"Nicholas Brimblecomb" is almost certainly a pseudonym. In these
letters he identifies himself as a slave-owner, writing to expose Stowe's
errors. It doesn't take a modern reader long to identify him as a
Swiftian ironist, using an exaggerated version of the kind of critique the
apologists for slavery were writing to expose the idea of "defending slavery."
Irony like this, however, is atypical of the mid-19th century debate about
slavery, and an unsigned notice of this text that Frederick Douglass printed in his
paper took "Brimblecomb" at his word, assuming the book was written to "sustain
slavery" (SEE
NOTICE). It would be interesting to learn how other contemporary readers
responded to this text's strategy.
Uncle Tom's Cabin in Ruins! Triumphant Defence
of Slavery! in a Series of Letters to Harriet Beecher Stowe by Nicholas
Brimblecomb, Esq. (Boston: Charles Waite, 1853)
The original of this text is in the Hay Library, Brown University; all rights
reserved.
CONTENTS
LETTER I -- SLAVE TRADE (1)
LETTER II -- SLAVE TRADE (2)
LETTER IV -- CONTEMPTIBLE MRS.
SHELBY
LETTER VIII -- THE FUGITIVE
SLAVE LAW
LETTER XI -- ABOMINABLE EVA
LETTER XIV -- LEGREE & CHAINS
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