MCKENNEY’S HISTORY OF THE INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA – COMPLETE SET, 1870 – HAND COLORED PLATES, HANDSOMELY REBOUND IN HALF LEATHER AND MARBLED BOARDS

MCKENNEY’S HISTORY OF THE INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA – COMPLETE SET, 1870 – HAND COLORED PLATES, HANDSOMELY REBOUND IN HALF LEATHER AND MARBLED BOARDS

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$5,000.00

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Item Code: 959-84

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A complete three-volume set of Thomas L. McKenney's History of the Indian Tribes of North America, with Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of the Principal Chiefs, published in Philadelphia by Rice, Rutter & Co., No. 525 Minor Street, in 1870. Each title page states that the work is "Embellished with One Hundred Portraits from the Indian Gallery in the War Department at Washington," and each is credited to McKenney, "Late of the Indian Department, Washington."

McKenney served as Superintendent of Indian Trade and then as the first head of the Office of Indian Affairs under the War Department. During his tenure he commissioned the painter Charles Bird King to paint portraits of the tribal leaders and delegates who came to Washington, forming what became known as the War Department's Indian Gallery. Most of King's original paintings were later lost in the 1865 fire at the Smithsonian Institution, so the hand-colored lithographs published by McKenney and his collaborator James Hall are today the primary record of many of these portraits. The original folio edition of 1836–1844 is among the most celebrated and costly color-plate books ever produced in America. The octavo editions that followed, including this 1870 Rice, Rutter issue, brought the portraits to a much wider audience in the decades after the Civil War.

Volume I opens with the frontispiece plate No. 1, "Hunting the Buffalo," showing a mounted warrior drawing his bow on a charging bison, with the Rice, Rutter & Co. imprint in the lower margin. The coloring is bright and fresh.

The set has been rebound in half tan pebble-grain leather over marbled paper boards in red, blue, green and gold. The spines have five raised bands, gilt rules, and gilt lettering reading "INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA / T. McKENNEY" with the volume number. The gilt page edges have been preserved, and the binder retained the original flyleaves. The result is a clean, solid, attractive set that sits well on the shelf.

Each volume carries the same ink presentation inscription on a front flyleaf: "To Stephen from 'Imbie' – Your great grandfather's Book." It is a nice reminder that the set was passed down through one family across several generations.

DETAILS:

Contents: Three volumes, complete as issued

Publisher: Rice, Rutter & Co., Philadelphia, 1870

Measurements: Approx. 10" x 7" per volume

Inscribed: Each volume, "To Stephen from 'Imbie' – Your great grandfather's Book"

Condition: Rebound in half leather and marbled boards, tight and sound, with bright gilt and only light shelf wear. Page edges retain their gilding, with light rubbing, and some unevenness to the fore-edge of Volume III. Original flyleaves are toned, with chipping along the upper edges. Light to moderate toning and scattered foxing throughout. Small stain to the lower fore-edge margin of the Volume I title page. Minor marginal chipping along the gutter edge of the Volume I frontispiece, not affecting the image. Small pencil notation ("80") on the Volume III title page.

A complete and handsome set of one of the most important nineteenth-century American works on Native American leaders, illustrated from the lost portraits of the War Department's Indian Gallery.    [cm][ph:L]

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