Black Ivory

Robert Michael BallantyneProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.9

Word count: 524K words
Chapters: 53

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Black Ivory by R. M. BallantyneAuthor: Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael), 1825-1894,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Jun 7, 2007

Editor's review

Black Ivory is Ballantyne's adventure novel about the ivory trade, also from Project Gutenberg's public-domain e-book collection. The work interweaves commercial interests, the colonial backdrop, and his characters' moral choices; the narrative retains the tension of boys' adventure fiction while letting readers see the human and ethical questions behind the trade chain. Its value lies in offering a nineteenth-century English writer's observational perspective, helping readers understand how adventure fiction of the time wrote about distant places, resources, and responsibility. The style is direct, with plot driven by events and dialogue, making it a suitable sample of popular literature in historical context. A caution: the trade and colonial attitudes in the book carry the limitations of their era; readers should stay critical and distinguish narrative from historical fact. It suits reading in installments, followed by discussion of the boundary between "adventure" and "plunder," and of how to fill in background when a public-domain text lacks a modern introduction.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in adventure novels about colonial-era trade
Secondary-school reading groups hoping to discuss historical ethics through fiction
Learners who need public-domain English texts for extensive reading practice
Literature enthusiasts who want to compare Ballantyne's works across different subjects

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking modern historical annotation and critical introductions
Readers sensitive to colonial and trade themes who need to read with caution
Young readers who prefer light, purely entertaining adventure stories

Reading tips

Start by learning the basic background of the nineteenth-century ivory trade, then enter the story.
Mark passages involving trade, resources, and morality while reading, and discuss them together afterward.
Read the novel as popular text in historical context, not as historical fact.
Compare it with adventure fiction of the same era to see how the author handles distant places and commerce.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is this book mainly about?

Judging by the title and author information, it is an adventure novel set against the ivory trade, a work of popular narrative by Ballantyne. Readers can treat it as a sample of nineteenth-century English adventure literature dealing with trade and distant places, not as a modern historical study.

Should readers pay special attention to the colonial attitudes in the book?

Yes. The work dates from the nineteenth century, and its narrative may carry the colonial and trade attitudes of the time. Readers are advised to stay critical, understand the story in historical context, distinguish literary imagination and period discourse from historical fact, and not take characters' words and actions as the author's or history's full conclusions.

Is it suitable for whole-class reading?

It can serve as literary reading in historical context, but is better suited to excerpts or small-group shared reading. Teachers need to supply background on trade history and prompts for critical reading to help students distinguish adventure narrative from ethical questions. If class time is limited, discuss key chapters rather than requiring chapter-by-chapter close reading.

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About the author

Robert Michael Ballantyne Author · United Kingdom · 1825–1894

Robert Michael Ballantyne (1825–1894) was a Scottish writer of children's literature, born in Edinburgh. At sixteen he went to Canada and worked for the Hudson's Bay Company for six years, an experience that later supplied material for his adventure stories; after returning to Scotland in 1847 he devoted himself to writing and produced more than a hundred adventure novels, of which ninety-seven are held in this collection. His representative works include The Coral Island, The Dog Crusoe and his Master, Black Ivory, The Lighthouse and Martin Rattler, mostly drawing on seafaring, desert-island and frontier adventure, with tight plots and solid detail that combine instruction with appeal for young readers. He was also skilled in watercolour painting. Public information on his early education and private life is limited.