From its first publication in 1877, Black Beauty has been one of the best-loved animal stories ever written. The dramatic and heartwarming tale is told by the magnificent black horse himself, from his idyllic days on a country squire's estate to his harsh fate as a London cab horse and his merciful rescue by two kindly old ladies.

Filled with vivid anecdotes about animal intelligence, the novel derives a special magic from the love of all creatures, great and small, apparent on every page. But the book's lasting impact comes from its descriptions of a human society struggling to find the goodness within itself and its plea for kindness to all creatures - a message so powerful that this favorite classic began a crusade for animal welfare that continues to this day.

Anna Sewell was born in England in 1820. As a young girl, she witnessed great and frequent abuse of horses. A knee injury at 14 left her disabled, but she rode and drove horses very well, controlling them with voice alone, never a whip. She wrote Black Beauty in her 50s and died about a year after it was published in 1877. The book has had a tremendous impact in creating a new wave of humanist thinking towards animals.