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BODMER, Karl (illustrator). - Prince Maximilian zu WIED-NEUWIED (1782-1867)

Reise in das Innere Nord-America in den Jahren 1832 bis 1834

Coblenz: J.Hoelscher, 1839-1841. 2 volumes, large quarto (12 3/16 x 10 1/8 inches). 12pp. subscribers' list. 1 engraved plan (facing p.70, vol.II), 1 lithographic plate (facing p.122, vol.II), 52 wood-engraved illustrations. Expertly bound to style in half tan calf over marbled paper-covered boards, spines divided into compartments by double gilt fillets and roll tool, lettered in the second, numbered in the fourth compartment, the others with repeat decoration in gilt. Provenance: W. Eames (signatures).

A fine copy of the text volumes recording the 1832-34 travels of the German Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuweid and Swiss artist Karl Bodmer on the Upper Missouri River.

Prince Maximilian was already an experienced naturalist and explorer in 1832, having made an important scientific expedition to Brazil in 1815-17. His preparations for his trip to North America including retaining the skilled artist, Karl Bodmer, to record illustrations of the journey. Arriving in the fall of 1832, the Prince ascended the Missouri River in the spring of 1833, going as far upstream as the American Fur Company post of Ft. Mackenzie in present-day Montana, and spending the winter at Ft. Clark, near the Mandan Indian villages. During this prolonged stay, he and Bodmer had ample opportunity to observe the Indian tribes of the Upper Missouri in their full glory, carefully recorded by Bodmer in watercolors. In the spring of 1834 they returned to Europe, and devoted the next five years to preparing the text and plates for this publication.

Prince Maximilian and Bodmer were able to record in both words and pictures the Plains tribes in their heyday. They were witness to hunting parties, Indian dances, ceremonies and life among the Mandans and other tribes, as well as the incredible scenery on the upper Missouri before the era of mass settlement from the west.

Abbey, Travel II, 615; Graff 4648; Howes M-443a ("dd"); Wagner-Camp 76.

#22743$20,000.00
 
 
BODMER, Karl (illustrator). - Prince Maximilian zu WIED-NEUWIED (1782-1867)

Voyage dans l'Intérieur de l'Amérique du Nord execute pendant les années 1832, 1833 et 1834

Paris: Firmin Didot frères for Arthus Bertrand, 1840-1843. 3 volumes, 8vo (9 x 5 3/4 inches). Half-titles. 1 lithographic plan, 29 plates of wood-engraved vignettes, occasional wood-engraved illustrations. Contemporary French brown half tan calf over brown cloth boards, the flat spines tooled in gilt and blind with a decorative cartouche in gilt containing author, title and vol. number, blue marbled edges.

A fine copy of the first edition of the French text to accompany the most important illustrated work of Western Americana, based on the travels of Prince Maximilian of Wied on the Upper Missouri River in 1832-1834, accompanied by the Swiss artist Karl Bodmer

Prince Maximilan's famed book is the finest work on American Indian life and the American frontier and is the result of an epic journey which took place at a time when the mass migration of settlers and pioneers was about to irrevocably alter the unspoiled West. Karl Bodmer (1809-1893) was engaged by Prince Maximilian (already famed for his earlier explorations of Brazil) to provide a record of his travels among the Plains Indians of North America during 1833-1834. His efforts show great versatility and technical virtuosity and give us a uniquely accomplished and detailed picture of a previously little understood and soon to vanish way of life. The most important part of the travels of Prince Maximilian and Karl Bodmer started in St. Louis, whence they proceeded up the treacherous Missouri River along the line of forts established by the American Fur Company. At Bellevue they encountered their first Indians, then went on to make contact with the Sioux tribe, learning of and recording their little known ceremonial dances and powerful pride and dignity. Transferring from the "Yellow Stone" to another steamer, the "Assiniboine", they continued to Fort Clark, visiting there the Mandan, Mintari and Crow tribes, then the Assiniboins at Fort Union, the main base of the American Fur Company. On a necessarily much smaller vessel they journeyed through the extraordinary geological scenery of that section of the Missouri to Fort Mackenzie in Montana, establishing a cautious friendship with the fearsome Blackfeet. From this, the westernmost point reached, it was considered too dangerous to continue and the return journey downstream began. The winter brought its own difficulties and discomforts, but Bodmer was still able to execute numerous studies of villages, dances and especially, the people, who were often both intrigued and delighted by his work. The portraits are particularly notable for their capturing of individual personalities, as well as forming, together with Prince Maximilian's written studies, the primary account of what have become virtually lost cultures.

The text to the Bodmer's images was issued in three languages: German, French and English. The French edition is particularly uncommon and includes images within the text not found in either the German or English issues.

Cf. Abbey Travel II, 615; cf. Howes M433a; cf.Wagner-Camp 76.2; cf. Wheat Transmississippi West 2: 445 (for the folding map).

#2511$8,500.00
 
 
CATLIN, George (1796-1872)

Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio. Hunting Scenes and Amusements of the Rocky Mountains and Prairies of America

London: C. & J. Adlard for George Catlin, Egyptian Hall, 1844. Folio (22 5/8 x 16 3/4 inches). [Pp.1-2] letterpress title (verso blank); [pp.3-4] To the Reader; pp.[5-]20 text. 25 hand-coloured lithographic plates, on thick paper, after Catlin, drawn on stone by Catlin (2) or McGahey (23), printed by Day & Haghe. (Endpapers and tissue guards renewed, scattered minor soiling). Publisher's brown moire cloth boards, upper covere lettered in gilt, rebacked and retipped with dark brown calf.

First edition, hand-colored issue, of Catlin's Portfolio, a key work for any serious collection of western Americana.

Catlin published the first two issues of the North American Indian Portfolio simultaneously in late November 1844. The first issue was hand-coloured, and the second had tinted plates. Catlin originally envisaged publishing a series of linked but separate portfolios, each with its own theme: religious rites, dances, costumes, etc. Unfortunately, the first series was the only one that was ever published, and its production proved to be so taxing (both financially and physically) that Catlin sold both the publication and distribution rights to Henry Bohn.

Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio contains the results of his years of painting, living with and travelling amongst the Great Plains Indians. Catlin summarized the Native American as "an honest, hospitable, faithful, brave, warlike, cruel, revengeful, relentless, -- yet honourable, contemplative and religious being." In a famous passage from the preface of his North American Indian Portfolio, Catlin describes how the sight of several tribal chiefs in Philadelphia led to his resolution to record their way of life: "the history and customs of such a people, preserved by pictorial illustrations, are themes worthy of the lifetime of one man, and nothing short of the loss of my life shall prevent me from visiting their country and becoming their historian". He saw no future for either their way of life or their very existence, and with these thoughts always at the back of his mind he worked, against time, setting himself a truly punishing schedule, to record what he saw. From 1832 to 1837 he spent the summer months sketching the tribes and then finished his pictures in oils during the winter. The record he left is unique, both in its breadth and also in the sympathetic understanding that his images constantly demonstrate. A selection of the greatest of images from this record were published in the North American Indian Portfolio in an effort to reach as wide an audience as possible. In addition to publishing the present work, Catlin also spent from 1837 to 1852 touring the United States, England, France and Holland with his collection of paintings, examples of Indian crafts and accompanied by representative members of the Indian tribes. A financial reverse in 1852 meant that he lost the collection, but he spent his later years making several trips to South and Central America, sketching the natives there.

A highly important record of a "truly lofty and noble race ... A numerous nation of human beings...three-fourths of whose country has fallen into the possession of civilized man ... twelve million of whose bodies have fattened the soil in the mean time; who have fallen victims to whiskey, the small-pox, and the bayonet" (Catlin).

Abbey Travel 653; Field 258; Howes C-243; McCracken 10; Sabin 11532; Wagner-Camp 105a:1; William S. Reese, The Production of Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio, 1844-1876, issue 2

#26713$95,000.00
 
 
CATLIN, George (1796-1872)

Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio. Hunting Scenes and Amusements of the Rocky Mountains and Prairies of America. From Drawings and Notes of the Author, made during Eight Years' Travel amongst Forty-Eight of the Wildest and most Remote Tribes of Savages in North America

London: "Geo. Catlin. Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly" [i.e. Chatto & Windus], [circa 1875]. Folio (21 3/4 x 17 3/4 inches). Letterpress title and plate list, 31 hand-coloured lithographic plates, all mounted on card within ink-ruled frames. Unbound as issued within publisher's brown cloth covered portfolio, original red morocco label on the upper cover, expertly rebacked to style, glazed yellow endpapers. Housed in a red morocco backed box.

The very rare deluxe issue of the thirty-one plate edition of Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio, hand-coloured and mounted on card.

This edition of Catlin's famous work on American Indians includes six additional lithographs, comprising two portraits, a group portrait of Ojibways, two tribal dance scenes, and a hunting scene. These six plates were evidently executed in the 1840s when Catlin envisioned a series of Indian "Portfolios," but they were not printed and issued until the present edition, making this the first complete edition of Catlin's portfolio.

Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio contains the results of his years of painting, living with and travelling amongst the Great Plains Indians. In a famous passage from the preface, Catlin describes how the sight of several Indian chiefs in Philadelphia led to his resolution to record their vanishing way of life: "the history and customs of such a people, preserved by pictorial illustrations, are themes worthy of the lifetime of one man, and nothing short of the loss of my life shall prevent me from visiting their country and becoming their historian." From 1832 to 1837 he spent the summer months sketching the tribes and then finished his pictures in oils during the winter. He painted around 600 highly realistic and powerfully projected portraits of Indians, carefully recording their costume, culture and way of life. In addition to publishing the present work, Catlin also spent from 1837 to 1852 touring the United States, England, France and Holland with his collection of paintings, examples of Indian crafts and accompanied by representative members of the Indian tribes. A financial reversal in 1852 meant that he lost the collection, but he spent his later years making several trips to South and Central America, sketching the natives there.

Research by William Reese has demonstrated that the 31 plate issue of the Portfolio was not produced until the firm of Chatto & Windus purchased the copyright to the book from the famed bookseller Henry Bohn. According to the Chatto & Windus records, which survive, these were printed from the original lithographic stones, in 1871 and published circa 1875 with a list of plates (present here but often found lacking). The 31-plate issue is far rarer than any of the 25 plate issues, and only in this format can the extra six plates be found.

Like the first edition of the Portfolio, the 31 plate edition was published in three formats: tinted on paper, hand-coloured on paper and a deluxe issue, hand-coloured and trimmed and mounted on card in the style of original watercolours. This final issue is the most rare and desirable. Of the 28 copies of the 31 plate issue located by Reese in his census, only two were of the deluxe issue, as here.

Howes C243; McCracken 10; Wagner-Camp 105a; cf. Abbey Travel 653 (ref); cf. Sabin pp. 436 (25 plates only), William S. Reese, The Production of Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio, 1844-1876.

#20987$185,000.00
 
 
CATLIN, George (1796-1872)

Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio. Introduction by Harold McCracken

Chicago: Swallow Press Inc, 1970. Large folio (22 3/8 x 17 inches). 25 tinted lithographic plates, coloured by hand and heightened with gum arabic, all after Catlin.Text stapled, plates unbound as issued, all within original black cloth portfolio, titled in gilt on upper cover.

Limited edition facsimile of Catlin's famous work

Edition limited to 1000 copies, this number 823. Based on Catlin's work of 1844, the present edition includes a facsimile of the original title page, together with Catlin's preface to the reader and the descriptive text to accompany the plates.

An excellent facsimile of this invaluable pictorial record of a "truly lofty and noble race...A numerous nation of human beings...three-fourths of whose country has fallen into the possession of civilized man....twelve million of whose bodies have fattened the soil in the mean time; who have fallen victims to whiskey, the small-pox, and the bayonet" (Catlin Illustrations of the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians pp.3-4). Catlin went on to summarize the native American as "an honest, hospitable, faithful, brave, warlike, cruel, revengeful, relentless, -- yet honourable, contemplative and religious being". He saw no future for either their way of life or their very existence, and with these thoughts always at the back of his mind he worked, against time, and set himself a truly punishing schedule, to record what he saw. The record he left is unique, both in its breadth and also in the sympathetic understanding that his images constantly demonstrate

#2522$9,500.00
 
 
CATLIN, George (1796-1872)

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

London: J.Ogden & Co. for Chatto & Windus, 1876. 2 volumes, 8vo (10 x 6 1/4 inches). 313 colour-printed plates (on 180 sheets), including 3 maps (1 folding). Publisher's original red cloth, blocked in gilt and black on the upper covers and spines (neatly recased, small neat repairs to head and foot of spines).

One of the most important accounts of native-American life, and an invaluable and generally sympathetic record of a "truly lofty and noble race…A numerous nation of human beings...three-fourths of whose country has fallen into the possession of civilized man...twelve million of whose bodies have fattened the soil in the mean time; who have fallen victims to whiskey, the small-pox, and the bayonet" (Catlin pp.3-4).

Catlin summarized the native American as "an honest, hospitable, faithful, brave, warlike, cruel, revengeful, relentless, - yet honourable, contemplative and religious being". He saw no future for either their way of life or their very existence, and with these thoughts always at the back of his mind he worked, against time, and set himself a truly punishing schedule, to record what he saw. The record he left is unique, both in its breadth and also in the sympathetic understanding that his images constantly demonstrate.

Howes C241.

#20230$4,500.00
 
 
CATLIN, George (1796-1872)

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

London: J.E. Adlard for Henry G.Bohn, 1866. 2 volumes, octavo (9 5/16 x 5 3/4 inches). 313 hand-coloured etchings on 180 plates, including 3 maps (1 folding and printed in colours). (Upper outer corner of plate 105 torn away, clean tears to plates 151 and 179, all in vol.II). Experlty bound to style in red half morocco over marbled paper covered boards, spines in six compartments with raised bands, lettered in gilt in the second and fourth compartments, with others with alternate decoration of either a large tool of a shoulder-length portrait of an Indian, or a tool showing a crossed peace-pipe and tomahawk, gilt edges.

Deluxe issue: one of approximately twelve copies with the plates printed in outline and entirely coloured by hand.

This 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 here remain the most important body of illustrative material of American Indian life in the American West. This is a later edition of Catlins' Letters and Notes ..., styled the "10th edition" on the titlepage: 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 coloured plates. According to Sabin "Mr. Bohn had twelve or more copies colored after the fancy of the artist who did the work, but tolerably well." - Sabin knew Bohn personally and was therefore certainly in a position to know. He goes on to state that 'Such copies are worth $60 a set' (this was probably a bit optimistic, and, in fact, a set brought $24 at the Field sale in 1875. But, in comparison, a copy of the Indian Portfolio... sold for only $1.50). Howes disagrees with Sabin and states that various editions published by Bohn appear with the plates coloured, 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 coloured issue, it would seem likely that Sabin is correct.

The plates themselves are clean, fresh, and very handsomely coloured. It is impossible to identify the colourist, but it was quite possibly was 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, and include a number of portraits of individual Indians.

Clark III:141; Field 260; Howes C241; McCracken 8K; cf. G.A.Miles & W.S.Reese America Pictured to the Life 55 (1848 edition); Pilling 685; Sabin 11537; Streeter Sale 4277; Wagner-Camp 84.

#18208$35,000.00
 
 
CATLIN, George (1796-1872)

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

Philadelphia: Leary, Steuart and Company, 1913. Volume 1 only, 8vo (10 x 6 1/4 inches). Half-title, title in red and black. 1 folding chromolithographic map, 75 chromolithographic plates. Original red cloth blocked in gilt and black (extremities scuffed). Provenance: Clifford M. Carpenter (bookplate).

One of the most important accounts of native-American life, and an invaluable and generally sympathetic record of a "truly lofty and noble race…A numerous nation of human beings...three-fourths of whose country has fallen into the possession of civilized man...twelve million of whose bodies have fattened the soil in the mean time; who have fallen victims to whiskey, the small-pox, and the bayonet" (Catlin).

Catlin summarized the native American as "an honest, hospitable, faithful, brave, warlike, cruel, revengeful, relentless, -- yet honourable, contemplative and religious being". He saw no future for either their way of life or their very existence, and with these thoughts always at the back of his mind he worked, against time, and set himself a truly punishing schedule, to record what he saw. The record he left is unique, both in its breadth and also in the sympathetic understanding that his images constantly demonstrate.

#20385$1,250.00
 
 
CATLIN, George (1796-1872)

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...

London: Henry G. Bohn, 1848. Two volumes, 8vo. viii,264; viii,266pp. 313 hand-colored etchings on 180 plates, including 3 maps (1 folding). . Contemporary three-quarter red morocco and marbled boards, spines gilt.

Deluxe issue, one of twelve copies with the plates printed in outline and entirely coloured by hand.

This 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 here remain the most important body of illustrative material of American Indian life in the American West.

In 1845, Henry Bohn took over the publication of Catlins' Letters and Notes, renaming it as above, and issuing it in various formats. The present version with beautifully hand coloured plates is by the most rare and most desirable. According to Sabin "Mr. Bohn had twelve or more copies colored after the fancy of the artist who did the work, but tolerably well." Sabin knew Bohn personally and was therefore certainly in a position to know. He goes on to state that "Such copies are worth $60 a set" (this was probably a bit optimistic, and, in fact, a set brought $24 at the Field sale in 1875. But, in comparison, a copy of the Indian Portfolio... sold for only $1.50). Howes disagrees with Sabin and states that various editions published by Bohn appear with the plates coloured, 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 coloured issue, it would seem likely that Sabin is correct.

The plates themselves are clean, fresh, and very handsomely coloured. It is impossible to identify the colourist, 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, and include a number of portraits of individual Indians.

Clark III:141; Field 260; Howes C241, "b."; McCracken Catlin 8k (1866 edition); Miles & Reese America Pictured to the Life 55; Pilling Algonquin p.76; Pilling Proof-sheets 685; Sabin 11537; Streeter sale 4277 (1866 ed); Wagner-Camp 84:17.

#23729$45,000.00
 
 
CATLIN, George (1796-1872)

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... With ... engravings, from the author's original paintings ... Ninth edition

London: J.E. Adlard for Henry G.Bohn, 1857. 2 volumes, octavo (9 7/8 x 6 3/16 inches). 3 engraved maps (one folding and printed on blue paper), line-engraved frontispiece, and 309 line-engraved images on 176 plates, all after Catlin. (Plates 20, 32, 45 and 119 with margins somewhat tattered, text pp.61/62 in vol.I tattered, text pp.25/26 in vol.II with small repaired tear, text pp.171/172 crudely opened, some spotting). Original red cloth, blocked in gitl and blind (recased with original spines laid-down and new endpapers. Provenance: William Binney Jr (1858-1921, of Providence, Rhode Island, inscription dated 1867).

One of the most important works on Native Americans published in the 19th century, here with an unusual feature: the large folding map printed on blue paper.

"No individual has contributed so much, of such great importance; no individual has had a greater influence upon the Western Americana art, literature and history of our country than George Catlin" (McCracken George Catlin and the Old Frontier). Besides the valuable narrative, the book contains hundreds of line drawings depicting all aspects of the life of southern and western Native Americans, as well as two significant maps showing the locations of the various tribes. Catlin first went west in 1830, travelling extensively for the next six years amongst the larger tribes of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, accumulating the paintings and drawings that went to form his "Indian Gallery." Letters and Notes... was first published to coincide with the opening of his exhibition in London.

This later edition of Catlin's Letters and Notes... is styled the "9th edition" on the titlepage. The London publisher, Henry Bohn, took over publication in 1845 and altered the title to that given above. In a contemporary review of the first edition of the present work, the influential Edinburgh Review noted that Catlin's work was "imbued with much of the free character of the originals; and bear witness that they are genuine portraitures from nature herself ... we strongly recommened [Catlin's work] ... to the perusal of all who wish to make themselves acquainted with a singular race of men, and system of manners, fast disappearing from the face of the earth; and which have nowhere else been so fully, and curiously, and graphically described." (Edinburgh Review [1841]-1842. Vol.LXXIV p.430).

Clark III:141; Field 260; Howes C241; McCracken 8K; cf. G.A.Miles & W.S.Reese America Pictured to the Life 55 (1848 edition); Pilling 685; Sabin 11537; Streeter Sale 4277; Wagner-Camp 84.

#25130$750.00
 
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