UNCLE TOM'S CABIN by Stowe, Harriet Beecher

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. Boston: John P. Jewett, 1852. 2 vols. First edition, first printing. Modern quarter brown morocco, raised bands, gilt, and marbled boards, with original covers bound in. Minor foxing, but a fine set. Originally issued in three publisher's bindings (wrappers at $1; cloth, gilt at $1.50; and cloth, fully gilt at $2). The covers bound in at rear of each volume represent both the regular cloth binding and the fully gilt gift binding. Stowe's landmark work was called "the Black Man's Iliad" by Robert Downs (BOOKS THAT CHANGED AMERICA). It sold 3,000 copies on the day of publication (out of 5,000 copies in the first printing), and sales reached 50,000 copies within eight weeks, and soared to more than 300,000 within the year. Kurt Vonnegut, citing this work, called Stowe "the only writer in history who had an effect on the course of world affairs." Abraham Lincoln called this work "the book that made this big war." BAL 19343 (with the Hobbart and Robbins slugs and all 18 first printing readings in both volumes). Johnson Highspot. Grolier American Hundred 61. Grolier English Hundred 91. African-American Hundred and One 31. Printing and the Mind of Man 332.