His parents, Norman Black and Frances Best, were both dental surgeons, originally from Scotland.

He grew up in Falmouth, where he attended the Grammar School and, under the advice of his headmaster, sat the scholarship exam for Cambridge.

Throughout his career Black's special interest was in developing the Press's English literature list.

Among the many achievements of Cambridge publishing in his time, was the edition of the complete works of D.H. Lawrence, an author on whom he wrote four titles.

[3] Black was active as a writer in the latter half of the twentieth century, primarily as a literary critic.