The Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of the Ojibway Nation by COPWAY, George (KAH-GE-GA-GAH-BOWH) [1818 - 1869] - 1850

London: Charles Gilpin, 1850. 1st. Hard Cover. Very Good. UNCOMMON FIRST 1850 UK EDITION First UK edition. 4-1 2 x 7 inches, xii, [1]-298pp + 24pp ads. Picture-writing symbols frame the black type printing on the front and back orange cloth covers.  1/8 piece missing from spine top and bottom of spine bumped. Title page remains uncut from the following page of dedication and gratitude. Previous owner's name on end paper and previous owner's book plate. Otherwise, a sturdy, handsome copy is in very good condition.  Illustrations of Indian picture-writing are given on pp. 128 and 134-136. Bookplate of Baxter of Gilston (Vincit veritas) on inside end paper. Probably John Henry Baxter in the Cambridge University Alumni: pens. at TRINITY, July 9, 1870. 2nd son of Edward of Kincaldrum. B.May 24, 1851, at Dundee. School, St Andrew's University. Michs.1870; M.A.1881. Of Gilston, Largoward, Fife. JP. A member of the Royal Company of Archers (Queen's Body-Guard for Scotland). Twice married and had issue. Died Mar.30 1908. Brother of Edward G. (1873). (Burke, L.G., 1936. George Copway (Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh; 1818-1863), an Ojibway chief, states, "A sketch of my nation's history, describing its home, its country, and its peculiarities, and in narrating its traditional legends I may awaken in the American heart a deeper feeling for the race of red men."  Copway's book has several pages of picture-writing symbols.  Among the many interesting topics are his recommendations for Christianizing the Indians and his arguments for an exclusive area (reservation) between what is now Minnesota and Nebraska. In this first published, book-length history of the Ojibwa, Copway is far more critical of whites than he was in his autobiography. Field 364. Pilling p 93. Howes C-772.