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

by Catlin, George:

Price: $45,000.00
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Book desription: London: Henry Bohn, 1866.. Two volumes. 264; 266pp. 313 handcolored etchings on 180 plates, including three maps (one folding). Contemporary three-quarter red morocco and marbled boards; spines tooled with gilt devices of Indian heads, tomahawks, and peace pipes; gilt morocco labels; a.e.g. Very good. In a cloth slipcase. Deluxe issue of the tenth edition, one of "twelve or more" 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 copy is the colored 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 CATLIN'S NORTH AMERICAN 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 (1848 ed). McCRACKEN, CATLIN 8K. CLARK III:141. SABIN 11537. STREETER SALE 4277. PILLING, PROOF-SHEETS 685. WAGNER-CAMP 84.

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