To the Honorable the Judges of the Circuit Court of the
United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Calvin E. Stowe, of Andover Massachusetts, a citizen of the
State of Massachusetts, and Harriet Beecher Stowe his Wife,
bring this their Bill against F. W. Thomas, of Philadelphia
in the District aforesaid, Printer.
And thereupon your Orators complain and say;
That your Oratrix, the said Harriet Beecher Stowe, was
at the time of the writing, printing and publishing of the
Book hereinafter mentioned, and of the taking out of
the Copyright for the same as hereinafter set forth,
resident within these United States, and hath been
ever since; and still is so resident as aforesaid.
That some time in the years 1850, [1851] and 1852
your Oratrix wrote and [in the years 1851 & 1852] printed and published a certain
Book, of which she was the author, entitled "
Uncle
Tom's Cabin; or Life among the Lowly, by Harriet Beecher
Stowe"; of which said Book, your Oratrix was, and
has been ever since, and still is the sole proprietor
and owner, and solely entitled to a Copyright of the
same, within the true intent and meaning of the
Acts of Congress, in such case made and provided.
And your Orators further shew unto your Honors
that your Oratrix did, in conformity with the provisions
and requisitions of the several Acts of Congress, before
the publication of the said Book as aforesaid, deposit
a printed copy of the Title thereof, in the Clerk's Office
of the District Court of the District of Maine, being
the District in which your Oratrix then resided, in
the words following, to wit, "
Uncle Tom's Cabin; or Life among
the Lowly, by Harriet Beecher Stowe": And that your
Oratrix, within three months from the publication of [said