Black Beauty CD Booklet
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Page 1
Anna Sewell
BLACK BEAUTY
Read by
JUNIOR
CLASSICS
2
Compact
Discs
NA216512
Jonathan Keeble
Black Beauty CD Booklet
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CD 1
A large, pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water
Four years old – ready to be ‘broken in’
A new home with Squire Gordon, near Birtwick
Ginger’s story
Cropping, blinkers and other indignities
The good master
Wise Black Beauty
James gets promotion
Fire!
Advice from John
Galloping in an emergency
Ginger, Merrylegs and I are sold
To Earlshall Park – and an introduction to a bearing rein
Ginger rebels…
6:34
4:39
8:07
5:55
5:39
2:29
4:14
3:02
5:44
3:24
5:44
3:13
4:32
2:45
Total time on CD 1: 68:02
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CD 2
Reuben Smith – a sad tale
Sold again – to a livery stables in Bath
Sold once more – to Mr Barry
Working for a London cab driver – Jeremiah Barker
Captain’s story
London work…
The good and the bad
A shock – and a death
Election Day
A crash – and a new partner
Christmas and New Year
A new owner – a corn dealer and baker
A new master
Luck at the sale
New owners – three ladies
5:55
5:33
4:31
4:29
4:09
6:57
4:08
2:23
3:59
2:37
5:37
1:07
3:55
4:12
6:29
Total time on CD 2: 66:09
Total time on CDs 1 and 2: 2:14:11
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Anna Sewell
BLACK BEAUTY
There never was a more good tempered,
handsome or courageous horse than Black
Beauty. From the time kind Squire Gordon
took him in hand as a foal, to his last, quiet
home with the Misses Blomefield and Ellen,
Black Beauty never did less than his best.
But it was not always an easy life from a
horse’s point of view, as Black Beauty
himself describes.
Passing from one owner to another, he
learns of the drunken cruelty of masters,
ladies determined to follow the fashion,
whatever the hurt to their carriage horses,
and cab-men who would run their horses
into the ground, rather than treat them
well. Yet whatever misfortune comes to
him, Black Beauty bears it nobly.
Black Beauty’s tale is not just a well-told
story. He offers an insight into a past that is
difficult to imagine today. In those days, once
you left the train, there were only two ways
to get around, on foot and by horse. The hill
that you speed up in a car had to be
conquered step by step, and if you were a
horse, going down the other side with a
heavy load was not much easier.
In real life the sufferings of harness
horses in Victorian times could be far worse
than those Black Beauty and Ginger
experienced. Victorian newspapers were full
of stories about atrocities committed by
half-witted stable boys and bad-tempered
grooms. The newspapers might well have
reported the suffering inflicted by their
employers. Those magnificent carriage
horses strutting through Hyde Park held
their heads high not through pride, but
because they were forced to do so by a
savage bit attached to a bearing rein.
Stamping feet, foaming mouths and rattling
harnesses were all proofs that the horses
were suffering from ceaseless pain. One of
the cruellest whims against which the Royal
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals conducted a long campaign was
the barbaric practice of docking the tail,
depriving the horse of its natural fly swat.
Horse dealers were mostly reputable men
with an interest in caring for their horses,
but some were ‘copers’ who would use a
range of tricks to deceive the gullible – at
the expense of the horse. A lively animal
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which might be a dangerous runaway was
given the ‘ginger’, a sound thrashing for a
few minutes to make it appear quiet and
gentle when displayed before the victim. If
the horse was a jade, dull and listless, it
would be kept in a dark stall and only when
the buyer arrived brought out into the
bright light, startled and looking frisky.
Anna Sewell’s classic story informs us as
much today as it did in 1877, when it first
appeared. She died at an early age, and did
not live to see its success, not only in terms
of its popularity but in the effect it had on
animal welfare. Even the horses of her
funeral train benefited. Her mother insisted
that their painful bearing reins be removed.
Few books can have been as important
in ‘inducing kindness, sympathy and an
understanding treatment of horses’ as hers.
Notes by Benedict Flynn
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THE BROUGHAM
A popular Victorian
carriage.
THE LANDAU
Used for drives in
parks.
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THE CURRICLE
The elegant travel
solution for the
fashionable man.
THE DOG CART
For those short
country journeys.
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THE HORSEDRAWN BUS
With its two-man
crew. Note the
advertising…
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Cab drivers with
their hansom cabs.
KENDALL’S
OMNIBUS
At Islington
Green, 1848.
(JAMES POLLARD)
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The old hackney coach, 1886.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For a comprehensive account of the history of coaches in Victorian and Edwardian times see Carriages at Eight
by Frank E. Huggett (Scribners).
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The music on this recording is taken from the NAXOS catalogue
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS THE LARK ASCENDING
English Northern Philharmonia, David Lloyd-Jones, conductor
8.553955
HUMPERDINCK SLEEPING BEAUTY ETC.
Czecho-Slovak RSO (Bratislava), Martin Fischer-Dieskau, conductor
8.223369
SULLIVAN MASQUERADE FROM THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
RTE Concert Orchestra, Dublin, Andrew Penny, conductor
8.223461
ELGAR ELEGY
Capella Istropolitana, Adrian Leaper, conductor
8.550331
KARAMANOV SYMPHONY NO. 3
Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Antonio de Almeida, conductor
8.223796
Music programming by Nicolas Soames
Cover picture: Black Beauty by Hemesh Alles.
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Other Junior Classics on Naxos AudioBooks
Tales from the Greek Legends (Ferrie) 2CD/MC
read by Benjamin Soames
Tales from the Norse Legends (Ferrie) 2CD/MC
read by Benjamin Soames
The Tale of Troy (Flynn) 2CD
read by Benjamin Soames
The Jungle Books (Kipling) 3CD/MC
read by Madhav Sharma
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (Kipling) 2CD/MC
read by Madhav Sharma
The Railway Children (Nesbit) 2CD/MC
read by Eve Karpf, Delia Paton, Robert Benfield, Naxos Repertory
Treasure Island (Stevenson) 2CD/MC
read by Jasper Britton
Huckleberry Finn (Twain) 2CD/MC
read by Garrick Hagon
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain) 2CD/MC
read by Garrick Hagon
The Pied Piper of Hamelin and Other Favourite Poems 2CD/MC
read by Anton Lesser, Anne Harvey, Katinka Wolf
NA201912/4
NA204112/4
NA209812
NA303512/4
NA205212/4
NA208512/4
NA210112/4
NA207312/4
NA208012/4
NA204512/4
For a complete Naxos AudioBooks catalogue please contact:
In the UK: Naxos AudioBooks, Select Music & Video Distribution,
3 Wells Place, Redhill, Surrey RH1 3SL. Tel: 01737 645600.
In Ireland: Cosmic Sounds Ltd., 1a Farmhill Road, Goatstown, Dublin 14.
In the USA and Canada: Naxos of America Inc.,
416 Mary Lindsay Polk Drive, Suite 509, Franklin, Tennessee TN37067.
In Australia: Select Audio/Visual Distribution Pty. Ltd.,
PO Box 691, Brookvale, NSW 2100.
In New Zealand: Triton Music Ltd., P.O. Box 100-899, NSMC, Auckland.
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BLACK BEAUTY
Black Beauty CD Inlay
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Page 2
Black Beauty CD Inlay
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Page 1
JUNIOR
CLASSICS
2
View our catalogue online at
9 7 8962 6 3416 50
www.naxosaudiobooks.com
CLASSIC STORIES WITH CLASSICAL MUSIC
NA216512
2 CDs NA216512
2 CDs NA216512
Compact
Discs
ISBN 9-62634-165-3
Anna Sewell BLACK BEAUTY
Jonathan Keeble – After training at the Central School of Speech
and Drama, Jonathan appeared at many leading repertory theatres
including Coventry, Liverpool and a season at Manchester’s Royal
Exchange. Now an established voice actor, he has narrated several
books and performed over 150 radio plays for the BBC. Favourites
include: Bomber, Dr Who, Wuthering Heights, Mutiny on the
Bounty, The Barchester Chronicles, The Casebook of Sherlock
Holmes. He also performs The Devil in Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tales for Naxos
AudioBooks.
AudioBooks
This touching portrait, full of drama and sadness, is as moving now as when it was
first written in 1877.
NAXOS
After the first lively, carefree years in the fields, Black Beauty learns to accept the
saddle and bridle and the rule of her masters. But a succession of misfortunes
shows that the life of a horse can be harsh and painful.
Abridged by Benedict Flynn. Produced by Nicolas Soames
Post-production: Andrew Lang, K&A Productions
Engineer (speech): Alan Smyth, Bucks Audio Recording.
Anna Sewell BLACK BEAUTY
Black Beauty, the friendly, patient stallion with a white blaze upon his forehead,
is one of the most familiar figures in childrens’ literature.
p 1998 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd. © 1998 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd. Made in Germany.
Read by Jonathan Keeble
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. UNAUTHORISED PUBLIC PERFORMANCE, BROADCASTING AND
COPYING OF THESE COMPACT DISCS PROHIBITED.
BLACK BEAUTY
CD 1: 68:02; CD 2: 66:09 Total: 2:14:11
AudioBooks
NAXOS
Anna Sewell