An Antique Find
As an online English major, I am currently entering my major courses. As of late, I recently finished an American Literature prior to 1865 course. Through this course, I am reminded constantly of why I wanted to become a writer in the first place. Reading Hawthorne, Poe and Dickinson and finding new stories that I long to either read again or get the full manuscript. As an online student, my courses are accelerated for I only take one course at a time. The courses are five weeks long, back to back, and sometimes the short amount of time does not allow for full books to be studied in their entirety. This was the case with Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Having never read this story and reading through the textbook, I was highly disappointed when I turned the last page of Chapter 1 and there stared at me the front page of Chapter 9. Highway robbery, I tell ya, robbery to a lover of literature! Regardless of my disappointment in the missing chapters, I started a quest to find a copy of this book and read it in its entirety. I felt the need to, like it was drawing me in somehow supernaturally. Not only do I feel an obligation to read a novel that influenced our entire nation to some that would even blame the War Between the States, but as a very eclectic person, I felt the need to venture away from my stories of the supernatural, death and vampirism and really dive into one of America’s great classics.
So, after rifling through my library of classics and finding Tom Sawyer, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Lovecraft, I racked my brain trying to remember if I actually owned a copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I remembered seeing the title among my books once, but could not remember if it was one of the books my mother and I shared while I was living at home as a teenager.
I eventually gave up on my search to find the book for I couldn’t even picture the cover of the edition I thought I once owned. I’m now off to visit my mother and the title comes to my mind again and so I ask if she owns a copy.
She takes me by the hand up to her private library (an extra bedroom in their home) and thumbs through a small cabinet that is filled with books with broken spines, the covers barely hanging on to the original glue, and faded jackets. I wait. She pulls out her copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, it’s red, hardbound and the cover is screaming for life as the threads hang loosely from the edges. I open it with such subtlety afraid of ripping the precious find in my hands. As soon as I open it, a small piece of the front brittle page flakes off to the floor. My mother is not worried, she knows it is old.
The pages are yellowed deeply and I flip through the brittle pages wondering where she found this book or if it was passed down. I do not curve the pages and pick up each small stack of pages and move it over to the left careful not allow any more flakes to fall through my fingers. Upon reaching the last final pages of the book, I come across some advertisements that were published with the book. I find a Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup ad, which I find entirely too amusing.
I move the old pages back to the right to search for a publication year, anything to give me an indication of the time period of this book. I know that the original title was published in 1852, but this was obviously a much later reprint.
I took pictures of the book once I finally set it down. After not finding any publication date, I decided to research it for my mother. I wanted to know the year and publication and the monetary value of the book, not that it would compare to the value of simply holding something that has lasted over 100 years. The pictures can be found here:
http://www.goodreads.com/photo/user/1...
I began researching the cover of the book as well as the advertisement in the back and to no avail do I find anything significant. I can place the book around 1876-1893, but that’s a wide span of decades to really narrow down. Though not disappointed in my research for it brings a sense of mystery to my mother’s copy, and well, I like that. A great true mystery is hard to come by, and my mother does not remember where she got it from. “Some garage sale, probably,” she says.
Though my personal books are in ebook format, I love the smell, the page flips, the spine, the care that goes into making a physical book. As a book lover reading this, I’m sure you can relate. At this point of my writing career, I am adapting to the times with my ebooks, and I fear that the actual invention and wonder a physical book gives will cease to exist one day. Our children will one day look at books the same way we look at vinyl records, I’m sure of it. I don’t know about you, but I still have and cherish my vinyls. I hope the same can be done with the classic hardcover book that has survived through 10 or more decades.
I write this because my little adventure with Uncle Tom’s Cabin will now hold something simpler for me as I continue to write more stories and share them as much as I can. I hope that whoever reads this shares my beliefs and will continue sharing and passing on any and all books in their library.
Until next time, thanks for reading and keep sharing your favorite reads!
Nicholas A. McGirr
Having never read this story and reading through the textbook, I was highly disappointed when I turned the last page of Chapter 1 and there stared at me the front page of Chapter 9. Highway robbery, I tell ya, robbery to a lover of literature! Regardless of my disappointment in the missing chapters, I started a quest to find a copy of this book and read it in its entirety. I felt the need to, like it was drawing me in somehow supernaturally. Not only do I feel an obligation to read a novel that influenced our entire nation to some that would even blame the War Between the States, but as a very eclectic person, I felt the need to venture away from my stories of the supernatural, death and vampirism and really dive into one of America’s great classics.
So, after rifling through my library of classics and finding Tom Sawyer, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Lovecraft, I racked my brain trying to remember if I actually owned a copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I remembered seeing the title among my books once, but could not remember if it was one of the books my mother and I shared while I was living at home as a teenager.
I eventually gave up on my search to find the book for I couldn’t even picture the cover of the edition I thought I once owned. I’m now off to visit my mother and the title comes to my mind again and so I ask if she owns a copy.
She takes me by the hand up to her private library (an extra bedroom in their home) and thumbs through a small cabinet that is filled with books with broken spines, the covers barely hanging on to the original glue, and faded jackets. I wait. She pulls out her copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, it’s red, hardbound and the cover is screaming for life as the threads hang loosely from the edges. I open it with such subtlety afraid of ripping the precious find in my hands. As soon as I open it, a small piece of the front brittle page flakes off to the floor. My mother is not worried, she knows it is old.
The pages are yellowed deeply and I flip through the brittle pages wondering where she found this book or if it was passed down. I do not curve the pages and pick up each small stack of pages and move it over to the left careful not allow any more flakes to fall through my fingers. Upon reaching the last final pages of the book, I come across some advertisements that were published with the book. I find a Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup ad, which I find entirely too amusing.
I move the old pages back to the right to search for a publication year, anything to give me an indication of the time period of this book. I know that the original title was published in 1852, but this was obviously a much later reprint.
I took pictures of the book once I finally set it down. After not finding any publication date, I decided to research it for my mother. I wanted to know the year and publication and the monetary value of the book, not that it would compare to the value of simply holding something that has lasted over 100 years. The pictures can be found here:
http://www.goodreads.com/photo/user/1...
I began researching the cover of the book as well as the advertisement in the back and to no avail do I find anything significant. I can place the book around 1876-1893, but that’s a wide span of decades to really narrow down. Though not disappointed in my research for it brings a sense of mystery to my mother’s copy, and well, I like that. A great true mystery is hard to come by, and my mother does not remember where she got it from. “Some garage sale, probably,” she says.
Though my personal books are in ebook format, I love the smell, the page flips, the spine, the care that goes into making a physical book. As a book lover reading this, I’m sure you can relate. At this point of my writing career, I am adapting to the times with my ebooks, and I fear that the actual invention and wonder a physical book gives will cease to exist one day. Our children will one day look at books the same way we look at vinyl records, I’m sure of it. I don’t know about you, but I still have and cherish my vinyls. I hope the same can be done with the classic hardcover book that has survived through 10 or more decades.
I write this because my little adventure with Uncle Tom’s Cabin will now hold something simpler for me as I continue to write more stories and share them as much as I can. I hope that whoever reads this shares my beliefs and will continue sharing and passing on any and all books in their library.
Until next time, thanks for reading and keep sharing your favorite reads!
Nicholas A. McGirr
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