Deposition of Harriet Beecher Stowe
3/11/1853
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Shortly after Harriet Beecher Stowe published "Uncle Tom's Cabin" or "Life Among the Lowly," F.W. Thomas, the editor of a German newspaper in Philadelphia, began translating the work and publishing it in installments - without paying the requisite royalties. Stowe and her husband sued in the Federal court in Philadelphia, and Mrs. Stowe submitted a deposition describing her authorship.
Transcript
Calvin E. Stowe andHarriet Beecher Stowe C. C. US.
v. E. D. of Penna.
F. W. Thomas In Equity
Harriet Beecher Stowe being duly sworn deposes and says That some time in the years 1850 and 1851 [insert mark] & 1852 [end of insert] she wrote and [insert mark] in the years 1851 & 1852 [end of insert] published a certain Book entitled ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin or Life among the Lowly by Harriet Beecher Stowe’ of which she was the Author. That at the time of writing printing and publishing said Book she was and has been ever since and still is resident in these United States. That she was then and has been ever since and still is the sole proprietor and owner of said Book and solely entitled to the Copyright of the same according to the Acts of Congress in such case made and provided.
That she deposited a printed copy of the Title of said Book in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Maine in which she at the time resided; and within three months after the publication of said Book [insert mark] caused to be [end of insert] a copy of the same to the Clerk of said District and also within the same time one copy to the Librarian of the Smithsonian Institution and one copy to the Librarian of Congress Library for use of said Libraries
That she has published several editions of said Book and has given information of Copyright being secured by causing to be inserted in the several copies of each edition on the title page or the page immediately following the following words viz. “Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1851 by Harried Beecher Stowe in the Clerk’s
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Office of the District Court of the District of Maine” and that she has complied with all the provisions and acquisitions of the Acts of Congress aforesaid.
That she has never assigned transferred or disposed of her right title and interest in said Book or any part or portion thereof or the copyright thereof to the said defendant F.W. Thomas or to any other person; nor ever consented that the same should be translated [insert mark] in to German [end of insert] and copied printed reprinted or published by or for the said F.W. Thomas or any other person except for herself and under her direction authority and control
That she has ever had and still hath the sole and exclusive right to translate print publish and sell the same for her own private benefit and advantage [insert mark] except that she has authorized a translation to be made & published in the Welsh language, [end of insert] and she hath actually sold and caused to be sold the said Book at a reasonable price and hath always had on hand and offered for sale at a reasonable price a sufficient number of copies of the same and hath been and is in the enjoyment of the profits thereof
That the said F.W. Thomas has since the printing and publication of said Book and since the securing of the Copyright thereof by this Deponent as aforesaid to wit on the first day of January 1853 at the Eastern District of Pennsylvania aforesaid translated and copied into the German language and printed published sold and exposed to sale and caused to be so translated and copied as aforesaid and printed published sold and exposed to sale in a certain daily Newspaper called “Die Freie Presse” pages thirteen to twenty and part of page twenty-one of this Deponent’s said Book; and on the third day of January 1853 in the said Newspaper the remaining part of
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page twenty-one and pages twenty-two to thirty inclusive and part of page thirty-one of the said Book; and on the following days of the year 1853 up to the present time in the said Newspaper the remaining part of page thirty-one and the following and successive pages down to some page or part of a page which this Dpeonent cannot specify of the said Book.
That the said F.W. Thomas still is from day to day translating and copying into the German language and printing publishing selling and exposing to sale and causing to be translated and copied as aforesaid and printed published sold and exposed to sale in the said daily Newspaper other following and successive pages of the said Book; and that it is his intention and purpose to translate and copy as aforesaid and print and publish and cause to be translated and copied as aforesaid and printed and published the following and successive pages of said Book until the whole thereof shall be fully and completely so translated and copied as aforesaid and printed and published and to sell and expose to sale the same when as and after it shall be so translated and copied and – printed and published.
That the said F.W. Thomas has since the printing and publication of the said Book and since the securing of the Copyright thereof by Deponent as aforesaid to wit on the first day of January 1853 at the District last aforesaid translated and copied into the German language and printed published sold and exposed to sale and caused to be translated and copied as aforesaid and printed published sold and exposed
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to sale in pamphlet form pages thirteen to one hundred and fifty-eight and part of page one hundred and fifty-nine of said Book.
That it is the intention and purpose of the said F.W. Thomas shortly and from time to time at short intervals to translate and copy into the German language and print and publish and cause to be translated and copied as aforesaid and printed and published in pamphlet form the remaining part of page one hundred and fifty-nine and the following and successive pages of the said Book until the whole thereof shall be fully and completely so translated and copied as aforesaid and printed and published and to sell and expose to sale the same when as and after the same shall be so translated and copied as aforesaid and printed and published
That the said F.W. Thomas at the time of the said translating and copying printing publishing selling and exposing to sale of each and every the said pages of this Deponent’s said Book as aforesaid knew that Deponent was the Author and proprietor of said Book and that she had the Copyright thereof as aforesaid
That the said F.W. Thomas has been requested by on behalf of the Deponent and by her Agents to desist from the [wavy line] translating and copying and printing publishing selling and exposing to sale and causing to be translated and copied and printed published sold and exposed to sale as aforesaid in the said Newspaper and in the said pamphlet from this Deponent’s said Book as aforesaid and to account with Deponent for the profits which have been received by him from the sale thereof but he has refused and still refuses so to do.
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That in consequence of the said F.W. Thomas having so translated and copied and printed – published sold and exposed to sale and caused to be so translated and copied and printed published sold and exposed to sale as aforesaid this Deponent’s said Book this Deponent has been and still is injured and damnified in respect of the profits – which she reasonably expected to receive from the sale thereof and has been and still is deprived of the receipt of profits which she reasonably expected to receive therefromThat some time in the year 1852 she – employed at much expense [insert mark] H. Rudolph Hutton [end of insert] a competent German scholar of ability and skill and critical knowledge of the German and English languages to translate and copy into the German language this Deponent’s said Book. That said German scholar was assisted in his labors by the above Complainant Calvin E. Stowe whose wife this Deponent is. That by these individuals at the expense and charges of this Deponent her said Book has been fully and completely accurately and carefully translated and copied into the German – language; and the same [insert mark] has been [end of insert] is now being printed and published in German by this Deponent and all the provisions and requisitions of the several Acts of Congress respecting Copyrights have been complied with in respect to this edition of said Book.
That having as aforesaid the sole and exclusive right to translate and copy and print publish sell and expose to sale the said Book for her own private benefit and advantage this Deponent was in hopes and reasonably expected to receive large profits from the sale of the said lastmentioned edition of said Book; but that in consequence of the said F.W. Thomas having so translated and copied into the German
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language and printed published sold and exposed to sale and caused to be translated and copied as aforesaid and printed published sold and exposed to sale this Deponent’s said Book in the said daily Newspaper and in pamphlet form as aforesaid this Deponent has been greatly injured in respect of her sole and exclusive right aforesaid and will be as she fears greatly injured and damnified in respect of and deprived of the receipt of large profits which she reasonably expects to receive from the sale of said lastmentioned edition of said Book
H.B. Stowe
United States of America
District of Massachusetts
Subscribed &sworn to before me this third
Day of March A. D. 1853 at the
City of Boston
Geo. S. Hillard
Commissioner of the Circuit
Court of the United States
[page 7 jacket]
No. 9.
C. C. __ October [8?] __1852.
Calvin E. Stowe and
Harriet Beecher Stowe
C. C. US.
v. E. D. of Pa
F. W. Thomas In Equity
Affidavit of H. B. Stowe
This primary source comes from the Records of District Courts of the United States.
National Archives Identifier: 278936
Full Citation: Deposition of Harriet Beecher Stowe; 3/11/1853; Records of District Courts of the United States, Record Group 21. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/deposition-of-harriet-beecher-stowe, April 29, 2024]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.