A very rare large format, 9 x 12.5 inch, complete first / early edition of Uncle Tom's Cabin in French. This edition, issued as part of the Pantheon Populaire series by Gustave Barba, probably coincided with the 8vo edition, often erroneously dated to 1852. Publication announcements were only released in December of that year, thus 1853 is the more likely. The Pantheon edition went through several imprints quite quickly.
This variant probably 1853, as it includes, probably without license, an illustration on the front title pilfered from Solomon Northrup's just released Twelve Years a Slave. Perhaps Northup's publisher demanded it be withdrawn from future editions. It is obvious why the publisher would want this illustration; there are none in the Uncle Tom oeuvre of illustrations quite so graphic, and thus, quite so attention grabbing.
Though the bulk of the illustrations are, as the title suggestion, taken from English editions. It appears the publisher was rather generous in appropriating extant illustrations to create this heavily illustrated edition.
Very scarce in the trade. An similar example sold in Paris in 2010 for just over 800 Euros.
Stowe, Henriette Beecher. La Case Du Père Tom, Vie Des Nègres En Amérique, Par Henriette Beecher Stowe, Traduction De La Bédolliére. Nouvelle Édition Augmentee D'une Notice De George Sand. Illustrations Anglaises. Paris. Publié Par Gustave Barba, Libraire-Éditeur. c.1853. 112pp.
A good + copy, bound in wraps, generally solid, with light foxing and lightly handled pages. Corners turned, but quite good.
