Description
The first edition of Archives Of Aboriginal Knowledge by Henry R. Schoolcraft, complete in six volumes, all published in 1860. Includes 330 of 331 steel-engraved plates and lithographs.
Quarto, [six volumes]. Bound in original purple-grey cloth, title in gilt on spine of each volume, illustration of Native American on front cover in gilt. All with some rubbing to cloth, sunning to spines. All six volumes include the half-title and engraved additional title plate. Spine of Volume I rebuilt, Volume II laid down over new cloth backing. Many hinges are reinforced with archival cloth backing.
Volume I: complete with 76 engraved plates, including 3 full-page maps, many illustrations in color; Volume II: complete with 79 full page engraved plates (plate 30 is skipped), including maps and numerous hand-colored plates; Volume III: complete with 42 engraved plates, including 4 maps, many in color; Volume IV: complete with 42 engraved plates, including 3 maps, numerous hand-colored; Volume V: includes 34 of 35 plates, lacking Plate 3 (Menstrual Lodge); Volume VI: complete with frontispiece portrait, 57 illustrated plates and 6 woodcuts. Many plates with notable foxing to plates and tissue covers, browning to plates, occasional foxing within the text block. (Sabin 77839) (Howes S183, aa) All volumes include the bookplate of Richard M. Brown, affixed to the front pastedown.
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-1864) was commissioned by Congress in 1846 to develop a comprehensive report on the condition of American Indian tribes. He commissioned artist Seth Eastman to illustrate the book. His work relied heavily on his experience as an Indian agent in the new Michigan territory and his ability to translate the Ojibwe language into English. The final work was published in 1851 by J.B. Lippincott & Co, comprising six volumes. It is praised for its meticulous details of Native American life and culture, and the detail of the illustrations, but lacked an index and is often thought to be disorganized. This edition for 1860 was a reissue of Schoolcraft’s original work, Historical and Statistical Information, Respecting the History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States (1851-57), with an added index to Volume I – V.
