DESCRIPTION: Introduced by Michael Morpurgo. Illustrated by Annette Hamley-Jenkins. Bound in blocked cloth. Set in Dante with Rumble Brave display. 224 pages. Frontispiece and 5 colour illustrations. Running horse motif on text pages. Printed slipcase. 9˝ x 6¼˝
CONDITION: Book is NEW and SEALED in the publisher’s original SHRINK WRAP (see photos). Photos 1 to 6 are of the actual book that is listed. Whilst photos 7 to 12 are stock photos.
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70PC