Digital Rare Book :
A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin - Presenting the original facts and documents upon which the story is founded. Together with corroborative statements verifying the truth of the work .
By Harriet Beecher Stowe
Published by Thomas Bosworth, London - 1853

There were many reviews of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in the United States and abroad, both for and against the book. More attention was given to the pros and cons of the slavery issue than to its literary merit, but almost everyone agreed that it was a powerful and moving book. Stowe was not prepared for the firestorm of criticism that erupted. Incensed by Southern accusations that she had imagined all the episodes described in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Stowe, to defend her novel, dropped all her other projects to prepare A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a collection of eyewitness accounts, reproduced newspaper ads for runaway slaves, and reams of statistics and reports. The Key, too, was widely reprinted around the world. In addition to general press reviews and letters to the editors, the outrage from the South inspired the writing of more than twenty “Anti-Uncle Tom” novels, with the intent of counteracting its influence, and all showing how wonderful slave life was and how well and happy the slaves were. Such books appeared as early as July 30, 1852.

More at : http://specialcollections.vassar.edu/exhibit-highlights/stowe/essay2.html