Image | Lot | Price | Description |
1408
|
$7,702.50
|
Revised: 1/21/2015
Please note: The condition in the printed catalog states “Volume I has broken hinge and loose front cover”, which is incorrect. It should read “Very good overall as can be seen in photos, Volume I has archival repaired front hinge and spine edge”. The online catalog is correct. The hinge is NOT loose! MCKENNEY & HALL HISTORY OF THE INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA… COMPLETE 3 VOLUME OCTAVO EDITION.This set is deluxe bound in full red Moroccan leather, raised ribbed spine with gold embossed decorations and gold edged pages. In 1844 the final volume of Thomas McKenney’s landmark History of the Indian Tribes of North America was published, completing a vast work whose genesis can be traced twenty-three years earlier to the winter of 1821. At that time, as Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the War Department, Thomas McKenney commissioned artist Charles Bird King (1785-1862) to paint the portraits of a delegation of Native American leaders in Washington, DC. The paintings captured the likeness of the leaders and provided a visual record of their tribes, many of which did not survive into the photographic era. The portraits, eventually over a hundred in number, lead to the establishment of the War Department’s Indian Gallery. They were later moved to the Smithsonian Institute. Thomas McKenney (1785-1859) was an early advocate for Native Americans and the survival of their cultures. Between 1816 and 1830 he held numerous government posts pertaining to Native American relations, eventually to be appointed the first head of the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs. Throughout his career McKenney acted on his concern that the world of the Native Americans would vanish without being documented. In 1835 he began work on the History of the Indian Tribes of North America the most extensive chronicle of the continents original inhabitants written to date. The ambitious work was to feature a series of hand colored lithographs in folio, based upon the paintings he had commissioned by Charles Bird King and to a lesser extent, works by P. Rhindesbacher, R. M. Sully and James Otto Lewis. Each portrait would be accompanied with a biography of the subject written by McKenney, many based on personal interviews granted to him by such notables as Sequoyah, Makataineshekiakiah (Black Hawk), Thayendanegea (or Brant), Osceola and Red Jacket. In addition to the biographies, a large essay on the history of Native Americans by James Hall (1793-1768) was included. It would take nine years and a huge financial outlay for the folio to be printed in its entirety. Volume I was completed in 1836 and published by the firm of Edward C. Biddle. Volume II followed in 1842 as well as a reissue of vol. I, published by Frederick W. Greenough, the successor firm of Edward C. Biddle. The firm of D. Rice and A. N. Clark, printed the final volume in 1844, as well as new issues of the first two volumes. The books’ large size and expense lead Rice and Clark to reissue the work changing its format to “royal” octavo in 1848 as this set. This edition also included material added by McKenney and one additional portrait, that of Red Bird (Zitkaduta) of the Winnebago tribe. The portrait illustrates an event that McKenney had direct involvement in, the surrender of Chief Red Bird after an attack on Praire du Chien in 1827. McKenney and Michigan Governor Lewis Cass negotiated the surrender, which prevented the outbreak of a larger war by promising not to place Red Bird and his party in irons. Red Bird is portrayed arriving at the surrender, having chanted his death song earlier. “I have given my life, it is gone…” (blowing some dust between his finger and thumb) “…like this. I would not have it back. It is gone.” Red Bird and his men were sentenced to hang for the attack but intercession by McKenney and Cass lead to their pardon by President Adams. Red Bird however, had died in prison before the pardon was granted. SIZE: 11″ h x 7-1/2″ l. PROVENANCE: From the Greene Museum of Southern History. CONDITION: Very good overall as can be seen in photos, volume 1 has archival repaired front hinge and spine edge. There are penciled drawings by a child on front end papers. Frontis print “Hunting the Buffalo” is chipped though not affecting image or text, frontis plate loose. Volumes all in all are complete and intact with soiling and minor staining and foxing. Colors still vivid on almost all the plates. 9-28018 (6,000-8,000) – Lot 1408
Auction: Fine Art, Antiques & Asian - February 2015 Please Note: All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day. |