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Lot 117
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James Russell Lowell writes a letter re: publisher of Uncle Tom's Cabin
James Russell Lowell writes a letter re: publisher of Uncle Tom's Cabin
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Lowell James 1819 - 1891 Relevant literary and bookseller content ALS by James Russell Lowell about the publisher ofUncle Toms Cabin"‰Û_Mr Jew-wit. I think he ought to be ŠüÛ that something ought to be done to him, but, for that matter, nearly all booksellers stand in the same condemnation."



Bi-fold heavily scripted four page ALS on small size letter/note stock, 4" x 5". Dated "Elmwood 5th Dec. 1853" and signed by James Russell Lowell as "J.R. Lowell". Tape ghosting along left seam to the first page (tape no longer present). Expected folds, else near fine.

Rarely does a single letter and a comparatively short one reflect such interesting aspects of contemporary literature as one written by James Russell Lowell to Francis Henry Underwood on 5 December 1853. Here indeed are infinite riches in a little room, for within the space of four duodecimo pages are conveyed details regarding the abortive beginnings of what was to become a major national periodical•_Ý comments upon a sensational and profoundly influential bestseller; and acrid remarks about nineå_teenth-century American bookseller-publishers.

Francis Henry Underwood,1 the recipient of Lowell's witty letter, was in 1853 a 28-year-old lawyer eager for a literary career. He had projected plans for a new periodical that would be an- tislavery in tone, literary in content, and, by that year had enå_gaged the interest of John P. Jewett, Boston publisher, in the venture. Moreover he had tapped the New England literati‰ÛÓ Lowell among themŠüÛfor contributions. His deadline was set at 5 December, and the magazine was to be launched in January 1854.

John P. Jewett2 was not only a publisher but an abolitionist, and had, in March 1852, published a book that became almost immediately a runaway bestseller and a moral instrument. God may or may not have held the hand of Harriet Beecher Stowe when she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, but John P. Jewett certainly played a discernible role in the passage of that book from polemå_ical literature to folklore. He was a likely candidate for Francis Henry Underwood's venture.

As the latter wrote in November 1853 to Thomas Wentworth Higginson: "Messrs. J.P. Jewett & Co. ‰Û_ propose to establish a Literary and Anti-Slavery magazine. ... The publishers have energy and capital, and will spare no pains to make the enterprise completely successful. They will endeavor to obtain contributions from the best writers, and will pay liberally‰Û_. Politics and the ‰Û÷Humanities' though, ‰Û_ prominent ‰Û_ will occupy but a small portion of its pages. Current literary topics, new books, the Fine Arts ‰Û_ will receive the most careful attention.."3 Among the "contributions from the best writers" Underwood had received "a most exquisite gem" from James Russell Lowell,a poem enå_titled "The Oriole's Nest."

Then, on deadline day, it appeared that the project had been abandoned. Largely for economic reasons, John P. Jewett had changed his mind and, without a publisher, the periodical, howå_ever "exquisite" its promised gems, could not materialize. Inå_formed of the disappointing news, Lowell wrote the following letter to the would-be editor, Francis Henry Underwood•__

"Elmwood: 5th Dec. 1853""

"My dear Sir,

I cannot help writing a word to say how truly sorry I was to hear of the blowing-up of your magazine. But it is not so irreå_parable as if it had been a powder-magazine, though perhaps all the harder to be borne because it was only in posse & not in esse. The explosion of one [of] these Castles in Spain sometimes sprinå_kles dust on all the rest of our lives, but I hope you are of better heart & will rather look upon the affair as a burning of your ships which only makes victory the more imperative. Although I could prove by a syllogism in barbara5 that you are no worse off than you were before, I know very well that you are, for if it be bad to lose mere coin, it is still worse to lose hope which is the mint in which most gold is manufactured.

But, after all, is it a hopeless case? Consider yourself to be in the position of all the world before the Mansion of our Uncle Thomas (as I suppose we must call it now ‰ÛÓ it has grown so

respectable) was published, & never to have heard of this Mr Jew-wit. I think he ought to be ŠüÛ that something ought to be done to him, but, for that matter, nearly all booksellers stand in the same condemnation. There are as good fish in that buccaå_neering sea of Bibliopoly as ever were caught, & if one of them have broken away from your harpoon, I hope the next may prove a downright Kraaken6 on whom, if needful, you can pitch your tent & live.

Don't think that I am trifling with you. God knows any jests of mine, would be of a bitter sort just now,7 but I know that it is a good thing for a man to be made to look at his misfortune till it assumes it true relations to things about it. So don't think me intrusive if I nudge your elbow among the rest.

I shall come & see you some evening this week when I find myself not too dull to be inflicted on anybody & till then

believe me with sincere interest Yours

J.R. Lowell.'

When Underwood received that letter he placed it, along with letters from other notable contributors," in a scrapbook where he would preserve the results of many years of correspondence. He did not abandon his project, and by 18o7, under the aegis of the Boston publishers Phillips, Sampson & Co., for whom he was then working, plans for the magazine were revived. It was launched in November 18d7 with James Russell Lowell as editor and Francis Henry Underwood as assistant editor. It was called The Atlantic Monthly.

Underwood s scrapbook of letters eventually became the propå_erty of George Franklin Babbitt of Boston. In time, the letters were removed and dispersed. Lowell's letter of 5 December 1853 doubtlessly passed, in the manner of literary ephemera, from hand to hand until now, when it has been acquired by Leona Rostenberg and Madeleine B. Stern. It still bears traces of its attachment to a scrapbook, and it still reanimates that exhilarating American mid-nineteenth century when Uncle Tom's Cabin had made its bow and The Atlantic Monthly was striving to be born.

Note: Excerpt was taken from Madeline B. Stern, author and publisher and partner in the New York rare book firm of Leona Rostenberg, New York. This letter last sold at auction at Christies auction house on May 11th 1980.

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