Rare Welsh-language edition of influential anti-slavery novel up for auction

Nation.Cymru Staff

A rare Welsh-language edition of a groundbreaking 19th-century anti-slavery novel has gone up for auction, offering readers a chance to own a piece of both Welsh literary and abolitionist history.

Welsh Gift Shop, a small, family-run online shop, announced they would be holding an auction for the copy of Caban F’ewyrth Twm/Uncle Tom’s Cabin, inscribed in 1890.

Originally published in 1852, following the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel depicted the brutality of slavery in the United States, and became the second-best-selling book of the 19th century in the US after the Bible.

The story follows both a young enslaved woman named Eliza, who escapes from the household of Kentucky slaveholder Arthur Shelby, as well as the titular Uncle Tom, a middle-aged, deeply religious enslaved man sold by Shelby to settle debts.

Though credited with strengthening anti-slavery action in the northern states, the story was met with outrage and censorship in the south.

Abraham Lincoln supposedly told Beecher Stowe when they met during the Civil War in 1862: “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war”.

Though influential in its day, the book has since come under scrutiny for perpetuating damaging stereotypes and giving rise to others, including the ‘Uncle Tom’ pejorative, due to distortion of his character in later stage adaptations.

 

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The “rare antique Welsh-language edition of this remarkable book,” Welsh Gift Shop explained, “connected Welsh-speaking communities directly to the worldwide fight for human emancipation.”

The copy, described as a ‘cyfieithiad diwygiedig’ (revised translation), also includes twenty-four “prydferth” illustrations from engravings by celebrated artist Henry Anelay.

Published by Hughes and Son of Wrexham, and featuring a hardcover with blue boards and gilded illustration, the copy has some scuffing, as well as efflorescence on the opening pages and foxing, but is intact.

The auction, which ends on 12 October 2026 at 12pm, can be found on Welsh Gift Shop’s site here. Twenty per cent of profits from the sale will be donated to Velindre Cancer Centre.

Welsh Gift Shop is a family-run online business based in Cardiff, founded by owner and manager Becca in 2012. The shop sells Welsh gifts and crafts, aiming to celebrate and preserve Welsh traditions while making them available to customers around the world.

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