Black Beauty

Later Jarrold printings, including a fifth edition already circulating by the end of 1878, were issued in the same 'C' cloth binding used for much of the first edition, so binding style alone does not reliably distinguish a genuine 1877 first-edition copy from a slightly later reprint; only the rarer 'A' (gilt) or 'B' (black) horse's-head binding gives certainty of first-edition status.