DocSouth Books are now available!

UNC Press and the University of North Carolina Library are pleased to announce that the first twelve DocSouth Books are now available in both print-on-demand paperback and e-book formats. This collaborative effort brings back into print several classic works from the digital library of Documenting the American South and makes them available to new generations for a variety of uses.

Comprising slave narratives, a collection of slave songs, and a call-to-arms pamphlet by a free black man, the DocSouth Books program makes accessible in book form several compelling and enlightening texts from the nineteenth century. For example, Uncle Tom’s Story of His Life: An Autobiography of the Reverend Josiah Henson is traditionally thought to have inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe’s classic anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Also included is Solomon Northrup’s Twelve Years a Slave, which was recently slated for Hollywood adaptation by Brad Pitt.

The DocSouth Books are newly typeset for readability but otherwise unaltered from the original publications, with the original page numbers preserved. Print-on-demand copies range from $15 to $40. Downloadable e-book versions, priced between $8 and $17, are available for the Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, and the Barnes & Noble Nook.

Launched in 1996, the Documenting the American South online collection includes more than 1,400 digitized books, as well as maps, images, oral histories, manuscripts, and primary source material. The first twelve DocSouth Books represent the most frequently studied and requested texts in the Documenting the American South collection. The collaboration between Documenting the American South and UNC Press uses the latest technologies in digital publishing to bring affordable and unaltered versions of these rare texts to an audience of students, scholars, and general readers of all ages.

“Users now have two new ways to engage with these books,” said Jenn Riley, head of the Carolina Digital Library and Archives. “This collaboration with UNC Press makes perfect sense as a way to expand the scope of Documenting the American South.”

“UNC Press and the UNC Libraries have a long history of collaboration, and this is another great example of what has been a fruitful partnership,” said Mark Simpson-Vos, Editorial Director of UNC Press. “The publishing processes we have put in place for DocSouth Books promise to yield dividends for years to come.”