Life at the South – W.L.G. Smith – 1852 | Anti–Uncle Tom’s Cabin First Edition

1852 Anti Uncle Tom’s Cabin novels reflect a genre of politically motivated fiction printed to dispute the abolitionist message that gained momentum with Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Issued by Derby & Co. just months after Stowe’s bestseller, W.L.G. Smith’s Life at the South presents a fictionalized plantation world intended to defend the Southern slaveholding order. This illustrated edition includes full-page plates interspersed throughout the text, marking it as one of the more visually ambitious entries in the anti–Uncle Tom publishing wave.

The full-page engravings punctuate the text and depict scenes aligned with the narrative’s proslavery stance, including interiors, family groupings, and agricultural labor. The illustrations were produced specifically for this volume and are stylistically consistent with 1850s American trade publications. Layout features tight margins, dense typesetting, and typical mid-century stock; thin, uncoated, and mildly acidic. Despite visual embellishment, the work prioritizes ideological messaging and was produced to compete directly with the wide circulation of abolitionist literature.

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Life at the South, or, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” as it is: being narratives, scenes, and incidents in the real “life of the lowly

• Author(s):L.G. Smith

• Publisher: Derby and Co., Auburn and Buffalo
• Edition: First Edition, 1852
• Format: 12mo, single volume

• Binding: Original brown cloth, blind stamped, spine visibly repaired, rubbed corners

• Size: 7.75 in × 5.5 in (19.5 cm × 14 cm)
• Collation: vi, 13-519 pp
• Illustrations: 9 full-page engraved plates plus in-text illustrations
• Contents Include:
  • Fictional scenes of plantation life
  • Narrative refutation of abolitionist portrayals
  • Depictions of enslaved characters, slaveholders, and plantation dynamics.
• Provenance: Handwritten signature of Geo. L Freeman, Detroit, Mich.
• Reference(s): ​Wright II 2297; Howes S 715; Sabin 84811

Condition:

In original brown cloth with blind-stamped boards, this copy retains its publisher’s casing with an early, visible spine repair. Corners are rubbed, presenting with rounding and fraying at the edges. Internally complete, the 519 pages are accompanied by 9 plates, which are intact though toned at margins. Text block is sound with consistent toning, moderate foxing, and no evidence of loss. Pages remain legible. All illustrations present.

Why Collect This?

• Issued the same year as Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• Illustrated edition with nine full-page plates
• Among the earliest anti–Uncle Tom publications
• Retains publisher’s original cloth binding
• Of interest to collectors of slavery-era political fiction and visual propaganda

Item Number: #28627