Beschreibung:

Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio. Hunting Scenes and Amusements from Drawings by 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 [but Chatto & Windus], 1844 [but circa 1875]. Folio (22 ½ x 16 inches, 570 x 405 mm). 31 hand-colored lithographed plates. Morocco-backed original marbled paper-covered boards. Condition: Binding expertly rebacked to style. the scarce 31-plate hand-colored issue of this important pictorial record of the great plains indians. 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 of this work, 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. 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 ever published, and its production proved so taxing (both financially and physically) that Catlin sold both the publication and distribution rights to Henry Bohn. The present edition of Catlin's work includes six rare unnumbered lithographs not found in earlier editions , 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 as part of Catlin's unfulfilled plan for a series of Indian Portfolios, but they were not printed and issued until Chatto & Windus acquired the copyright to the North America Indian Portfolio in 1875. This edition of the North American Indian Portfolio was issued in two states: with tinted lithographs or hand-colored lithographs, as found here. The latter is far more preferable and uncommon. Bennett 22; Field 258; Howes C243; Reese, The Production of Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio, issue III:10 ; Reese, Stamped with a National Character 25; Siebert Sale 846; Wagner-Camp 105a:2.