Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Or, Life Among the Lowly.

STOWE, Harriet Beecher.

Item Number: 37047

Boston and Cleveland: John P. Jewett and Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, 1852.

First edition, first issue of the author’s classic work. Octavo, original cloth, volume with title vignettes and six wood-engravings. First issue, with “spilt” (rather than “spiled”) in Volume I, 42, line 1; “cathecism” (rather than “catechism”) in Volume II, 74, line 5; and all other first issue points. In near fine condition, early 20th century ink ownership signatures at head of title-pages and front free endpapers. Housed in a full custom morocco clamshell and chemise. A superior example.

“In the emotion-charged atmosphere of mid-19th century America Uncle Tom’s Cabin exploded like a bombshell. To those engaged in fighting slavery it appeared as an indictment of all the evils inherent in the system they opposed; to the pro-slavery forces it was a slanderous attack on ‘the Southern way of life’… the social impact of [the novel] on the United States was greater than that of any book before or since” (PMM 332). “Within a decade after its publication Uncle Tom’s Cabin had become the most popular novel ever written by an American… there is substantial evidence that the book precipitated the American Civil War” (Downs, Books That Changed America, 108).