Uncle Tom's Cabin
- London: John Cassell, 1852
London: John Cassell, 1852. CRUIKSHANK, George. Uncle Tom's Cabin. London: John Cassell, 1852.
Full Description:
STOWE, Harriet Beecher. CRUIKSHANK, George, [illustrator]. Uncle Tom's Cabin. London: John Cassell, 1852.
Probable first English edition (BAL states that the Clarke edition of the same year may be the first, but also mentions that this present edition, the first edition illustrated in England, is frequently mentioned as the true first English.) Printed the same year as the first American Octavo (7 1/2 x 4 7/8 inches; 190 x 122 mm). xxiii, [1], 391, [1, Cassell ads] pp. With frontispiece portrait of Stowe and 27 engraved plates by Cruikshank. Title-page with woodcut vignette.
Bound by Root & Son in full polished tan calf. Triple-ruled in gilt on boards with floral corner devices. Spine elaborately stamped in gilt. Spine with A red and two green morocco spine labels, lettered and dated in gilt. Board edges gilt. Gilt dentelles. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Silk page marker. Repaired tears to leaves E2 and E3, touching text but with no loss. A tiny marginal tear to Plate I. Leaf L2 with a repaired closed tear, not affecting text. Evidence of a removed bookplate to front pastedown with a second bookplate affixed in the same place. Some minor rubbing to edges of spine. Overall a very nice copy with wonderful illustrations by Cruikshank.
This hugely successful anti-slavery novel is the only work of fiction listed in Printing and the Mind of Man by Carter and Muir. "In the emotion-charged atmosphere of mid-nineteenth-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'. Dramatized versions, exaggerating the cruelties depicted in the novel, appeared almost immediately on the stage adding to the righteous indignation, whether aimed at slavery or at the book's author, which swept the country. Whatever its weaknesses as a literary work...the social impact of Uncle Tom's Cabin on the United States was greater than that of any book before or since." (PMM, 332). This novel was also a huge success in England: "In England the book was hardly less successful than in America." (PMM, 332).
BAL 19518. Printing and the Mind of Man 332.
HBS 69622.
$1,250.
Full Description:
STOWE, Harriet Beecher. CRUIKSHANK, George, [illustrator]. Uncle Tom's Cabin. London: John Cassell, 1852.
Probable first English edition (BAL states that the Clarke edition of the same year may be the first, but also mentions that this present edition, the first edition illustrated in England, is frequently mentioned as the true first English.) Printed the same year as the first American Octavo (7 1/2 x 4 7/8 inches; 190 x 122 mm). xxiii, [1], 391, [1, Cassell ads] pp. With frontispiece portrait of Stowe and 27 engraved plates by Cruikshank. Title-page with woodcut vignette.
Bound by Root & Son in full polished tan calf. Triple-ruled in gilt on boards with floral corner devices. Spine elaborately stamped in gilt. Spine with A red and two green morocco spine labels, lettered and dated in gilt. Board edges gilt. Gilt dentelles. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Silk page marker. Repaired tears to leaves E2 and E3, touching text but with no loss. A tiny marginal tear to Plate I. Leaf L2 with a repaired closed tear, not affecting text. Evidence of a removed bookplate to front pastedown with a second bookplate affixed in the same place. Some minor rubbing to edges of spine. Overall a very nice copy with wonderful illustrations by Cruikshank.
This hugely successful anti-slavery novel is the only work of fiction listed in Printing and the Mind of Man by Carter and Muir. "In the emotion-charged atmosphere of mid-nineteenth-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'. Dramatized versions, exaggerating the cruelties depicted in the novel, appeared almost immediately on the stage adding to the righteous indignation, whether aimed at slavery or at the book's author, which swept the country. Whatever its weaknesses as a literary work...the social impact of Uncle Tom's Cabin on the United States was greater than that of any book before or since." (PMM, 332). This novel was also a huge success in England: "In England the book was hardly less successful than in America." (PMM, 332).
BAL 19518. Printing and the Mind of Man 332.
HBS 69622.
$1,250.
Details
Title
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Author
STOWE, Harriet Beecher
Condition
Unknown
Publisher
John Cassell: London
Date
1852