Uncle Tom's Cabin

1852. STOWE, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. With Twenty-seven Illustrations on Wood by George Cruikshank. London: John Cassell, 1852. Thirteen parts. Octavo, original pale yellow wrappers, bound by string; housed in a custom chemise and solander box. $8100.Second English edition (published the same year as the Boston first edition) of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s galvanizing novel of slavery, the first to feature illustrations by celebrated artist George Cruikshank, in the very fragile original thirteen issues.""The social impact of Uncle Tom's Cabin on the United States was greater than that of any book before or since"" (PMM 332). Harriet Beecher Stowe's controversial novel proved immediately successful upon its publication in book form, and publishers in England, aware of the nation's large and vocal anti-slavery contingent, quickly issued their own editions (14 English editions appeared in 1852 alone). This edition, with frontispiece, title page vignette and 27 full-page wood engravings after George Cruikshank, is frequently referred to as the first English edition; however, BAL asserts that the C.H. Clarke edition was advertised as being available in April 1852, while the first part of Cassell's edition was not available until October 1852. As noted in the Cruikshank bibliography, the edition in parts was printed ""in yellow paper printed wrappers of very poor quality, and hence difficult to get in a good state"" (Cohn, George Cruikshank: A Catalogue Raissoné, 777). See: BAL 19518, Note; Grolier English 100 91; Grolier American 100 61. Cohn 777. Fragile wrappers fresh and clean with virtually no wear. Very rare in such outstanding condition.