Black was born on 14 May 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 CollegeatCambridge University on 24 June 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 8 April 1915.
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 Chambers' 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, 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.
Black 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.
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) (Internet Archive 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)
"Death of Mr. Robert Black. Author and Translator", obituary in The Times, 13 April 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.
