STOWE, Harriet Beecher (1811-1896). Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly. Boston and Cleveland: John P. Jewett & Company; Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, 1852.
2 volumes, 8vo. Title vignettes, 6 wood-engraved plates probably after Hammatt Billings. (Very occasional light spotting, else bright). Original brown cloth [BAL binding B], stamped in gilt and blind, spine gilt-lettered (rebacked, preserving original spines and endleaves); morocco-backed slipcase. Provenance: Luke Brooks Jr. (early ownership signature on ffep).
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE with all points present including “spilt” for “spiled” in Vol. I, p. 42, line 1; “cathecism” for “catechism” in Vol. II, p. 74, line 5; and the single imprint of Hobart & Robbins on copyright.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin was first issued in serial form with three installments published for The National Era, the book form was quickly picked up by John P. Jewett and published before the conclusion of the serial in response to the popularity of the abolitionist cause. Three thousand copies were sold the day of publication, and before its first anniversary, 300,000 copies were sold in America, which John Winterish points out that “on a basis of proportionate population, this would be the equivalent of more than 1,500,000 copies today” (Grolier, 100 American). “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 ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ on the United States was greater than that of any book before or since” (Printing and the Mind of Man). BAL 19343; Grolier, 100 American, 61; PMM 332.