Beecher Stowe Harriet. Uncle Tom's Hut.

The history of this publication is very interesting. The novel, which depicts the horrors of slavery in America, had already gained popularity almost all over the world by that time, but was not yet known in Russia. Nekrasov understood what significance had such a book in the period of the struggle against serfdom, when society was busy discussing the upcoming peasant reform. He wrote to Turgenev at the same time: “... this question is now in a strong move, regarding our home niggers” (25 December 1857). Nekrasov was not sure whether the censor would miss the novel and decided to take extreme measures: apparently, he tried to bribe the censor in a rather elegant way.

From the fees of "Sovremennik" it was clear that one from five translators of the novel received an incredibly high fee, many times higher than the earnings of other translators. For example, a well-known writer, F. G. Toll, for two sheets translated by him, received about twenty rubles (that is, about ten rubles per sheet), but the translator Novosiltsev received five hundred rubles for five translated sheets! {WITH. A. Racer, the Fees of the Contemporary. "Literary heritage", t. 53-54. M., 1949, pp. 245 and 279.}

The fact is that it was about P. M. Novosiltsev who was at this time (very briefly) the censor of "Sovremennik". Most likely, the high fee was a guarantee that the censor would miss the novel without interference. The translation of the novel was carried out in the most urgent manner, Nekrasov attracted five translators for this! He was obviously in a hurry — not only to give subscribers a subscription to "Uncle Tom’s Hut" as an attachment to the beginning of the new, in 1858, but also so that Novosil'tsev could sign the book for printing. It was not cheap. In his address to the participants of the binding agreement (in fact, to the co-owners of the journal), Nekrasov, reporting on the extraordinary expenses incurred by the editors in early 1858, indicated: A copy after a serious restoration.

The second edition of the famous novel in Russian. It was printed almost simultaneously with the first edition. Rarity. In this translation into Russian, the novel was printed only once and had not been reprinted.