Beschreibung:

CATLIN, George (1796-1872). An Account of an Annual Religious Ceremony Practised by the Mandan Tribe of North America . [London: Philobiblion Society, 1865]. Small 4 o (219 x 154 mm). (Title slightly rubbed and with printed bibliographical note mounted on verso.) Original plain green wrappers (some chipping to spine and edges); green quarter morocco slipcase. Provenance : Frank T. Siebert (his sale Sotheby's New York, 28 October 1999, lot 729). FIRST EDITION OF THIS UNAUTHORIZED WORK, LIMITED TO 50 COPIES which were distributed by the Philobiblion Society where Catlin had presented the manuscript. The text provides the somewhat graphic details of the Mandan O-Kee-Pa ceremony (see also lot 316); it was also included in the Philobiblion Society's Miscellanies , vol. 8. The text opens with the statement that Catlin was "The first white man who ever witnessed the extraordinary ceremony" and that "its strange and peculiar character has prevented the possibility of its being included among my published works." Though Catlin denied authorship, he wrote in a letter to Lord Houghton: "In my lectures delivered in London, that there were important parts in the Mandan ceremony which could not be explained in my lectures, or published in my work; several scientific gentlemen desired me to write out in plain English the whole of those scenes as I witnessed them which I did." Catlin demanded the surrender of every copy and disavowed authorship. This book is not in Streeter, Graff, De Puy, Holliday or Littell and is the only copy to appear at auction in over thirty years. Field 262 note; Howes C-239 ("b"); Sabin 11528. VERY RARE.