Distinguished author (1811–1896) whose epochal 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin brought the issue of slavery to the fore of American consciousness and became one of the classics of 19th-century literature. ALS signed "H. B. Stowe," four pages on two adjoining sheets, 4.5 x 7, December 8, 1860. Stowe writes to a "dear friend," a member of the family of Thomas Chalkley, a travelling Quaker minister, and contemporary of her father, Lyman Beecher. In part: "Your letter was right welcome as friends letters are always-particularly now when we are snowed up in winter-if the night mail brings tidings from friends it seems to brighten the evening sky & make the snow look brighter…Georgey is even now playing the 'Priere d'une vierge' [A Virgin's Prayer]. Eliza sits opposite me on one side of the table & Hattie on the other…her hair rises in rebellious little curls…Eliza…is quite a lover of yours as girls sometimes are of ladies…My sister Miss Beecher is going to pass two months at Clifton Springs…to see if she cant [sic] get cured of a strange kind of illness that has hung around her ever since she left Italy…I never knew anybody to whom it was such a trial to be ill…Are you not afraid of the Secessionists?-There may be a war and Chalkley Hall [the Chakley's family home, a Colonial mansion near Frankford, Pennsylvania] be sacked for aught you know- Just think of the danger…I am very busy now writing on two stories for the Atlantic Monthly & the other for the Independent, to begin with the New Year so you may fancy I have enough to do-but when my hand is once in, I think I write more letters for it." In very good condition, with uniform toning, some scattered light soiling, small tape repair to an edge chip at top, and light show-through from text on reverse.
Uncle Tom's Cabin, contributed to the outbreak of war as, through it, Stowe brought the evils of slavery to the attention of Americans. The book had a strong emotional appeal that moved and inspired people in a way that political speeches, tracts and newspapers accounts could not duplicate. On December 24, 1860, a little more than two weeks after this letter was written, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. Two years later (according to legend) when Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe, he remarked, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this Great War!" Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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