Indian Anecdotes, Signed (4 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Good+. Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket. First Edition. Signed by Robert Wooster on half title page. Limited edition. One of 300 copies published by Book Club of Texas in 1995. No dust jacket. Gray covers with label on spine. Front and back covers have faded outlines of other books. Foldout map is present. Interior of book is in very good condition. Overall book is in good plus condition. Large 8vo, 109 pages, .9 lb.; Large 8vo 9" - 10" tall; 109 pages; Signed by Editor.

Fourth edition. 8vo, pp. 508. Illustrated. Warmly inscribed on the flyleaf:"Compliments of the author, Col. Geo. Hunter to T. Hunter, as in other words Hunter to Hunter . Timus the chief to The Chief of Good Fellows July 8th, '90." Also signed with his Indian name. Red cloth stamped in gilt, little worn, hinge tender, a very good copy.Howes H811; Smith 4891; Graff 2018; Howes H-811; Cowan (II), p. 298. Rocq 15863; Phillips, p. 190. The early adventures of one of the first "pioneers" in the Pacific Northwest.

First British edition, presentation copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper, "To Mr. Davidson, with compliments of the Author, Geo. Catlin, 1848." This work recounts Catlin's tour of Europe, for which he shipped eight tonnes of freight, including two grizzly bears, and was accompanied by several Native Americans. A lawyer turned portraitist, Catlin (1796-1872) left Pennsylvania in 1830 to paint Native Americans and record their way of life. His eight years among the major tribes of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains resulted in his "Indian Gallery," an enormous collection of artefacts as well as more than four hundred paintings, including portraits and scenes of tribal life. "The history and the customs of such a people," Catlin declared, "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 becoming their historian" (quoted in Hassrick). Though criticised on publication for the indelicacy of certain passages, Notes remains "a readable and revealing book in the classic satirical vein of the visitor from a foreign culture" (Dippie, p. 467). The work was also issued in New York in the same year. Hassrick, 15 (note); Sabin 11533. George Catlin, Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians, 1841; Brian W. Dippie, Catlin and his Contemporaries, 1990. 2 vols, octavo. With 24 wood-engraved plates. "Note to the Reader" tipped in at rear and "Author's Note" tipped in at pp. 302-3 in vol. 2. Original green cloth, rebacked with original spines laid down, front covers stamped in gilt and blind, spines gilt-lettered direct, yellow surface-paper endpapers. Bookseller's ticket to front pastedowns, pasted newspaper clipping to front pastedown and ink-stamped number to rear pastedown of vol. I. Extremities and covers rubbed, corners bumped, rear pastedown of vol. I lightly stained, contents toned, occasional minor marginal foxing, slightly heavier to blank verso of free endpapers of both volumes and to couple of initials and final leaves in vol. 1: a very good copy.

A presentation set, inscribed on the front free endpaper of the first volume: "Mr. A.B. Wright, from his friend, the author, Geo. Catlin 1848." This is the second edition, published the same year as the first. This work appeared just as Catlin's Indian Gallery reopened in London, only to be bashed by British critics who complained of "a recklessness and a roughness in some of his anecdotes" and "indelicate innuendoes and double entendres" (Dippie). Later printed under the title, ADVENTURES OF THE OJIBBEWAY AND IOWAY INDIANS IN ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND BELGIUM. "Anecdotal though it is, NOTES is a readable and revealing book in the classic satirical vein of the visitor from a foreign culture commenting on the peculiarities of civilized society" - Dippie. SABIN 11533. FIELD 256. Dippie, CATLIN AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES, pp.126-27 and passim. REESE, BEST OF THE WEST 77 (note). Two volumes. xvi,296; xii,336pp., plus twenty-four plates. Printed slip bound in following p.302 in second volume. Original pictorial cloth stamped in gilt and blind, expertly rebacked, retaining original gilt backstrips. Endpapers renewed, save for original front free endpaper in first volume, bearing Catlin's presentation inscription. Cloth lightly rubbed. Old ink stain on p.91 of first volume, else clean internally. Very good.