Anna Sewell, Black Beauty, [1877]. Peter Harrington Rare Books.

SEWELL, Anna, Black Beauty: his grooms and companions. The autobiography of a horse, Translated from the original equine, London: Jarrold and Sons, [1877].
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Presented by Adam Douglas, Senior Rare Book Specialist at Peter Harrington.
Octavo. Original brown cloth, spine and front board lettered and decorated in black and gilt, rear board blocked in blind, brown endpapers (Carter’s B binding), edges trimmed. Housed in a custom red morocco-backed slipcase and chemise. Engraved frontispiece after C. Hewitt. Circular blindstamp to coated front endpaper. A little rubbing to extremities and a small area of scuffing to the top left corner of the front panel, light spotting to frontispiece recto, superficial cracking to rear hinge, an excellent copy.
First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front endpaper, “For Dearest Cousin Emma, with the Author’s fond love, Christmas 1877”; in one of two primary bindings (Carter B). Together with two autograph letters signed from the author to Emma Curtis (“Dearest Cousin Emma”). The first is dated 26 December, sent shortly after this copy: “I sent you a book on the 22nd which I hope arrived safely & brought my love with it.” The second, retaining the original mailing envelope, is dated 4 January [1878] and records Anna’s delight that her cousin liked Black Beauty: “It is impossible for me to tell you all the pleasure that your letter gave me, but as you were an author before any of us, you may perhaps imagine it - I am delighted [underlined] that you like my book”. A third accompanying note is a poignant reminder of the author’s early death, a piece of mourning paper, “Dear Anna particularly requested her affectionate love to be sent to you - April 25, 1878”, written by Grace Sewell on the day of Anna’s death. An exceptional example in all respects. The recipient Emma Curtis was herself a published author, her works including Annie Barclay: or, Sketches of “The Society of Friends” by one nearly connected with, but not a member of their highly respected Society (1852) and Jottings of an Old Woman of Eighty (London 1852, 1853; 3rd ed. Brighton 1858). This Victorian classic was the only book of its bedridden author, who died shortly after its publication, much too soon to appreciate its slowly accumulated worldwide success. Presentation or inscribed copies are understandably rare and the majority are not inscribed by the author herself, but by her mother. In 1938 Carter distinguished three states of the binding: A with the same blocking as this, but all in gilt; B, as here, with the horse’s head, titling, and the rustic portions of the decoration in black (Carter mistakenly describes the titling as gilt, which invariably leads to the B binding being described as a variant), the other parts being gilt; and C, blocked in black and gilt, with a much smaller horse’s head gilt in a medallion, facing left, the same design as used for the later editions. Carter A and B are primary, and the earliest dated inscribed copies are Christmas 1877, as here. Publication date was 24 November 1877.
Anna Sewell, Black Beauty, [1877]. Peter Harrington Rare Books. • Anna Sewell, Black Bea...

[@familyplannumbrer2424]

How wonderful to own such a beautiful copy thanks for sharing it with us.Charles E.Huggins Jr

[@lindanorris2455]

Suxh a beautiful book. SUch a wrenching story overall. Beautiful!

[@reynaldoflores4522]

That book and those letters are still extant after more than a century.
What about our emails, texts, and social media posts ? Will they also still be around after a hundred years ?

[@alnasrkadem11]

How wonderful! Tell me more ❤
It is very interesting 💗💗

[@nadiaelkouni3093]

Plot of the novel black beauty

[@bellsbooks2235]

What if I have two, however, neither obviously are inscribed by the author?

[@lisacarpenter1805]

I have a copy that is very old. I find no dates in the book. The cover looks to be a brownish/burgundy color with very faded resemblance of your cover. How can I find out more?

[@JustLikeKyla]

I have an 1927 edition with a girl with a top hat and a horse on the cover. Binding needs to be partly repaired. Any idea what it’s worth or who could fix it properly?

[@dububro]

I searched abebooks, copies of that edition are listed at around $10-$20

[@mjc4890]

I have a copy with no dates and an ocean on the cover with gold letters. I cant find a picture of any other cover like it online anywhere. Thoughts?

[@lorenn9863]

Omg, can we be in touch? I would like to buy it

[@mjc4890]

@@lorenn9863 gave it away to a friend who likes books.

[@lorenn9863]

@@mjc4890 oh, I hate u! D:
Well, haha, was it old like very old?

[@mjc4890]

@@lorenn9863 1909 or something like that idk

[@solesticia]

@@mjc4890 I need friends like you🤣🤣🤣🤣