Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe – 1852 | First Edition

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose first edition was published in 1852, is regarded as one of the most influential works of 19th-century American literature. The story’s exploration of slavery’s moral and human cost, expressed through the eyes of Stowe’s unforgettable characters and intertwining narratives, have made it an enduring artifact of American anti-slavery discourse. The plights of slaves like Uncle Tom, who serves under masters both kind and cruel, and enslaved mother Eliza, who is desperate to protect her child from the same fate, sparked heightened debate about slavery beyond abolitionist circles. The story also leaned into the moral impact of women, with its feminist motifs second only to the themes of the unethical nature of slavery and its incompatibility with professed Christian love. The novel, having stoked Northern fury at slavery and the Fugitive Slave Act while facing widespread criticism in the Southern states, and is often credited with laying the cultural groundwork for the Civil War.

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly
• Author: Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Publisher: Boston: John P. Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Ohio: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington
• Edition: First Edition, 70th Thousand Printing, 1852
• Binding: Hardcover, brown cloth
• Format: Octavo (8vo), two volumes
• Size: ~ 8in x 5.25in (20cm x 13.5cm)
• Collation:
  • Vol. I: x, 13-312
  • Vol. II: iv, 5-322
• Illustrations: 8 engravings (2 title vignettes, 6 full-page plates)
• Contents Include:
  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin complete text
• Provenance: Handwritten inscription to Fred A. Perkins; “a Christmas gift from his aunt Rose B. Morse, Dec. 25, 1870”
• Reference(s): BAL 19343; Grolier American 100, #61; Sabin 92457; Wright 2401

Condition:

Fair. The original brown cloth binding is secure, though with significant edgewear especially on the spines. The hinges and text blocks are intact, if lightly shaken. Pages show scattered spotting, as typical of this era, but the text remains legible.

Why Collect This?

• Early printings of the first edition of a classic novel
• Pre-Civil War abolitionist literature
• Includes all original illustrations

Item Number: #31263