It’s certainly worth noting that June 14 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the best selling novel of the 19th century and remains critical to anyone interested in 19th century America.
Our copy of the first edition, in two volumes
June is also the 75th anniversary of the publication of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, a different, but also unavoidable cultural reference point. We own two copies of the first edition of the work, along with a 1939 film tie-in large format paperback and the program to the 1939 Atlanta Film Festival where it had its premiere.
A fine copy, in jacket
Our second copy belonged to John Shaw Billings, the editor of Life and our first major benefactor. He notes inside his copy that his wife, Frederica, went to school with Margaret Mitchell, and has also pasted two clippings inside.
-jm
