Books

FIRST EDITION. 8vo. (6.8 x 4.4 inches). Engraved frontis. 8 pages of publishers adverts at rear. A near very good copy in the rare Carter binding variant 'C'. Original publishers dark blue cloth with front board showing the horses head facing left, within a gilt circle. Decorative gilt title panel and black stamped elaborate decorative design over the rest of the front board. Spine decorated and lettered in gilt and black. Rear board ruled and decorated in black. Original brown coated endpapers. Neat contemporary (dated 1878) sunday school prize label on the front free endpaper. Both inner hinges are cracked and the pages are just a little loose but still well attached. Slight lean to the binding. The edges are a little rubbed and the pages are thumbed and spotted with a few corners creased where they have been previously turned down but overall a near very good copy of this scarce first edition. In his book, More Binding Variants in English publishing: 1820-1900, the Bibliographer John Carter describes three bindings. Binding A and B he suggests are 'undoubted primaries, while C may be a simultaneous style or may be a later one'. -- More photos available on request.

Black Beauty is a novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she remained in her house as an invalid. The novel became an immediate bestseller, with Sewell dying just five months after its publication, long enough to see her first and only novel become a success. It is one of the best-selling books of all time.