Lot 129 email save

H B Stowe Book w/ Signature & Lincoln Note

Book Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands by Harriet Beecher Stowe

This book entitled Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands, published by Phillips, Sampson and Co. 1854, a photo of Harriet as a young girl, and Charleston slave shackles were discovered in a hat box in the attic of a house located in Cincinnati, Ohio, during the 1930s.

Inside the book is signed: H.B. Stowe and a notion in the back that reads: Mrs. Stowe, The author of this great war. A. Lincoln Nov. 19, 1863.

Historical research conducted by our staff concerning these items is as follows: Harriet Beecher Stowe is best known as the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin which helped galvanize the abolitionist cause and contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War. Harriet moved with her family to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1832. She was one of eleven children.

At the time, Cincinnati was considered the Western Frontier of the United States. In Cincinnati, Harriet met and married Professor Calvin E. Stowe. Six of Stowe's children were born in Cincinnati. Cincinnati was just across the river from Kentucky, a slave state which deeply distressed Harriet.

The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, which made it a crime for citizens of free states to give aid to runaway enslaved people, was a factor in inspiring her book Uncle Tom's Cabin as well as inspiration for the Underground Railroad. During the War, Harriet often disagreed with President Lincoln. Lincoln's concern with preserving the unity of the Nation and his willingness to postpone freeing slaves made her quite impatient.

According to history, when President Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1862, he said, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war". This book gives evidence to historical fact that Harriet did meet President Lincoln in 1863 at his Gettysburg Address. Her son, Fredrick fought in the Battle of Gettysburg.

There is presently no completed Authentication Report accompanying the handwriting represented in this Lot.

Condition: Cover is poor. Binding is fair.