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The first edition of one of the most important and massive works concerning indigenous Americans, a foundation stone of ethnological studies in America, and by far the most extensive single work on the subject issued in the 19th century. Three of the volumes in this set are inscribed by the contributing artist and frontier post commander Seth Eastman, and the fifth volume contains a gift inscription from Commissioner of Indian Affairs George Washington Manypenny, with the recipient's name effaced. Schoolcraft, the general editor, was commissioner of Indian Affairs for many years, and in an unparalleled position to assemble the data presented herein. Field, while criticizing the general layout of the work, says it contains "a vast mass of really valuable material. It has indeed performed a very important service for Indian history, in collecting and preserving an immense amount of historical data. Vocabularies of Indian languages, grammatical analyses, legends of various tribes, biographies of chiefs and warriors, narratives of captivities, histories of Indian wars, emigrations and theories of their origin, are all related and blended.a very large number of beautiful steel engravings, representative of some phase of Indian life and customs, are contained in the work." The volumes contain some 336 illustrations, many of them steel engravings after artist and military commander of Fort Snelling, Seth Eastman, most of which do not appear elsewhere. "No two people will probably agree which plates, among several hundred, are to be regarded as colored because the use of tinting is very skillful and most varied. The editor feels that only about 70, more than half in the first volume, are truly colored plates but he freely admits that the effect of coloring (as distinct from specific color) is very general throughout, though the black and white illustrations probably outnumber the others. It is said that the comparatively numerous colored plates of the first volume are all to be found, in colored state, in only a few copies" - Bennett. The copy in hand would appear to be one of the latter few. Only fourteen illustrations in the first volume of this set have no color or tint. There are many plates (and some maps in the second through sixth volumes) which have been handsomely and expertly colored (often by hand, some partially so) throughout the set, but most frequently in the first volume. A rare inscribed copy of this monumental work, with many of the artist's excellent plates beautifully handcolored. HOWES S183, "b." FIELD, p.353. SABIN 77849. BENNETT, p.95. SERVIES 3691. REESE, BEST OF THE WEST 122. Original publisher's cloth, front board and spine gilt, rear board stamped in blind. Volumes 1, 2, and 4 bound in green cloth; volumes 3, 5, and 6 in maroon cloth. Volumes 1, 2, 5, and 6 rebacked. All volumes ex-library, volumes 2-6 with call numbers on spine and contemporary numerical inscription on front flyleaf; volumes 2-5 with institutional bookplate on front pastedown. Contemporary inscription of artist Seth Eastman on front pastedown of volumes 2, 3, and 4; additional contemporary gift inscription from Commissioner of Indian Affairs George Washington Manypenny on front free endpaper of volume 5. Portion of contemporary inscriptions erased on front pastedown of volume 2 and front free endpaper of volume 5. All volumes with half title, volumes 1-5 with additional engraved titlepage. Old institutional library blindstamp on titlepages of volumes 2-5 and in margin of frontispiece in volume 6. Internally near fine, texts and plates very clean and fresh, with only occasional minor foxing. Very good.
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