Robert Black (author)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Robert Black | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 14, 1829 London, England |
| Died | April 8, 1915 (aged 85) London, England |
| Occupation | author, journalist and translator |
| Nationality | United Kingdom |
| Writing period | 1861 - 1893 |
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.
Contents |
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Fiction
[edit] Novels
- Love or Lucre (Richard Bentley & Son, 1878) Google Books e-text
[edit] Collections
- The Blackbird of Baden and Other Stories (Sampson Low, Son, & Marston, 1869)
- Lady Caroline, with Pendants (Smith, Elder & Co., 1873)
[edit] Short stories
An incomplete listing, based on the contents of Lady Caroline.
- "Lady Caroline"
- "Fifty brides : an old tale re-told, being a medley from Homeric and other sources"
- "Betwixt two stools"
- "How Robinson lost his fellowship"
- "Bar one"
- "Stubb's luck"
- "Off the scent : rather an adventure for an undergraduate"
- "The red nose"
- "The fatal bouquet"
- "An odd shaver"
[edit] Nonfiction
- A Memoir of Abraham Lincoln, President-Elect of the United States of America (Sampson Low, Son & Co., 1861) Google Books e-text
- Horse-Racing in France: A History (Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1886)
- The Jockey Club and Its Founders, in Three Periods (Smith, Elder, 1891) (Internet Archive e-text)
- Horse-Racing in England: A Synoptical Review (Richard Bentley & Son, 1893)
[edit] Translations
- Juste, Théodore. Memoirs of Leopold I, King of the Belgians (Sampson, Low & Marston, 1868)
- 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) Google Books e-text
- Cicero. Death No Bane: a New Translation, With Copious Illustrative Notes, of Cicero's First Tusculan Disputation (Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1889) Google Books e-text
[edit] 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.
