Uncle Tom’s Cabin Book Cover First Edition.

Harried Beecher Stowe was an American author and abolitionist 
who came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular
novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which depicts the harsh conditions experienced by enslaved African Americans.

The book reached an audience of millions as a novel and play,
and became influential in the United States and in Great Britain,
energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North, while
provoking widespread anger in the South. Stowe wrote 30
books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections
of articles and letters. She was influential both for her writings
as well as for her public stances and debates on social issues
of the day.

Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe
(June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896)

Bust of Harriet Beecher Stowe at the hall
of fame for great Americans.

Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem “The Raven,” beginning “Once
upon a midnight dreary,”was published on this day in the New
York Evening Mirror.

Poe’s dark and macabre work reflected his own tumultuous and
difficult life. Born in Boston in 1809, Poe was orphaned at age
three and went to live with the family of a Richmond, Virginia, businessman. Poe studied at the University of Virginia but was
expelled for gambling. He later enrolled briefly at a military
academy. 

     
      
       
Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) 

On December 19, 1843, English novelist Charles Dickens’ classic
story “A Christmas Carol”was published.

The first edition sold out by Christmas Eve; by the end of 1844
thirteen editions had been released. Most critics reviewed the
novella favorably.

Charles John Huffam Dickens
(7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870)

"Marley’s Ghost", original illustration by John Leech
from the 1843 edition.

John Leech (August 29, 1817 – October 29, 1864)
illustrator of the first edition.

First issue

On December 17, 1892, Arthur Baldwin Turnure first published
a new magazine, dedicated to “the ceremonial side of life” and
targeted at “the sage as well as the debutante, men of affairs
as well as the belle.” A product of the Gilded Age, Vogue has
chronicled and influenced high society, fashion and culture
ever since.

The largest issue published by Vogue magazine was the
September 2012 edition featuring Lady Gaga in the cover,
which contained 900 pages.

Arthur Baldwin Turnure (1856–1906)

September 2012 issue.

Moby-Dick is now considered a great classic of American
literature and contains one of the most famous opening
lines in fiction: “Call me Ishmael.” Initially, though, the
book about Captain Ahab and his quest to catch a giant
white whale was a flop.

Its author, Herman Melville was born in New York City in
1819. As a young man, he spent time in the merchant
marines, the U.S. Navy and on a whaling ship in the
South Seas.

Herman Melville
(August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891)