Slave Life (poster)

A poster for the first London presentation of Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin. It was adapted by Tom Taylor and first performed on November 29 1852. The Adelphi was a West End headquarters of middle- class melodrama from the 1820s to 1900. So popular was this novel on the stage that in America special companies, called Tom Shows were formed to tour with it, often playing in circus tents.