UNCLE TOM'S CABIN; or, Life among the Lowly

1852. London: H.G. Bohn, 1852. Endpaper ads printed in blue. Original blind-stamped olive-green cloth.

Very early English Edition, which is (per the spine gilt) "illustrated by Leech, Gilbert &c" and was priced at "3/6" -- possibly the first UK illustrated edition in book form. Bohn issued a presumably-earlier-in-1852 unillustrated edition, plus this one with nine plates including the frontispiece. This is the first edition to include an eight-page "Introductory Remarks" addressed "To Henry G. Bohn Esq." -- by James Sherman, who notes that Bohn's unillustrated edition had consisted of 5,000 copies that sold out in one day. Sherman (1796-1862), an English Congregationalist minister, includes a chart showing how many slaves are owned by ministers of each denomination (but not his own), led by (in order) Methodists, Baptists, Campbellites, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians. Jewett's two-volume American edition (with this same sub-title "Life Among the Lowly") came out in late March 1852, and due to its instant success, many printings ("editions") were run off over the following weeks. Blanck (BAL) states that the earliest unillustrated "Clarke and Co." edition, was "the earliest English edition identified by BAL" -- published on either April 30th or May 1st, and with a copy deposited at the British Museum (now Library) on July 12th. Cassell's edition illustrated by George Cruikshank, often erroneously cited as the first UK edition, did not come out until the fall -- 13 weekly parts starting on October 23rd, followed by the book edition in late December or in early January 1853. Other late-1852 UK editions -- it was a free-for-all -- include London ones by Bohn (as here), by Bosworth (the only UK publisher actually to pay Mrs. Stowe), by Passmore Edwards, by J. Gilbert, by Ingram Cooke & Co, by Lea, by Lloyd, by Partridge & Oakey, by Piper Bros. & Co., by G. Routledge & Co., by Simms & M'Intyre, by J. Snow, and by G. Vickers -- and also by Gall & Inglis of Edinburgh -- in addition to a subsequent "C.H. Clarke & Co." edition that included illustrations. This is a very good-plus copy, perhaps near-fine: the spine is sunned to brown (as usual with this green cloth), and there is just a touch of wear at the corners. Hildreth page 8 (citing eight illustrations, apparently not counting the frontispiece).