The Library of Stephen J. Farber

2 volumes, 8vo. Title vignettes, 6 wood-engraved plates probably after Hammatt Billings. (Very light and occasional spotting, tiny dampstain to upper margin corner in vol.1, affecting pp. 109-145, not touching letters.) Original brown cloth [BAL binding B, no priority established], stamped in gilt and blind, spine gilt-lettered (front endpaper in vol.2 likely renewed, slight lean to spines, a few tiny and discrete touch-ups to spine ends on vol.2, tiny flecks to text block of vol.2); morocco-backed slipcase.

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE with all points present, including: “spilt” for “spiled” in Vol. I, p. 42, line 1; “cathecism” for “catechism” in Vol. II, p. 74, line 5; and the single imprint of Hobart & Robbins on copyright.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was first issued in serial form, with three installments published in The National Era; the book form was quickly picked up by John P. Jewett and published before the serial concluded, in response to the popularity of the abolitionist cause. Three thousand copies were sold the day of publication, and before its first anniversary, 300,000 copies were sold in America, which John Winterish points out that “on a basis of proportionate population, this would be the equivalent of more than 1,500,000 copies today” (Grolier, 100 American). “In the emotion-charged atmosphere of mid-19th 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’… the social impact of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ on the United States was greater than that of any book before or since” (Printing and the Mind of Man). BAL 19343; Grolier 100 American, 61; PMM 332.