Fine Books & Manuscripts

[COLOR-PLATE BOOKS]. McKENNEY, Thomas L. (1785–1859) -- HALL, James (1793–1868). History of the Indian Tribes of North America. Philadelphia: [T.K. and P.G. Collins for] Edward C. Biddle, 1836. 7 complete parts (of 20) bound into 3 volumes, folio (495 x 347 mm). 42 hand-colored lithographed plates heightened (most with original tissue guards tipped in as issued) interleaved with text, includes title–page for Volume I (BAL State A). (Some marginal spotting or toning, some offsetting from text to plates, few plates with single short closed tears, some repaired, else bright). Contemporary cloth–backed drab boards (spines worn with chipping, extremities rubbed with some staining, joints cracked but contents relatively tight and intact). FIRST EDITION of “the grandest color plate book issued in the United States up to the time of publication” and “one of the most important 19th–century works on the American Indian, and one of the most important colorplate books produced in America in the age of lithography” (Reese, Best of the West). FIRST PRINTING with the explanation ([iii]–iv) of the “War Dance of the Sauks and Foxes” frontispiece authored by Caleb Atwater. “After publication it was discovered that this text was erroneous and buyers were directed (in part 8) to destroy it and to substitute another version, presumably by Hall, which was issued with Part 8” (BAL). The plate of “Red Jacket” has the S.F. Bradford imprint (BAL State A). All plates (besides the Bradford imprint) with imprints of E. C. Biddle and Key & Biddle. “It’s long and checkered publication history spanned twelve years and involved multiple lithographers (mainly Peter S. Duval and James T. Bowen) and publishers, but the final product is one of the most distinctive and important books in Americana. Almost all the plates are portraits of individual Native Americans, the majority painted from life by Charles Bird King (who also reworked the less skillful portraits of James Otto Lewis)” (Reese). BAL 6934; Howes M–129; Reese, Stamped with a National Character 24; Reese, Best of the West 68; Sabin 43410a.