ublished.

Almost simultaneously with this furor in England the book made its way
on the Continent. Several translations appeared in Germany and France,
and for the authorized French edition Mrs. Stowe wrote a new preface,
which served thereafter for most of the European editions. I find
no record of the order of the translations of the book into foreign
languages, but those into some of the Oriental tongues did not
appear till several years after the great excitement. The ascertained
translations are into twenty-three tongues, namely: Arabic, Armenian,
Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Hungarian,
Illyrian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, modern Greek, Russian,
Servian, Siamese, Spanish, Swedish, Wallachian, and Welsh. Into some
of these languages several translations were made. In 1878 the British
Museum contained thirty-five editions of the original text, and eight
editions of abridgments or adaptations.

The story was dramatized in the United States in August, 1852, without
the consent or knowledge of the author, and was played most successfully
in the leading cities, and subsequently was acted in every capital in
Europe. Mrs. Stowe had neglected to secure the dramatic rights, and
she derived no benefit from the great popularity of a drama which still
holds the stage. From the phenomenal sale of a book which was literally
read by the whole world, the author received only the ten per cent on
the American editions, and by the laws of her own country her copyright
expired before her death.

The narrative of the rise and fortunes of this book would be incomplete
without some reference to the response that the author received from
England and the Continent, and of her triumphant progress through the
British Isles. Her letters accompanying the special copies were almost
immediately replied to, generally in terms of enthusiastic and fervent
thankfulness for the book, and before midsummer her mail contained
letters from all classes of English society. In some of them appeared
a curious evidence of the English sensitiveness to criticism. Lord
Carlisle and Sir Arthur Helps supplemented their admiration by a protest
against the remark in the mouth of one of the characters that "slaves
are better off than a large class of the population of England." This
occurred in the defense of the institution by St. Clare, but it was
treated by the British correspondents as the opinion of Mrs. Stowe.
The c