Books > Native Americans (18 items)
 
Sort by: 
 Results Page: (total 2 pages)
  1  2    [>> Next page]  
 
CATLIN, George (1796-1872)

Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio. Hunting scenes and amusements of the Rocky Mountains and prairies of America. From drawings and notes of the author, made during eight years' travel amongst forty-eight of the wildest and most remote tribes of savages in North America

London: C. & J. Adlard for George Catlin, Egyptian Hall, 1844. Folio (22 5/8 x 16 1/4 inches). [Pp.1-2] letterpress title (verso blank); [pp.3-4] 'To the Reader'; pp.[5-]20 text. 25 hand-coloured lithographic plates, on thick paper, after Catlin, drawn on stone by Catlin (2) or McGahey (23), printed by Day & Haghe. Original red half morocco, red morocco label on upper cover, titled in gilt, spine in six compartments with wide raised bands, the bands highlighted by fillets of various widths, modern red morocco-backed portfolio, "spine" gilt in compartments with raised bands, lettered in the second compartment, the others with large central floral-spray tool.

First edition, 'first' issue. A key work for any serious collection of western Americana. A highly important record of a "truly lofty and noble race...A numerous nation of human beings...three-fourths of whose country has fallen into the possession of civilized man...twelve million of whose bodies have fattened the soil in the mean time; who have fallen victims to whiskey, the small-pox, and the bayonet" (Catlin)

Catlin published the first two issues of the North American Indian Portfolio simultaneously in late November 1844. The first issue was hand-coloured, as here, the second had tinted plates. Catlin originally envisaged publishing a series of linked but separate portfolios, each with its own theme: religious rites, dances, costumes, etc. Unfortunately, the first series was the only one that was ever published, and its production proved to be so taxing (both financially and physically) that Catlin sold both the publication and distribution rights to Henry Bohn.

Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio contains the results of his years of painting, living with and travelling amongst the Great Plains Indians. Catlin summarized the Native American as "an honest, hospitable, faithful, brave, warlike, cruel, revengeful, relentless, -- yet honourable, contemplative and religious being". In a famous passage from the preface of his North American Indian Portfolio, Catlin describes how the sight of several tribal chiefs in Philadelphia led to his resolution to record their way of life: "the history and customs of such a people, preserved by pictorial illustrations, are themes worthy of the lifetime of one man, and nothing short of the loss of my life shall prevent me from visiting their country and becoming their historian". He saw no future for either their way of life or their very existence, and with these thoughts always at the back of his mind he worked, against time, setting himself a truly punishing schedule, to record what he saw. From 1832 to 1837 he spent the summer months sketching the tribes and then finished his pictures in oils during the winter. The record he left is unique, both in its breadth and also in the sympathetic understanding that his images constantly demonstrate. A selection of the greatest of images from this record were published in the North American Indian Portfolio in an effort to reach as wide an audience as possible. In addition to publishing the present work, Catlin also spent from 1837 to 1852 touring the United States, England, France and Holland with his collection of paintings, examples of Indian crafts and accompanied by representative members of the Indian tribes. A financial reverse in 1852 meant that he lost the collection, but he spent his later years making several trips to South and Central America, sketching the natives there.

Abbey Travel 653; Field 258; Howes C-243; McCracken 10; Sabin 11532; Wagner-Camp 105a:1; William S. Reese, The Production of Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio, 1844-1876, issue 1

#15147$165,000.00
 
 
CATLIN, George (1796-1872)

Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio. Introduction by Harold McCracken

Chicago: Swallow Press Inc, 1970. Large folio (22 3/8 x 17 inches). 25 tinted lithographic plates, coloured by hand and heightened with gum arabic, all after Catlin.Text stapled, plates unbound as issued, all within original black cloth portfolio, titled in gilt on upper cover.

Limited edition facsimile of Catlin's famous work

Edition limited to 1000 copies, this number 823. Based on Catlin's work of 1844, the present edition includes a facsimile of the original title page, together with Catlin's preface to the reader and the descriptive text to accompany the plates.

An excellent facsimile of this invaluable pictorial record of a "truly lofty and noble race...A numerous nation of human beings...three-fourths of whose country has fallen into the possession of civilized man....twelve million of whose bodies have fattened the soil in the mean time; who have fallen victims to whiskey, the small-pox, and the bayonet" (Catlin Illustrations of the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians pp.3-4). Catlin went on to summarize the native American as "an honest, hospitable, faithful, brave, warlike, cruel, revengeful, relentless, -- yet honourable, contemplative and religious being". He saw no future for either their way of life or their very existence, and with these thoughts always at the back of his mind he worked, against time, and set himself a truly punishing schedule, to record what he saw. The record he left is unique, both in its breadth and also in the sympathetic understanding that his images constantly demonstrate

#2522$12,000.00
 
 
CATLIN, George (1796-1872)

Illustrations of the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians With letters and notes written during eight years of travel and adventure among the wildest and most remarkable tribes now existing

Philadelphia: Leary, Steuart and Company, 1913. Volume 1 only, 8vo (10 x 6 1/4 inches). Half-title, title in red and black. 1 folding chromolithographic map, 75 chromolithographic plates. Original red cloth blocked in gilt and black (extremities scuffed). Provenance: Clifford M. Carpenter (bookplate).

One of the most important accounts of native-American life, and an invaluable and generally sympathetic record of a "truly lofty and noble race…A numerous nation of human beings...three-fourths of whose country has fallen into the possession of civilized man...twelve million of whose bodies have fattened the soil in the mean time; who have fallen victims to whiskey, the small-pox, and the bayonet" (Catlin).

Catlin summarized the native American as "an honest, hospitable, faithful, brave, warlike, cruel, revengeful, relentless, -- yet honourable, contemplative and religious being". He saw no future for either their way of life or their very existence, and with these thoughts always at the back of his mind he worked, against time, and set himself a truly punishing schedule, to record what he saw. The record he left is unique, both in its breadth and also in the sympathetic understanding that his images constantly demonstrate.

#20385$1,250.00
 
 
CATLIN, George (1796-1872)

Illustrations of the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians With letters and notes written during eight years of travel and adventure among the wildest and most remarkable tribes now existing

London: J.Ogden & Co. for Chatto & Windus, 1876. 2 volumes, 8vo (10 x 6 1/4 inches). 313 colour-printed plates (on 180 sheets), including 3 maps (1 folding). Publisher's original red cloth, blocked in gilt and black on the upper covers and spines (neatly recased, small neat repairs to head and foot of spines).

One of the most important accounts of native-American life, and an invaluable and generally sympathetic record of a "truly lofty and noble race…A numerous nation of human beings...three-fourths of whose country has fallen into the possession of civilized man...twelve million of whose bodies have fattened the soil in the mean time; who have fallen victims to whiskey, the small-pox, and the bayonet" (Catlin pp.3-4).

Catlin summarized the native American as "an honest, hospitable, faithful, brave, warlike, cruel, revengeful, relentless, - yet honourable, contemplative and religious being". He saw no future for either their way of life or their very existence, and with these thoughts always at the back of his mind he worked, against time, and set himself a truly punishing schedule, to record what he saw. The record he left is unique, both in its breadth and also in the sympathetic understanding that his images constantly demonstrate.

Howes C241.

#20230$6,000.00
 
 
CATLIN, George (1796-1872)

Illustrations of the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians with letters and notes written during eight years of travel and adventure among the wildest and most remarkable tribes now existing...

London: J.E. Adlard for Henry G.Bohn, 1866. 2 volumes, octavo (9 3/8 x 6 inches). 313 hand-coloured etchings on 180 plates, including 3 maps (1 folding). (Text leaf D3 in vol.II with repaired tear, plate 140 in vol.II with old vertical crease). Expertly rebound in half maroon morocco to style, original marble paper boards, spine in six compartments with raised bands, black and brown morocco lettering pieces.

Deluxe issue of the 'tenth' edition, one of twelve copies with the plates printed in outline and entirely coloured by hand.

This book was and is one of the most widely circulated works on American Indians written in the 19th century, and the illustrations so beautifully presented here remain the most important body of illustrative material of American Indian life in the American West. This is a later edition of Catlins' Letters and Notes ..., styled the "10th edition" on the titlepage: the London publisher, Henry Bohn, took over publication in 1845 and altered the title to that given above.

What is important in this copy is the coloured plates. According to Sabin "Mr. Bohn had twelve or more copies colored after the fancy of the artist who did the work, but tolerably well." - Sabin knew Bohn personally and was therefore certainly in a position to know. He goes on to state that 'Such copies are worth $60 a set' (this was probably a bit optimistic, and, in fact, a set brought $24 at the Field sale in 1875. But, in comparison, a copy of the Indian Portfolio... sold for only $1.50). Howes disagrees with Sabin and states that various editions published by Bohn appear with the plates coloured, however, given the quality of the work involved and the lack of any contemporary evidence amongst Bohn's advertising material of a more generally available coloured issue, it would seem likely that Sabin is correct.

The plates themselves are clean, fresh, and very handsomely coloured. It is impossible to identify the colourist, but it was quite possibly was one of the Catlin copyists working in England at that time, John Cullum or Rosa Bonheur. The plates illustrate scenes of Indian life in the West, and include a number of portraits of individual Indians.

Clark III:141; Field 260; Howes C241; McCracken 8K; cf. G.A.Miles & W.S.Reese America Pictured to the Life 55 (1848 edition); Pilling 685; Sabin 11537; Streeter Sale 4277; Wagner-Camp 84.

#18394$40,000.00
 
 
CATLIN, George (1796-1872)

Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians .... Written during eight years' travel ... amongst the wildest tribes of Indians in North America ... With ... illustrations, carefully engraved from his original paintings

London: published for the Author ... printed by Tosswill and Myers, 1841. 2 volumes, octavo (9 7/16 x 6 3/16 inches). 3 maps (one folding), line-engraved frontispiece, and 309 line-engraved images on 176 plates, all after Catlin, extra-illustrated with a tipped-in page and a half of unattributed manuscript, apparently notes for a review of Catlin's book that appeared in the Edinburgh Review (Art. VI on page 415). Contemporary half calf over marbled paper-covered boards, expertly rebacked with the original spines laid down, the spines in six compartments with raised bands, lettering-piece in the second and fourth compartments, the others with repeat decoration in gilt. marbled endpapers, marbled edges. Provenance: R.W. (monogrammed shaped bookplate); Robert R. Dearden (Oaklane, Philadelphia, bookplate).

First edition, first issue (with uncorrected error "Frederick" for "Zedekiah" on page 104, line 26 of Volume I): one of the most important works on Native Americans published in the 19th century.

"No individual has contributed so much, of such great importance; no individual has had a greater influence upon the Western Americana art, literature and history of our country than George Catlin" (McCracken George Catlin and the Old Frontier). Besides the valuable narrative, the book contains hundreds of line drawings depicting all aspects of the life of southern and western Native Americans, as well as two significant maps showing the locations of the various tribes. Catlin first went west in 1830, travelling extensively for the next six years amongst the larger tribes of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, accumulating the paintings and drawings that went to form his "Indian Gallery." Letters and Notes... was first published to coincide with the opening of his exhibition in London.

The intriguing manuscript fragment is a version of part of a lengthy positive review of the second edition of the present work which was published in the prestigious Edinbugh Review ([1841]-1842, vol.LXXIV, pp.415-430). The review ends with a resounding endorsment of Catlin's work: "As an artist, Mr Catlin rightly judged that he could 'learn more in three years spent among the Indians, than by studying in New York for a lifetime.' Accordingly, his four hundred and odd paintings, rough and hasty sketches as they often are, are imbued with much of the free character of the originals; and bear witness that they are genuine portraitures from nature herself ... we strongly recommend [Catlin's work] ... to the perusal of all who wish to make themselves acquainted with a singular race of men, and system of manners, fast disappearing from the face of the earth; and which have nowhere else been so fully, and curiously, and graphically described." (Edinburgh Review [1841]-1842. Vol.LXXIV p.430).

Clark III: 141; Howes C241; Sabin 11536; Streeter 1805; Wagner-Camp-Becker 84:1; Wheat Transmississippi 453, 454, 455.

#22363$5,000.00
 
 
CATLIN, George (1796-1872)

O-Kee-Pa: a religious ceremony; and other customs of the Mandans

London: [J.E. Taylor and Co., printers] Trübner and Co., 1867. Octavo (10 x 6 3/4 inches). Half-title. 13 coloured lithographic plates by Simonau & Toovey, all after Catlin. Original blue cloth, blocked in gilt and blind, expertly rebacked preserving the majority of the original spine, modern morocco-backed cloth box. Provenance: James Jerome Hill (1838-1916, bookplate).

One of the rarest works by the noted painter of American Indians: this is Catlin's last major publication. From the library of one of the great Railway magnates, the "Empire Builder" James J. Hill.

Catlin's account of O-Kee-Pa, or Buffalo Dance, a controversial Mandan religious ceremony, is of particular importance as he witnessed the sexually-charged and barbaric dance first hand shortly before the upper Missouri tribe was decimated by a small pox epidemic in 1837. Catlin here gives a full account of the ceremony, illustrating the rituals and self-tortures of the Buffalo dance in thirteen beautifully executed colour lithographs. An unauthorized account of the ceremony was privately circulated by the Philobiblon Society in 1865, prompting several, including Henry Schoolcraft, to question Catlin's descriptions. Thus, Catlin published the present work, and included within a letter by Prince Maximilian Wied zu Wied, who visited the Mandan with Karl Bodmer, though did not witness the ceremony first hand.

The explicit details of the sexual elements of the ceremony were considered too shocking for the general public and were included in a separately issued three-page "Folium Reservatum," purportedly issued in an edition of approximately 25 copies. A presumed old facsimile of these leaves is bound together with the text.

Bennett p.22; Field 262; Howes C244,"b"; McCracken Catlin pp.101-108; Pilling 693

#19301$14,000.00
 
 
CHAPMAN, Kenneth M. (1875-1968)

Pueblo Indian Pottery... with introduction and notes by Kenneth M. Chapman Curator of Indian Arts Fund and the Laboratory of Anthropology Santa Fé (New Mexico)

Nice, France: C. Szwedzicki, 1933-1936. 2 volumes, folio (14 x 11 inches). Titles and first pages of introductions printed in red and black, half-titles, parallel text in English and French. 100 photo-lithographic plates, coloured by hand. Text stitched and plates unbound as issued, contained within two modern cloth boxes with morocco lettering-pieces.

Limited editions of 750 copies signed by the publisher, volume I numbered 6, volume II numbered 56. A very rare complete set of Chapman's survey of Pueblo Indian pottery, an art which was an integral part of a 'native culture, unique among the patterns of the American Indian, [which] had its inception, and had reached its maturity, in the heart of the great southwestern area of the United States' (Introduction to vol.I)

The one hundred beautiful plates depict specimens of Pueblo pottery selected from the collection of over nineteen hundred pots in the Indian Arts Fund in Santa Fé, New Mexico. Volume I gives a general introduction to the ceramic art of the Pueblo Indians of the southwestern United States, then concentrates on an overview of the pottery produced in the pueblos of Taos and Picuris, San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Cochiti, Santa Domingo and Santa Ana. This is followed by descriptions of the specific examples of the pottery shown in the plates. In volume II 'the sequence in geographical distribution of Pueblo villages is followed west, in consideration of the products of four remaining pottery making pueblos [Tsia, Ăcoma, Zuñi and Hopi] whose wares show still further variations in form and color, and in general a greater technical perfection of decoration' (Introduction).

#2076$3,000.00
 
 
CHAPMAN, Kenneth M. (1875-1968)

Pueblo Indian Pottery... with introduction and notes by Kenneth M. Chapman Curator of Indian Arts Fund and the Laboratory of Anthropology Santa Fé (New Mexico)

Nice, France: C. Szwedzicki, 1933. Volume I only (of 2), folio. Titles and first pages of introductions printed in red and black, half-titles, parallel text in English and French. 50 photo-lithographic plates, coloured by hand, each with original tissue guards intact. Text stitched and plates unbound as issued, contained within original publisher's cloth portfolio, upper cover with mounted plate, ties (slight wear to extremities).

Limited edition of 750 copies signed by the publisher. A rare part set of Chapman's survey of Pueblo Indian pottery, an art which was an integral part of a 'native culture, unique among the patterns of the American Indian, [which] had its inception, and had reached its maturity, in the heart of the great southwestern area of the United States' (Introduction) This work is much scarcer than the same publisher's portfolio of Sioux Indian paintings which was issued several years later.

The fifty beautiful plates depict specimens of Pueblo pottery selected from the collection of over nineteen hundred pots in the Indian Arts Fund in Santa Fé, New Mexico. The text gives a general introduction to the ceramic art of the Pueblo Indians of the southwestern United States, then concentrates on an overview of the pottery produced in the pueblos of Taos and Picuris, San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Cochiti, Santa Domingo and Santa Ana. This is followed by descriptions of the specific examples of the pottery shown in the plates. Szwedzicki also produced portfolios of Kiowa Indian art and Pueblo art, all published in the south of France in the 1930s.

#2533$3,000.00
 
 
LEWIS, James Otto (1799-1858)

[The Aboriginal Portfolio]

Philadelphia: Printed by Lehman & Duval, published by the author, 1835-36. Folio (17 3/4 x 10 3/4 inches). Original blue paper lithographed upper wrapper to part number 2 bound at the front as a title, 1p. letterpress 'Advertisement to the First Number' (verso blank); 1p. letterpress 'Advertisement to the Third Number (verso blank). 72 hand-coloured lithographic plates after Lewis, printed by Lehman & Duval. (Lacking 1p. letterpress Advertisement to the Second Number). Expertly bound to style in black half morocco over contemporary marbled paper-covered boards, the flat spine divided into six compartments by pairs of horizontal rules, lettered in gilt in the second compartment, plain wove endpapers.

One of the rarest 19th-century American colour-plate books and the first major American colour-plate book on American Indians, here including two of the very rare advertisement leaves: Scarcer than McKenney and Hall's History of the Indian Tribes, Prince Maximilian's Reise in das Innere von Nord-America or Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio, Lewis's work records the dress of the Potawatomi, Winnebago, Shawnee, Sioux, Miami, Fox, Iowa and other tribes at treaties of Prairie du Chien, Fort Wayne, Fond du Lac and Green Bay.


The Aboriginal Portfolio represents the first attempt at a collection of portraits of North American Indians, preceding the works of Catlin, and McKenney and Hall. It is one of the earliest large projects in American colour printing, and one of the first large visual works to deal with subjects beyond the east coast of the United States.

James O. Lewis was born in Philadelphia in 1799, moved west as a teenager, and had become an engraver and painter by the time he was living in St. Louis in 1820. In 1823 he moved to Detroit, and painted the first of his Indian portraits at the request of Gov. Lewis Cass of Michigan. He accompanied Cass on four Indian treaty expeditions in the Great Lakes region in 1825-27 and painted Indians during the course of each. Virtually all of the originals of the images published here were executed by Lewis in this period. Subsequently, many of the Lewis portraits were copied by Charles Bird King, and some appeared in the King versions in the McKenney and Hall portfolio. All of the Lewis originals were destroyed in the Smithsonian fire of 1865.

The Aboriginal Portfolio was published in Philadelphia by lithographers George Lehman and Peter S. Duval. It was issued in ten parts, with each part containing eight plates; however, due to a loss of subscribers, very few of the last few part was issued, and sets with the full complement of a frontispiece/title-leaf and eighty plates are virtually never found: only the Siebert copy is listed as having sold at auction in the past twenty-five years. The present set is extra-illustrated with a rare blue wrapper from the second part which has been bound in at the front and serves as a title.

Bennett p.68; Eberstadt 131:418; Field 936; Howes L315; Reese Stamped with a National Character 23; Sabin 40812.

#17318$100,000.00
 
 Results Page: (total 2 pages)
  1  2    [>> Next page]  
Copyright © 2002-2010 Donald A. Heald