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CATLIN, George.
Letter 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. 1832, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, and 39,
Publisher: London: Published by the Author, at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, 1841 but 1892
Stock code: 62217
Price: £500 Currency Conversion
First published in 1841, reissued many times over the following 50 years, this copy with the printed note "reprinted from the original plates, 1892" verso of the front free endpaper. A young lawyer turned portraitist, Catlin set out in 1830 from his home in Pennsylvania to record on canvas the indigenous tribes of North America and their way of life. His eight years among the major tribes of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains resulted in his "Indian Gallery," an enormous collection of artefacts as well as more than four hundred paintings, including portraits and scenes of tribal life. The resultant book is "one of the most original, authentic and popular works on the subject" (Sabin). "The history and the customs of such a people," Catlin wrote, "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 becoming their historian" (Hassrick).
2 volumes, large octavo, original pictorial red cloth, with titles gilt to spine and upper cover, with pictorial decoration in gilt and black, brown patterned endpapers. Frontispiece to each and 178 other plain outline plates, including a folding map. Spines sunned and with a slight split to one, hinges a little loose, light toning, withal a very good copy.
