细节
STOWE, HARRIET BEECHER. Autograph letter signed ("Harriet Beecher Stowe") to "His Royal Highness Prince Albert," Brunswick, Maine, 29 March 1852. 2 pages, 4to, silked, neatly repaired two-inch tear, repaired short fold breaks, with one revision, probably a retained copy.
A VERY FINE LETTER, WRITTEN ON PRESENTATION DAY, PRESENTING A COPY OF "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN" TO PRINCE ALBERT AND QUEEN VICTORIA
"The author of this work feels that she has an apology for presenting it to Prince Albert because it concerns the great interests of humanity, and from those noble & enlarged views of human progress, which she has at different times seen in his public speeches she has inferred that he has an eye & a heart for all that concerns the development & welfare of the human family. Ignorant of the forms of diplomatic address & the etiquette of rank, may she be pardoned for speaking with the republican simplicity of her own country as to one who possesses a nobility higher than that of rank or station.
"This simple narrative is an honest attempt to enlist the sympathies both of England & America in the sufferings of an oppressed race, to whom in less enlightened days both England & America were unjust. The wrong on England's part has been atoned in a manner worthy of herself, nor in all her strength & glory, is there any thing that adds such lustre to her name as the position she holds in relation to human freedom (may America yet emulate her example!). The appeal is in greater part as it should be to the writer's own country, but when fugitives by thousands are are crowding British shores she would enlist for them the sympathy of British hearts.
"We, in America, have been told that the throne of Earth's mightiest nation is now filled by one less adorned by all this world can give of power and splendour, than by a good & noble heart--a heart ever ready to feel for the suffering[,] the oppressed and the lowly. The author is encouraged by the thought that beneath the royal insignia of England throbs that woman's & mother's heart. May she ask that He who is nearest to her would present to her notice this simple story. Should it win from her compassionate nature, pitying thoughts for those multitudes of poor outcasts who have fled for shelter to the shadow of her throne,--it were enough.
"May the blessing of God rest on the noble country from which America draws her lineage & on Her the Queen of it. Tho all other thrones be shaken may hers founded deep in the hearts of her subjects, be established to Her & to Her children, thro all generations. With deep respect, Harriet Beecher Stowe." Letters of Harriet Beecher Stowe regarding Uncle Tom's Cabin are very rare.
Provenance: John Gribbel (sale, Parke-Bernet, 1 November 1940, lot 726); Marjorie Wiggin Prescott (sale, Christie's New York, 6 February 1981, lot 309).
A VERY FINE LETTER, WRITTEN ON PRESENTATION DAY, PRESENTING A COPY OF "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN" TO PRINCE ALBERT AND QUEEN VICTORIA
"The author of this work feels that she has an apology for presenting it to Prince Albert because it concerns the great interests of humanity, and from those noble & enlarged views of human progress, which she has at different times seen in his public speeches she has inferred that he has an eye & a heart for all that concerns the development & welfare of the human family. Ignorant of the forms of diplomatic address & the etiquette of rank, may she be pardoned for speaking with the republican simplicity of her own country as to one who possesses a nobility higher than that of rank or station.
"This simple narrative is an honest attempt to enlist the sympathies both of England & America in the sufferings of an oppressed race, to whom in less enlightened days both England & America were unjust. The wrong on England's part has been atoned in a manner worthy of herself, nor in all her strength & glory, is there any thing that adds such lustre to her name as the position she holds in relation to human freedom (may America yet emulate her example!). The appeal is in greater part as it should be to the writer's own country, but when fugitives by thousands are are crowding British shores she would enlist for them the sympathy of British hearts.
"We, in America, have been told that the throne of Earth's mightiest nation is now filled by one less adorned by all this world can give of power and splendour, than by a good & noble heart--a heart ever ready to feel for the suffering[,] the oppressed and the lowly. The author is encouraged by the thought that beneath the royal insignia of England throbs that woman's & mother's heart. May she ask that He who is nearest to her would present to her notice this simple story. Should it win from her compassionate nature, pitying thoughts for those multitudes of poor outcasts who have fled for shelter to the shadow of her throne,--it were enough.
"May the blessing of God rest on the noble country from which America draws her lineage & on Her the Queen of it. Tho all other thrones be shaken may hers founded deep in the hearts of her subjects, be established to Her & to Her children, thro all generations. With deep respect, Harriet Beecher Stowe." Letters of Harriet Beecher Stowe regarding Uncle Tom's Cabin are very rare.
Provenance: John Gribbel (sale, Parke-Bernet, 1 November 1940, lot 726); Marjorie Wiggin Prescott (sale, Christie's New York, 6 February 1981, lot 309).
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