Letters And Notes On The Manners, Customs, And Condition Of The North American Indians.

2 Volumes. 8vo. pp. viii, 264; viii, 266. 3 engraved maps (1 folding). 309 illustrations on 177 engraved plates. original blind & gilt-stamped cloth (recased with new endpapers, spines faded & worn, joints frayed, spine ends chipped). Second Edition. A major anthropological study by "one of the most admirable observers of manners who ever lived among the aborigines of America." (Alexander von Humboldt) The American artist visited a total of forty-eight native tribes on his extensive tour of the great American west, and executed some six hundred paintings, including portraits of Indians in full native dress, views of their villages and wigwams, and portrayals of their games, dances, religious ceremonies, buffalo hunting and other amusements. The present narrative vividly relates his adventures, and faithfully records the manners and customs of the Blackfoot, Cree, Ojibway, Sioux, Pawnee, Osage, Chinook, Cherokee, and other tribes; of special interest is the section on the Mandans of the Upper Missouri, who were annihilated by smallpox in 1837. The numerous illustrations were copied and reduced for the engraver by Catlin himself, from his original paintings. McCracken 8G. Howes C-241. Sabin 11536. cfWagner-Camp 84:4 (London imprint). cfField 260. cfStreeter III 1805.…