Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Mrs. H. Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

by Mrs. H. Beecher Stowe

Ward, Lock & Co., c1906, black and white frontispiece, hardcover with colour illustrated boards

Fair Condition, some edge and shelf wear, some rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, MISSING Introductory pages, no title page, previous owners gift inscription on reverse frontispiece, tape residue to damaged frontispiece and tissue, faint inscriptions on back endpapers, tears to length of spine, age toned pages, foxing to some pages (see photographs)

“The book opens with a Kentucky farmer named Arthur Shelby facing the loss of his farm because of debts. Even though he and his wife Emily Shelby believe that they have a benevolent relationship with their slaves, Shelby decides to raise the needed funds by selling two of them—Uncle Tom, a middle-aged man with a wife and children, and Harry, the son of Emily Shelby's maid Eliza—to Mr. Haley, a coarse slave trader. Emily Shelby is averse to this idea because she had promised her maid that her child would never be sold; Emily's son, George Shelby, hates to see Tom go because he sees the man as his friend and mentor.
When Eliza overhears Mr. and Mrs. Shelby discussing plans to sell Tom and Harry, Eliza determines to run away with her son. The novel states that Eliza made this decision because she fears losing her only surviving child (she had already miscarried two children). Eliza departs that night, leaving a note of apology to her mistress. She later makes a dangerous crossing over the ice of the Ohio River to escape her pursuers.”