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

STOWE, Harriet Beecher.

Item Number: 105632

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

First edition, first issue of the author’s classic work, with a loose plate signed by the author as follows, “Trust in the Lord and do good – Harriet Beecher Stowe, July 22, 1892.” Octavo, original cloth, volume with title vignettes and six wood-engravings. In near fine condition with light wear. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell and chemise.

“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).