1876 EDITION OF CATLIN'S SPLENDIDLY ILLUSTRATED NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS, THE FIRST WITH PLATES PRINTED IN COLOR

CATLIN, George. Illustrations of the Manners, Customs, & 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: Chatto & Windus, 1876. Two volumes. Royal octavo, modern three-quarter dark brown morocco, raised bands, red morocco spine labels, marbled boards.

First color plate edition of this famous collection of "faithful portraits of principle personages, both men and women, from each tribe," complete with frontispiece, 307 color engravings on 176 sheets, and three color-printed maps, one folding.

"A young lawyer turned portraitist, George Catlin traveled west from Pennsylvania in 1830 to fulfill his dream of recording on canvas the North American Indians and their way of life. It was his desire, he said, to paint 'faithful portraits of their principle personages, both men and women, from each tribe, views of their villages, games, etc., and [to keep] full notes on their character and history… Catlin illustrated his book with line-cut reductions of his original paintings, and in the text described his adventurous years among the Indians. He recorded his observations of ceremonies, dances, hunting methods, forms of warfare, and the ways of daily living among the major tribes of the high plains and the Rocky Mountains" (Wagner-Camp). His Manners, Customs, and Condition of North American Indians, first published in 1841, is "one of the most original, authentic, and popular works on the subject" (Sabin). Catlin had a profound respect for the Indians and believed that "the history and customs of such a people, preserved by pictorial illustration, are themes worthy of the lifetime of one man" (Indian Portfolios). This 1876 edition is the first edition to include plates printed in full color (some very scarce copies of earlier editions were issued with hand-colored plates). Although the title page calls for 360 engravings, the actual images are numbered 3 to 312, seven of which (23, 137, 142, 149, 159, 246, and 247) were never published, two more of which have 1/2 numbers, and three others of which are unnumbered (between 65 and 66). This set is complete. Howes C241. Wagner-Camp, 84. Sabin 11536. Unobtrusive library blindstamps on title pages and each plate, stamped "withdrawn" on versos of title pages.

Light edge-wear to folding map, minor paper repairs to final text leaf of Volume I and last two text leaves of Volume II; occasional faint marginal soiling. Very handsomely bound.