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....
Catlin, George:
London: J.E. Adlard for Henry Bohn, 1857. Two volumes. 264; 265,[1]pp. and 313 handcolored etchings on 180 plates, including three maps (one folding). Publisher's red half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, spines in six compartments with raised bands, the second and third with morocco lettering pieces; the first, fourth, and sixth compartments with repeat decoration of a large tool of a shoulder-length portrait of an Indian within a decorative surround, the fifth compartment with a large tool showing a crossed peace pipe and tomahawk within a decorative surround, marbled endpapers, a.e.g. Expert repairs to joints and head and foot of spines. Very good. A deluxe set of the ninth edition of Catlin's work, issued especially with the plates printed in outline and colored by hand. The London publisher, Henry Bohn, took over publication in 1845 and altered the title to that given above. What is important in this set is the handcolored plates. According to Sabin (who knew Bohn quite well and was certainly in a position to be aware of the facts), "Mr. Bohn had twelve or more copies colored after the fancy of the artist who did the work, but tolerably well. Such copies are worth $60 a set." In fact, a set brought $24 at the Field sale in 1875. By comparison, a copy of the ...INDIAN PORTFOLIO... sold for only $1.50 at that sale. Howes disagrees with Sabin and states that various editions published by Bohn appear with the plates colored; 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 colored issue, it would seem likely that Sabin is correct, and only about a dozen were produced. The plates themselves are clean, fresh, and very handsomely colored. It is impossible to identify the colorist, but it was quite possibly 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, or are portraits of individual Indians. The 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 herein remain the most important body of illustrative material for wild Indian life in the American West. FIELD 260. HOWES C241, "b." MILES & REESE, AMERICA PICTURED TO THE LIFE 55. McCRACKEN, CATLIN 8K (1866 ed). CLARK III:141. SABIN 11537. STREETER SALE 4277 (1866 ed). PILLING, PROOF-SHEETS 685. PILLING, ALGONQUIAN, p.76. WAGNER-CAMP 84:17.
(Item ID: WRCAM38127) $45,000.00