Robert Black (author)

Infobox Writer
name = Robert Black


imagesize =
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birthdate = birth date|1829|5|14|mf=y
birthplace = London, England
deathdate = death date and age|1915|4|8|1829|5|14|mf=y
deathplace = London, England
occupation = author, journalist and translator
nationality = United Kingdom
period = 1861 - 1893
movement =
notableworks =
influences =
influenced =

Robert Black (1829-1915) was a British author of fiction and nonfiction, as well as a journalist and translator. He is chiefly remembered for his works on horse racing and a translation of François Guizot's "Popular History of France", his most successful work.

Life and education

Black was born May 14, 1829 in London, England, the second son of Robert Black, a clerk of the same city. He matriculated from Christ's Hospital in 1848, and was admitted to Pembroke College at Cambridge University on June 24, 1848, at the age of 19. He took his B.A. in 1852 and M.A. in 1856. During his last years he lived a life of seclusion in London, where he died on April 8, 1915.

Career

Black commenced his writing career as a classical scholar who produced articles on current affairs and the Italian Renaissance, and translations of French works. His translation of Guizot went through numerous editions in England and America. He started contributing fiction to such periodicals as the "Cornhill Magazine", "Macmillan's Magazine" and "Chamber's Journal" in the 1860s. His work also appeared in the "Athenaeum" and "The Field". Black's early short stories were gathered into two collections, after which he attempted a novel, "Love or Lucre", which was published by Richard Bentley & Son in 1878. A protracted dispute over Bentley's editorial practices appears to have soured him on fiction, and though another short story collection and novel were projected nothing came of these efforts. He later achieved some success as an authority on horse racing, contributing articles on the subject to the "St. James Gazette", the "Pall Mall Gazette", "The Times", and "The Sportsman", and three books, the third of which was again published by Bentley.

Bibliography

Fiction

Novels

*"Love or Lucre" (Richard Bentley & Son, 1878) ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=5B0GAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Robert+Black&as_brr=1#PPP1,M1 Google Books e-text] )

Collections

*"The Blackbird of Baden and Other Stories" (Sampson Low, Son, & Marston, 1869)
*"Lady Caroline, with Pendants" (Smith, Elder & Co., 1873)

hort stories

Incomplete listing, based on the contents of "The Blackbird of Baden" and "Lady Caroline".
*"Bar One"
*"Betwixt Two Stools"
*"The Blackbird of Baden"
*"The Fatal Bouquet"
*"Fifty Brides"
*"Friends and Rivals"
*"How Robinson Lost His Fellowship"
*"Lady Caroline"
*"Married Well"
*"An Odd Shaver"
*"Off the Scent"
*"The Pretty Butcheress"
*"The Red Nose"
*"Stubb's Luck"
*"Two Turnings to the Right"
*"An Unexpected Blessing"
*"The Verdict Against J. J."

Nonfiction

*"A Memoir of Abraham Lincoln, President-Elect of the United States of America" (Sampson Low, Son & Co., 1861) ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=enAFAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Robert+Black&as_brr=1 Google Books e-text] )
*"Horse-Racing in France: A History" (Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1886) ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=l5IXAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Robert+Black&as_brr=1#PPP1,M1 Google Books e-text] )
*"The Jockey Club and Its Founders, in Three Periods" (Smith, Elder, 1891) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/jockeyclubitsfou00blacrich Internet Archive e-text] )
*"Horse-Racing in England: A Synoptical Review" (Richard Bentley & Son, 1893) ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=wuYOAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Robert+Black&as_brr=1#PPP1,M1 Google Books e-text] )

Translations

*Juste, Théodore. "Memoirs of Leopold I, King of the Belgians" (Sampson, Low & Marston, 1868) ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=DP50kOaAxH8C&pg=PR3&dq=Memoirs+of+Leopold+I,+King+of+the+Belgians+Robert+Black&as_brr=1#PPP1,M1 Google Books e-text of v. 1] ; [http://books.google.com/books?id=IwwNoeTzAQkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Memoirs+of+Leopold+I,+King+of+the+Belgians&as_brr=1#PPP1,M1 Google Books e-text of v. 2] )
*Guizot, François. "A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times" (S. Low, Marston, Low & Searle, 1872, from "Histoire de France racontée à mes petits enfants", 1869) ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=e8hmhcaMeF0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Robert+Black&as_brr=1#PPR3,M1 Google Books e-text] )
*Sandeau, Jules. "Sea-Gull Rock" (1872)
*Cicero. "Death No Bane: a New Translation, With Copious Illustrative Notes, of Cicero's First Tusculan Disputation" (Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1889) ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=_-gNAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:Robert+inauthor:Black&as_brr=1#PPR3,M1 Google Books e-text] )

References

*"Death of Mr. Robert Black. Author and Translator," obituary in "The Times", April 13, 1915, p. 5.
*Robinson, Solveig C. "'Sir, It Is an Outrage': George Bentley, Robert Black, and the Condition of the Mid-List Author in Victorian Britain," article in "Book History", v. 10, 2007, pp. 131-168.
*Venn, J. A., comp. "Alumni Cantabrigienses". London, England: Cambridge University Press, 1922-1954.