The notorious bearing rein-which Black Beauty helped make unfashionable-can be seen as something analogous to a lift kit or a fancy hood ornament, though one that did significant damage to the horse. Black Beauty mentions horse dealers and horse character referrals (much like someone buying a car today would purchase one from a dealer and look at the car’s service and accident history before purchasing), as well as the whims of fashion. Because of this, horses were subject to some of the same kind of things that cars are today.
During the Victorian era, people’s only options for transportation were walking, steam trains, or horses-either riding a horse or driving a horse-drawn vehicle of some sort. The house in Old Catton where she wrote Black Beauty is now called the Anna Sewell House.īlack Beauty was published nine years before the car was invented in 1886. Sewell died five months after Black Beauty was published, so she never got to see her novel become one of the bestselling English-language children’s books of all time (though she didn’t write it for children). She sold her novel for meager 40 pounds, and it became an immediate bestseller. There, with her mother’s help, Sewell wrote Black Beauty, her only published work, over a period of six years. She sought treatment in continental Europe but eventually became bedridden in a Norwich village called Old Catton.
As Sewell got older, her health continued to decline. Sewell and her mother were also involved in campaigns for temperance and abolishing slavery. After joining the Church of England, Sewell helped her mother edit a number of evangelical children’s books. Sewell and her mother left the Society of Friends. Beginning in Sewell’s mid-twenties, her family moved to southern England, hoping the weather would improve her health. In turn, this contributed to Sewell’s love of horses and sparked her interest in animal welfare. This led her to rely heavily on horse-drawn transportation, as walking any distance was impossible for her. However, at about this time, Sewell slipped and seriously injured both her ankles-injuries that necessitated a crutch for the rest of her life. The family moved around several times in Sewell’s youth, and Sewell finally got to attend school at age 14 when the family moved to Stoke Newington. Her mother, Mary Wright Sewell, was a successful children’s book author, and she educated her children at home due to the family’s tight finances. Anna Sewell was born the oldest of two children in a devout Quaker family.
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