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THIS PAGE WAS A BIG FAT LIE!!! |
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{{Infobox Book | <!--See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books --> |
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|name = Black Beauty |
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|image = [[Image:Black Beauty 1st ed.jpg|200px]] |
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|image_caption = This copy of the first edition of the book was dedicated by the author to her mother. It was auctioned off at [[Christie's]] in [[London]] in June 2006 for £33,000. |
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|author = [[Anna Sewell]] |
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|illustrator = |
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|cover_artist = |
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|country = [[England]] |
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|language = [[English language|English]] |
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|genre = [[Novel]] |
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|publisher = [[Jarrold & Sons]] |
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|release_date = 24 November [[1877]] |
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|media_type = |
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|pages = |
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|isbn = |
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}} |
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{{otheruses}} |
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'''''Black Beauty''''' (in full: ''Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse'', first published November 24, 1877) is [[Anna Sewell]]'s only [[novel]], composed in the last years of her life between [[1871]] and [[1877]] while confined to her house as an invalid.<ref name="Webster">Merriam-Webster (1995). "Black Beauty". ''Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature''.</ref> |
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NOW, HERE IS THE REAL TRUTH |
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The story is told in the [[first-person narrative|first person]] (or "first horse") as an autobiographical memoir told by a highbred [[horse]] named Black Beauty—beginning with his carefree days as a foal on an English farm, to his difficult life pulling cabs in London, to his happy retirement in the country. Along the way, he meets with many hardships and recounts many tales of cruelty and kindness. Each short chapter recounts an incident in Black Beauty's life containing a lesson or moral typically related to the kindness, sympathy, and understanding treatment of horses, with Sewell's detailed observations and extensive descriptions of horse behaviour lending the novel a good deal of [[verisimilitude]].<ref name="Webster"/> |
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THIS IS BLACK BEAUTY, THE REAL THING. |
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The book became an immediate best-seller, with Anna living just long enough (five months) to see her first and only novel become a success. Anna said of her purpose in writing "its special aim being to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses"<ref name="Webster"/>—an influence she attributed to an essay on animals she read earlier by [[Horace Bushnell]] (1802-1876) entitled "Essay on Animals".<ref>[http://www.natureofanimals.com/AnnaSewell.html Gentle Heart: The Story of Anna Sewell], by Jen Longshaw.</ref> Her sympathetic portrayal of the plight of working animals led to a vast outpouring of concern for animal welfare and is said to have been instrumental in abolishing the cruel practice of using the [[checkrein]] (or "bearing rein", a strap used to keep horses' heads high, fashionable in [[Victorian era|Victorian]] England but painful and damaging to a horse's neck).<ref name="Hastings">[http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/sewell.htm Anna Sewell], by Prof. Waller Hastings, [[Northern State University]], 2004. [http://web.archive.org/web/20050315202842/http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/sewell.htm Archive.org copy].</ref> |
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I WAS BORN IN A DUMPSTER IN SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA AND HAD WELL, LETS JUST SAY A HORRRRIBLE CHILDHOOD |
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Black Beauty also contains two pages about the use of [[blinders]] (calling them [[blinkers]]) on horses, concluding that this use is likely to cause accidents at night due to interference with "the full use of" a horse's ability to "see much better in the dark than men can." |
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MY FATHER'S NAME WAS BUSTER AND HE FED ME ROTTEN MCDONALDS SHAKES AND HASHBROWNS FROM THEIR TRASH!!!! |
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Crippled and unable to walk since a young child, [[Anna Sewell]] began learning about horses early in life, spending many hours driving her father to and from the station from which he commuted to work. Sewell's introduction to writing began in her youth when she helped edit the works of her mother, [[Mary Wright Sewell]] (1797-1884), a deeply religious, popular author of juvenile best-sellers. By telling the story of a horse's life in the form of an [[autobiography]] and describing the world through the eyes of the horse, Anna Sewell broke new literary ground.<ref name="Hastings"/> |
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WHEN I WAS 5, I BEGAN MY EVIL TRAINING LESSONS FROM HITLER |
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''Black Beauty'' was not originally intended as a children's novel, but for people who work with horses. It soon, however, became a children's classic, a novel of education for generations of schoolchildren to the present day. While outwardly teaching animal welfare, it also contains allegorical lessons about how to treat people with kindness, sympathy and respect. Later student editions included further study questions, highlighting the moral theme of each chapter.<ref>For example see the John C. Winston Co 1927 edition.</ref> |
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WE BECAME BEST EVIL BUDDIES BUT ONE DAY HE BEAT ME AT CHECKERS SO I ATE HIM |
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[[Margaret Blount]] in her book ''Animal Land'' says ''Black Beauty'' is “the first real animal novel,” “the most famous and best-loved animal book of all time,” and “perhaps the last of the moral tales” (249-50). [[Susan Chitty]] calls it “probably the most successful animal story ever written” with more than 30 million sold.<ref name="Hastings"/> |
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HE TASTED LIKE HORSERADDISH, SO I SPIT HIM OUT AND CRIED FOR 89 HOURS STRAIGHT |
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==Characters== |
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WHEN I TURNED 18 I HIJACKED A PLANE AND CRASHED IT INTO 2 TALL BUILDINGS OOPS OOPSIE!! |
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Horses: |
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*Black Beauty/Black Auster/Jack/Darkie—The narrator of the story who earned his name from his dark coat. He always tries his best to serve humans despite the circumstance. |
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*Duchess/Pet—Beauty's mother, who encourages Beauty to be good from a young age. |
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*Rob Roy—A fellow black horse from Beauty's original farm. It is later alluded that he was Beauty's at least half-brother. |
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*Ginger—Named so because she "snaps", Ginger is a more aggressive horse due to her traumatic upbringing. |
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*Merrylegs—A short, handsome pony who is polite to humans and horses alike. |
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*Sir Oliver—A horse who had his tail removed for fashion purposes to his great annoyance and discomfort. |
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*Peggy—A cab horse who cannot run so fast due to her short legs. |
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*Captain—A former army horse who encountered horrific treatment and incidents whilst being used for battle. |
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*Justice—A calm, peaceable horse Beauty meets at Birtwick Park. |
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Beauty's owners |
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*Farmer Grey—Beauty's first owner. |
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*Squire Gordon—owner of Birtwick Park, a fine rider, and boss of John, James, and Joe. |
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*John Manly—A coachman who treats his horses with care and respect. |
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*James Howard—John's stable boy. |
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*Joe Green—John's younger and less experienced stable boy. |
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*Earl of W-—An unnamed Lord who uses Beauty as a carriage horse. |
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*Reuben Smith—A handsome and charming young man whose downfall is caused by his [[alcoholism]]. |
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*Mr. Barry—A man who tries to treat horses well, but lacks knowledge on horse care. |
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*Filcher—Barry's horse groom who steals food from the stable (Note: the verb 'to filch' means 'to steal'). |
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*Jerry—A kind owner who uses Beauty as a cab horse. AKA Jeremiah Barker. Also owner of Captain and Hotspur. |
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*Jakes—An owner who uses Beauty as a work horse, forcing him to carry heavy loads. |
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*Nicholas Skinner—A ruthless cab horse owner who wears out horses through hard work and mistreatment. |
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*Farmer Thoroughgood—A kind owner who cares for Beauty when he is at his weakest. |
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== Film adaptations == |
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WHEN I WAS 20 I CAME TO A PLACE CALLED ST. CLAIR |
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The book has been adapted into [[film]] and television several times, including: |
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* {{imdb title|id=0163552|title=Black Beauty (1921/II)}} |
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ONE NIGHT I WAS AT MY FRIEND OSAMA BIN LADEN'S HOUSE AND FORGOT WHERE I WAS |
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* {{imdb title|id=0038361|title=Black Beauty (1946)}} |
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* {{imdb title|id=0066834|title=Black Beauty (1971)}} |
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SO I WENT TO ANOTHER HOUSE DOWN THE ROAD AND SAT OUTSIDE YELLING AND BANGING ON THIER DOOR |
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* {{imdb title|id=0068030|title=The Adventures of Black Beauty (TV series) (1972)}} |
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* [[Black Beauty (1994 film)]]. See also [[Docs Keepin Time]], the horse that starred as Black Beauty. |
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* Additionally, in 1966 [[Walt Disney Productions]] produced an [[LP album|LP]] adaptation on its Disneyland Records label with music by Disney's musical director at the time, [[Tutti Camarata]], complete with narration similar to an [[old time radio]] program; Disney has never made an animated or live-action version and it is not known whether one was ever planned by Disney. |
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==References from other works== |
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THEY THOUGHT IT WAS JUST A SILLY PERSON, BUT IT WAS ME |
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*''[[Beautiful Joe]]'' was a best-selling 1893 novel about a dog that was directly influenced by ''Black Beauty'' and followed a similar path to fame through awareness of cruelty to animals. |
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* Phyllis Briggs wrote a sequel called ''Son of Black Beauty'', published in 1950. |
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*The [[Pullein-Thompson sisters]] wrote several stories concerning relatives of Black Beauty. They are Black Ebony (1975; by Josephine), Black Velvet (1975; by Christine), Black Princess (1975; by Diana), Black Nightshade (1978; by Josephine), Black Romany (1978; by Diana), Blossom (1978; by Christine), Black Piper (1982; by Diana), Black Raven (1982; by Josephine) and Black Pioneer (1982; by Christine). The book Black Swift (1991) by Josephine is not about a Black Beauty relative. These were published in several compilations as well as some of them being available separately. Each compilation was subsequently republished, sometimes with a change of name. |
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*[[Spike Milligan]] wrote a parody of the novel called ''[[Black Beauty According to Spike Milligan]]'' ([[1996]]). |
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==Notes== |
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THE PERSON'S FAMILY WHO I SCARED IS SITTING NEXT TO ME RIGHT NOW |
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<references/> |
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==External links== |
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HA HA HA IM SO EVIL |
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*{{gutenberg|no=271|name=Black Beauty}} |
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*[http://www.archive.org/details/blackbeautyhisgr00seweiala ''Black Beauty''], 1877 first edition, scanned book via [[Internet Archive]] |
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*[http://www.penguinreaders.com/downloads/0582421217.pdf ''Black Beauty''], Penguin Readers Fact Sheet. |
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[[Category:English novels]] |
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--[[Special:Contributions/68.252.133.68|68.252.133.68]] ([[User talk:68.252.133.68|talk]]) 18:42, 24 January 2008 (UTC)BLACK BEAUTY |
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[[Category:1877 novels]] |
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[[Category:Debut novels]] |
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[[Category:Fictional horses]] |
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[[Category:Horses in film and television]] |
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[[Category:Public domain characters]] |
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[[Category:Children's novels]] |
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[[de:Black Beauty]] |
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[[fi:Uljas Musta]] |
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[[ja:黒馬物語]] |
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[[pl:Czarny Książę]] |
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[[ru:Чёрный красавец (фильм)]] |
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[[simple:Black Beauty]] |
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[[sv:Black Beauty]] |
Revision as of 18:43, 24 January 2008
File:Black Beauty 1st ed.jpg | |
Author | Anna Sewell |
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Country | England |
Language | English |
Genre | Novel |
Publisher | Jarrold & Sons |
Publication date | 24 November 1877 |
Black Beauty (in full: Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse, first published November 24, 1877) is Anna Sewell's only novel, composed in the last years of her life between 1871 and 1877 while confined to her house as an invalid.[1]
The story is told in the first person (or "first horse") as an autobiographical memoir told by a highbred horse named Black Beauty—beginning with his carefree days as a foal on an English farm, to his difficult life pulling cabs in London, to his happy retirement in the country. Along the way, he meets with many hardships and recounts many tales of cruelty and kindness. Each short chapter recounts an incident in Black Beauty's life containing a lesson or moral typically related to the kindness, sympathy, and understanding treatment of horses, with Sewell's detailed observations and extensive descriptions of horse behaviour lending the novel a good deal of verisimilitude.[1]
The book became an immediate best-seller, with Anna living just long enough (five months) to see her first and only novel become a success. Anna said of her purpose in writing "its special aim being to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses"[1]—an influence she attributed to an essay on animals she read earlier by Horace Bushnell (1802-1876) entitled "Essay on Animals".[2] Her sympathetic portrayal of the plight of working animals led to a vast outpouring of concern for animal welfare and is said to have been instrumental in abolishing the cruel practice of using the checkrein (or "bearing rein", a strap used to keep horses' heads high, fashionable in Victorian England but painful and damaging to a horse's neck).[3]
Black Beauty also contains two pages about the use of blinders (calling them blinkers) on horses, concluding that this use is likely to cause accidents at night due to interference with "the full use of" a horse's ability to "see much better in the dark than men can."
Crippled and unable to walk since a young child, Anna Sewell began learning about horses early in life, spending many hours driving her father to and from the station from which he commuted to work. Sewell's introduction to writing began in her youth when she helped edit the works of her mother, Mary Wright Sewell (1797-1884), a deeply religious, popular author of juvenile best-sellers. By telling the story of a horse's life in the form of an autobiography and describing the world through the eyes of the horse, Anna Sewell broke new literary ground.[3]
Black Beauty was not originally intended as a children's novel, but for people who work with horses. It soon, however, became a children's classic, a novel of education for generations of schoolchildren to the present day. While outwardly teaching animal welfare, it also contains allegorical lessons about how to treat people with kindness, sympathy and respect. Later student editions included further study questions, highlighting the moral theme of each chapter.[4]
Margaret Blount in her book Animal Land says Black Beauty is “the first real animal novel,” “the most famous and best-loved animal book of all time,” and “perhaps the last of the moral tales” (249-50). Susan Chitty calls it “probably the most successful animal story ever written” with more than 30 million sold.[3]
Characters
Horses:
- Black Beauty/Black Auster/Jack/Darkie—The narrator of the story who earned his name from his dark coat. He always tries his best to serve humans despite the circumstance.
- Duchess/Pet—Beauty's mother, who encourages Beauty to be good from a young age.
- Rob Roy—A fellow black horse from Beauty's original farm. It is later alluded that he was Beauty's at least half-brother.
- Ginger—Named so because she "snaps", Ginger is a more aggressive horse due to her traumatic upbringing.
- Merrylegs—A short, handsome pony who is polite to humans and horses alike.
- Sir Oliver—A horse who had his tail removed for fashion purposes to his great annoyance and discomfort.
- Peggy—A cab horse who cannot run so fast due to her short legs.
- Captain—A former army horse who encountered horrific treatment and incidents whilst being used for battle.
- Justice—A calm, peaceable horse Beauty meets at Birtwick Park.
Beauty's owners
- Farmer Grey—Beauty's first owner.
- Squire Gordon—owner of Birtwick Park, a fine rider, and boss of John, James, and Joe.
- John Manly—A coachman who treats his horses with care and respect.
- James Howard—John's stable boy.
- Joe Green—John's younger and less experienced stable boy.
- Earl of W-—An unnamed Lord who uses Beauty as a carriage horse.
- Reuben Smith—A handsome and charming young man whose downfall is caused by his alcoholism.
- Mr. Barry—A man who tries to treat horses well, but lacks knowledge on horse care.
- Filcher—Barry's horse groom who steals food from the stable (Note: the verb 'to filch' means 'to steal').
- Jerry—A kind owner who uses Beauty as a cab horse. AKA Jeremiah Barker. Also owner of Captain and Hotspur.
- Jakes—An owner who uses Beauty as a work horse, forcing him to carry heavy loads.
- Nicholas Skinner—A ruthless cab horse owner who wears out horses through hard work and mistreatment.
- Farmer Thoroughgood—A kind owner who cares for Beauty when he is at his weakest.
Film adaptations
The book has been adapted into film and television several times, including:
- Black Beauty (1921/II) at IMDb
- Black Beauty (1946) at IMDb
- Black Beauty (1971) at IMDb
- The Adventures of Black Beauty (TV series) (1972) at IMDb
- Black Beauty (1994 film). See also Docs Keepin Time, the horse that starred as Black Beauty.
- Additionally, in 1966 Walt Disney Productions produced an LP adaptation on its Disneyland Records label with music by Disney's musical director at the time, Tutti Camarata, complete with narration similar to an old time radio program; Disney has never made an animated or live-action version and it is not known whether one was ever planned by Disney.
References from other works
- Beautiful Joe was a best-selling 1893 novel about a dog that was directly influenced by Black Beauty and followed a similar path to fame through awareness of cruelty to animals.
- Phyllis Briggs wrote a sequel called Son of Black Beauty, published in 1950.
- The Pullein-Thompson sisters wrote several stories concerning relatives of Black Beauty. They are Black Ebony (1975; by Josephine), Black Velvet (1975; by Christine), Black Princess (1975; by Diana), Black Nightshade (1978; by Josephine), Black Romany (1978; by Diana), Blossom (1978; by Christine), Black Piper (1982; by Diana), Black Raven (1982; by Josephine) and Black Pioneer (1982; by Christine). The book Black Swift (1991) by Josephine is not about a Black Beauty relative. These were published in several compilations as well as some of them being available separately. Each compilation was subsequently republished, sometimes with a change of name.
- Spike Milligan wrote a parody of the novel called Black Beauty According to Spike Milligan (1996).
Notes
- ^ a b c Merriam-Webster (1995). "Black Beauty". Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature.
- ^ Gentle Heart: The Story of Anna Sewell, by Jen Longshaw.
- ^ a b c Anna Sewell, by Prof. Waller Hastings, Northern State University, 2004. Archive.org copy.
- ^ For example see the John C. Winston Co 1927 edition.
External links
- Black Beauty at Project Gutenberg
- Black Beauty, 1877 first edition, scanned book via Internet Archive
- Black Beauty, Penguin Readers Fact Sheet.