Uncle Tom's Cabin.
First Cruikshank Edition
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom’s Cabin. With Twenty-Seven Illustrations by George Cruikshank, Esq. London: John Cassell, Ludgate Hill, 1852.
13 vols., 8vo.; printed wrappers, sewn; all covers lightly darkened and worn, but intact; contemporary ownership signature of “Mrs. Garrett” on the upper cover of volume 12. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
First Cruickshank edition, with wood engraved vignette cover-title page, twenty-seven illustrations by Cruikshank and a frontispiece portrait of Stowe in the final installment. BAL notes that this edition is “frequently described as the English edition,” but disputes this point by citing the publication of a hardbound book earlier in 1852 by Clarke and Co., based on the tenth printing of the American issue. The number of each installment is noted on the upper left corner of upper wrapper on each, and each installment has three pages of advertisements: on the verso of the title page, and on the rectos and versos of the lower wrappers.
The first issue is labeled as “price sixpence,” but all of the following installments are marked “twopence.” A note on the title pages of the first eleven installments explains that “the Work will be completed in Thirteen Weekly Numbers, each containing 32 pages large crown octavo, and Two elaborate Engravings, designed by George Cruikshank, Esq., and printed separately on Plate Paper,” and, “The Volume will be completed by Christmas – Cases for Binding will be issued at 6d. each,” and lastly, “Full instructions to the Binder will be given in our last Number, for placing the 27 Illustrations in their proper position in the Volume, when bound.” By the twelfth installment in the series, a sentence has been added to the first bulletin, informing “With the last number will be given an excellent portrait of the Auethoress.” The last issue announces, “The Volume is now ready, neatly bound, price 3s.; extra cloth, gilt edges, 3s. 6d., containing an excellent Portrait of the Authoress.”
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