Catlin, GeorgeHunting Scenes and Amusements of the Rocky Mountains and Prairies of America. From Drawings and Notes of the Author, made during Eight Years' Travel amongst Forty-Eight of the Wildest and Most Remote Tribes of Savages in North America. London: Geo. Catlin, Egyptian Hall (C. and J. Adlard, printers of text), 1844
Broadsheets (585 x 428 mm). 25 fine handcolored lithographed plates, heightened with gum arabic, with printed captions and single-rule borders, after Catlin by Catlin and McGahey, lithographed by Day and Haghe, letterpress title-page and 9 leaves of text; lower fore-edge corners just bumped, some very light edge browning, very occasional spotting or soiling, chiefly marginal. Original half maroon morocco gilt over maroon cloth, front cover with modern title label finely lettered to style, spine gilt in six compartments, lettered in second, crowned cypher JC in fourth, others with gilt buffalo emblems; extremities a bit rubbed, joint, head and foot of spine, and corners repaired, endpapers renewed.
First edition, first issue; the only handcolored issue published by Catlin himself and the only edition to include the author's preface and descriptive text.
"These beautiful scenes in Indian life are probably the most truthful ever presented to the public" (Field), and are the result of Catlin's eight years of field research and painting among the native peoples of the American West. In a famous passage from the preface, Catlin describes how—having given up the practice of law for "brushes and paint-pots"—the sight of an Indian delegation (probably Pawnee and Oto) passing through Philadelphia on the way to Washington led to his resolution to record their vanishing way of life: "Black and blue cloth and civilization are destined not only to veil but to obliterate the grace and beauty of Nature. Man, in the simplicity and loftiness of his nature, unrestrained and unfettered by the disguises of art, is surely the most beautiful model for the painter; and the country from which he hails is unquestionably the best school of the Arts in the world, and such, I am sure, from the models I have seen, is the Wilderness of America. The history and customs of such a people, preserved by pictorial illustrations, are themes worthy the lifetime of one man, and nothing short of the loss of my life shall prevent me from visiting their country and becoming their historian."
Catlin initially planned to publish other thematic portfolios of reproductions of paintings from his Indian Gallery—religious rites, dances, and costumes, for example—but the set of Hunting Scenes and Amusements was the only one he issued. The publication of the Portfolio overextended the artist's resources, and its publication and distribution was very shortly taken over by Henry Bohn. The Bohn issues were colored in an exceptionally bright and vibrant manner, and the present first issue is the only one in which the coloring reflects Catlin's own palette.
REFERENCE:Wagner-Camp 105a:1; Reese, "The Production of Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio, 1844–1876" I:1; Reese, Best of the West 81; Field 258; Howes C243; McCracken 10; Sabin 11453; Abbey, Travel 653 note; Schwerdt 1:100
Catlin, GeorgeHunting Scenes and Amusements of the Rocky Mountains and Prairies of America. From Drawings and Notes of the Author, made during Eight Years' Travel amongst Forty-Eight of the Wildest and Most Remote Tribes of Savages in North America. London: Geo. Catlin, Egyptian Hall (C. and J. Adlard, printers of text), 1844
Broadsheets (585 x 428 mm). 25 fine handcolored lithographed plates, heightened with gum arabic, with printed captions and single-rule borders, after Catlin by Catlin and McGahey, lithographed by Day and Haghe, letterpress title-page and 9 leaves of text; lower fore-edge corners just bumped, some very light edge browning, very occasional spotting or soiling, chiefly marginal. Original half maroon morocco gilt over maroon cloth, front cover with modern title label finely lettered to style, spine gilt in six compartments, lettered in second, crowned cypher JC in fourth, others with gilt buffalo emblems; extremities a bit rubbed, joint, head and foot of spine, and corners repaired, endpapers renewed.
First edition, first issue; the only handcolored issue published by Catlin himself and the only edition to include the author's preface and descriptive text.
"These beautiful scenes in Indian life are probably the most truthful ever presented to the public" (Field), and are the result of Catlin's eight years of field research and painting among the native peoples of the American West. In a famous passage from the preface, Catlin describes how—having given up the practice of law for "brushes and paint-pots"—the sight of an Indian delegation (probably Pawnee and Oto) passing through Philadelphia on the way to Washington led to his resolution to record their vanishing way of life: "Black and blue cloth and civilization are destined not only to veil but to obliterate the grace and beauty of Nature. Man, in the simplicity and loftiness of his nature, unrestrained and unfettered by the disguises of art, is surely the most beautiful model for the painter; and the country from which he hails is unquestionably the best school of the Arts in the world, and such, I am sure, from the models I have seen, is the Wilderness of America. The history and customs of such a people, preserved by pictorial illustrations, are themes worthy the lifetime of one man, and nothing short of the loss of my life shall prevent me from visiting their country and becoming their historian."
Catlin initially planned to publish other thematic portfolios of reproductions of paintings from his Indian Gallery—religious rites, dances, and costumes, for example—but the set of Hunting Scenes and Amusements was the only one he issued. The publication of the Portfolio overextended the artist's resources, and its publication and distribution was very shortly taken over by Henry Bohn. The Bohn issues were colored in an exceptionally bright and vibrant manner, and the present first issue is the only one in which the coloring reflects Catlin's own palette.
REFERENCE:Wagner-Camp 105a:1; Reese, "The Production of Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio, 1844–1876" I:1; Reese, Best of the West 81; Field 258; Howes C243; McCracken 10; Sabin 11453; Abbey, Travel 653 note; Schwerdt 1:100
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