Black Beauty

Carter found binding 'C' comparatively common in the trade while 'A' and 'B' survive in only a handful of copies each; because a fifth edition already circulating by the end of 1878 was also issued in binding 'C,' only 'A' and 'B' can be said with certainty to represent the true 1877 first-edition state, while 'C' copies may include remaindered stock or undifferentiated 1878 reprint sheets bound up alongside genuine first-edition ones