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The cover identifies this edition as "No. 102," though it doesn't
identify the series. M. A. Donohue was a Chicago
firm that began publishing books for children in the late 19th century. The
text of this particular edition is a longer version of a text credited to Mary E. Blain in another
firm's more or less contemporaneous children's edition of Stowe's novel. This
edition does not identify the artists. Most of the illustrations are unsigned,
but several bear the names of Eckman and E.
Thatcher, both of whom illustrated the "Art Memorial Editon" of Uncle Tom's
Cabin, published by another Chicago company -- John P. Monarch -- in 1897
(SEE
ILLUSTRATIONS). Little care was taken by
Donohue and Company to have the illustrations match the text, and in some
cases there are serious disparities. E. Thatcher's drawing of Tom being beaten,
for example, is used to represent George Harris's suffering at the hands of his
owner, and the unmistakably "white" woman in the tavern Eliza stops at is
represented by a drawing of Chloe. For no apparent reason, an illustration of
Phineas driving the Harrises in his wagon is used as the closing image. Missing
entirely are any images of Tom's relationship with Eva, or of Tom's life and
death and Legree's. |