Anna Sewell

"Anna Sewell was born in 1820 and died in 1878. She was lame from childhood and spent most of her life as a semi-invalid living at Brighton where her father had a position as a Bank Manager. Her mother wrote several moral tales in verse for children. Anna wrote only one book, Black Beauty, which was published 1877, and which sold over 100,000 copies in the first twenty years. It has been translated into French, Italian, German and has been described as 'one of themost successful animal stories ever written." (Biographical note from <i>"Black Beauty"</i>, Blackie & Son Ltd., Glasgow, ca 1950s.)